Page 3 of Must Love Fallen Angels
She pulled into the gravel drive after getting the keys from the mailbox and stopped next to the quaint, fully furnished cottage.She got out of her car and stretched with a squeak, her back protesting the last four-hour leg of the journey.But she was here now.Safe and sound.
Whateversoundmeant.
She unlocked the front door and walked inside the two-bedroom house.It was decorated in beach-chic, with turquoise throw pillows, seashells on every flat surface, and a large, framed painting of the lighthouse at sunset, waves crashing against the shore.
The house was a little musty, so she first opened the windows and then went back outside to grab her bags.
Her whole life was stuffed into two large suitcases and her favorite purse.
She wasn’t going to reflect on what she’d left behind.
Because as she paused and turned toward the sound of the water, she felt relief for the first time in a long time.
There was peace here, and space to figure out her life.
She hadn’t had any plans when she’d stopped at her boyfriend’s place after work on Wednesday and found him and her best friend in bed together.Her world had quietly shattered as the two most important people in her life had betrayed her, flinging blame at each other before eventually turning the blame to Tessa.
She went to her apartment and packed her bags, canceling a planned move-in with her boyfriend by text, and quitting her job that she’d never really found fulfilling anyway.Once she’d found the rental cottage, the next step had been to head to Sable Cove.
A place where no one knew her or what she’d endured.
Where she could be as introverted or extroverted as she wanted.
And where, maybe, the fresh start she was hoping for was within reach.
After taking her things into the house, she decided to go for a drive into town to stock the kitchen.On the way back from the nearest grocery, she noticed a bookstore, and her bookish self cheered at the thought of finding a few good books to read.
The Ember & Relic was a combination bookstore and antique shop and smelled like the pages of an old book mixed with sage and wildflowers.
Tessa wandered the rows of shelves, choosing whatever books caught her fancy.On the way to the counter to pay for her books, a journal with a dark blue leather cover caught her eye, and she added it to her stack.
“That’s gorgeous, right?”the young woman behind the counter asked with a smile.“I love journals.”
“You hardly write in them, you’re just a hoarder,” a man said as he strode up to the counter.
“Well, we all have to hoard something,” the woman said.
Tessa tilted her head.“You’re dragons?”
“Yep,” the woman said.“I’m Lyra.This is my brother Zay.Our clan owns the bookstore.You’re human.Are you new to town or just passing through?”
“New to town.And you can tell I’m human?”
“You smell human,” Lyra said.She tallied up the books and the journal and gave the total to Tessa.“Where are you staying?”
“At a cottage on the water.”She handed her cash and watched as Lyra counted out the change, while Zay put the books and journal into a cloth market bag decorated with a cartoon dragon holding a stack of books.
“Here,” Lyra said, putting a pen in the bag.“A new journal needs a new pen, and this is my favorite kind.Blue ink, of course, it’s the best color.”
“There’s no such thing as a best colored pen,” Zay said.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.There absolutely is,” Lyra said.Then she turned to Tessa suddenly and said, “Hey, are you looking for work?”
“Um, I hadn’t given it much thought.I would like a job at some point, though.Do you know of any openings?”
“Heck yeah!We have an opening.”
Lyra pulled her over to the side, speaking animatedly about a part-time position at the bookstore because two of their clan members were part of the police force, and they were short-staffed.
