Page 22 of The Offer

She felt the urge to turn around and bolt, but she had nowhere else to go. She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes and took her three deep breaths, focusing on the sounds of the distant waves at Scallop Shell Beach and the smell of Gram’s freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

After her third exhale she held up a fist and knocked.

Everyone inside went silent. A few words were exchanged as she heard a pair of flip-flops clapping toward the door. It swung open, but it wasn’t Calvin on the other side of the porch door. It was Kevin.

The room remained silent as her eyes flicked over to Calvin making his way to the door. She looked back at Kevin, his eyes wide as he scanned the bags that surrounded her feet. The left corner of his lips twitched upward.

When he finally gazed back into her eyes, she nodded her head and asked, “Is it too late to take you up on the offer?”

Kevin’s mouth split into a giddy grin. “Of course not, my dear Jessica. It would never be too late.”

Jess rolled her eyes. “And if your business already went under and you were halfway to Vermont, that still wouldn’t have been too late?”

“You’re ruining the moment. Stop being so practical.”

“If you don’t want practical, then don’t take me on as a business partner,” she deadpanned.

She didn’t think it was possible for his smile to get any bigger, but Kevin’s smile grew wide, like a cartoon character. Goofy, perhaps. Jess shook her head, pretending to ignore the way Calvin was rubbing his face trying to contain his own smile before gesturing to Tyler on the couch to help him with the bags. She grumbled about how she could have handled them herself, but Tyler brushed her off, picking up two duffel bags and a suitcase as if they weighed nothing and carrying them down the narrow hallway.

Calvin grabbed the rest of her stuff as Kevin led her inside, the porch door slapping shut behind them. She felt her cheeks flush as she looked down at Melanie and Rory, surrounded by scraps of paper with what seemed to be sticker designs for Scoops, the two of them sitting there with mouths agape.

Rory scrambled up from where she was sitting. “Jess, did you—”

“Yes,” she said, not waiting for Rory to finish her sentence. “I left.”

She heard Melanie cough out an exasperated laugh, then slapped a hand in front of her face.

Kevin stepped away from Jess and ran a hand through his wavy hair, then let out a shaky breath.

Jess felt her cheeks flush again, her hands sweating. She hated having all of this attention on her.

Somehow, like the former high schooler knew that this entire interaction was bothering her, Rory reached out an arm and wrapped it around Jess’s shoulders. Never would she have allowed this in the past. But never in her life had she thought she would leave Charlie. It seemed today was a day full of firsts.

“We were about to pick up pizza from Penny’s,” Rory said, shifting subjects. “You hungry?”

Jess nodded. “Yeah, pizza sounds good.”

Chapter Six

Jess wasn’t sure when she’d last stepped into Port Wheels, but when she arrived the following morning, she was certain there was barely a third of the bikes usually cramming the tiny shop. They were still parked neatly next to each other along the walls, but none were dangling from the ceiling like in summers past.

Kevin was leaning over a bike at his workshop in the back, his hands black from bike grease as he twisted a brake tighter with a wrench. He blew on the strand of wavy hair that flopped in front of his eyes, only for it to fall back down in front of his face.

“I think someone stole all of your bikes,” Jess quipped.

Kevin grinned as he kept twisting. “Good morning, Jessica. Boy, is it going to be fun getting your sunshine personality every morning.”

She snorted, looking around her. “Seriously, Kevin, where did they all go?”

Kevin tossed the wrench onto his small desk, wiping his hands with a dark rag. “I’m not selling as many, so I opted for less inventory this summer. There are a few older models in the back I need to bring up here, though.”

He started making his way to the back of the shop. She followed. “Won’t it be hard to try making more money if you have less bikes to sell?”

“Most of the shop’s money comes from repairs,” Kevin explained. “Usually people will bring their bikes in for a repair then head to Seabreeze Café for a coffee and wait. But now with the bakery—”

“People might just stick around here and buy from us,” Jess finished. “Very smart.”

Kevin turned toward her and beamed. “Did you just call me smart?”