After Truman and Greta had decided to make their swap permanent, he and Ash had gone back and forth staying at one of their houses one night and the other the next. Soon, though, it became merely a formality. They wanted to spend every night together. They had dogs. It only made sense to live together. And by Ash moving into Greta’s house with Truman, he was not only able to save money splitting the rent, he was able to sublet the apartment above Thorn for some extra cash.

Between that and the new profits Thorn was turning, Ash could afford to hold on to Thorn for the foreseeable future, Mr. Crimm be damned.

A group of tourists approached the shop, so Truman reluctantly let Ash go. It had been agreed upon that he would do front of house sales when he was there, since Ash couldn’t bear to upsell and always wanted to give nice people deals on everything. Truman found this unutterably charming, but in the interest of their bottom line, he’d banished Ash to behind the counter where his hotness was an asset and his kindness didn’t tank their profit margin.

“Good afternoon, y’all,” Truman drawled as they came in. “How have you been enjoying the island?”

“Oh, it’s lovely,” a white woman in her forties said. “Such a beautiful view of the ocean. And the shops are all so charming.”

“Did you know,” Truman said conspiratorially as he led them toward the display of jars, “that it’s actually the bay just out there? I didn’t either when I came here…”

He winked at Ash and got down to business.

***

“Oh, Truman, good,” Maisey said as he approached the Queen Bee.

She always acted like he was arriving at just the exact minute she needed him, even though she had his phone number and he’d encouraged her to text any time. This was, he’d learned over the last six months, common of the purveyors on Owl Island. They preferred to do everything in person, and it was always lucky or perfect timing when they ran into you.

“Have you had any luck yet in finding Agatha Tark? Don’s going to want to make the posters soon, and we’d love to be able to add her appearance for a signing. It’s going to be such a wonderful event for the community!”

Truman grinned.