Mike's Way Back (Finding Perfect) by Amy Gregory Read Free Book Online

the night before walked in slowly. Taking in the clothes that cost more than her budget would even allow, Gabby subtly watched the woman. It wasn’t as if she was afraid she’d shoplift. It was more of a fascination. The woman moved with a grace that Gabby wasn’t used to. Friendly, laidback and casually dressed would be how she’d describe her customers. Mother’s with young children, visitors wanting the charm of a small town bookstore. She had her regulars and she had her old men. Well, not her old men. But she’d claim them just the same. The elderly gentlemen who wandered in, read her daily papers while sitting in one of the leather chairs, and then dropped money on the counter while giving her the read paper back to recycle.
    With a grin, Gabby shook her head. The same men she’d grown up with who shared stories galore with her grandparents. Day in and day out, they were there. Four of them and she could set a watch by their arrivals. Frank and Glen came together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after their morning coffee and donut at the shop next door. Henry arrived on Thursdays at ten sharp, then again on Saturdays at a quarter to noon.
    It was John that was her soft spot. He was there every day before Gabby. Six days a week, rain or shine. He had suffered a mild stroke almost a year after she’d lost her grandfather. It was the routine that kept him going, John’s daughter had told her. So every morning at eight, she’d find John waiting, his breakfast eaten at the diner on the south side of the square. He stayed exactly one hour and forty-five minutes. Then with a kiss to her cheek, he’d shuffle his way to the door, ignoring her invitation to lunch the whole way.
    He was a proud man and her favorite by far. John was the carpenter who built the bookstore she loved with all her heart some seventy years before. Gabby listened to John and her grandparents tell old stories of how they were all barely more than kids when they carved their paths. Gabby loved her parents, and they had been there through the hard times when she didn’t think she could make it. But it was John and her grandparents who saved her.
    They didn’t judge her.
    The woman tucked her hair behind her ears and wandered around Gabby’s store. If her confidence was anything to go by, the stranger had it all. She could be extremely jealous, but she never wanted anything in life except the bookstore. That was her world, her safety net, and her passion all wrapped up in one old building filled with words.
    Except, the stranger was looking past the books.
    Gabby quietly watched the gal, she vaguely remembered overhearing Mike say her name. Tara, Tana or something. Then suddenly the woman approached. She was definitely from out-of-town. Everyone else knew Gabby only spoke a few words when checking out a patron’s purchases. Except for her old men, Gabby did her best to distance herself. It was for the best. She couldn’t let her past upset her if she never spoke to them again. And until now, everyone seemed to abide by her unspoken rules.
    However, what’s her name didn’t place anything on the counter for her to ring up. Yet, she stood there waiting for Gabby’s attention to leave the screen of her laptop and look up.
    With a raised eyebrow, she did her best to quickly teach Miss Vogue house protocol. “Yes?” She asked, the lack of patience obvious and very much on purpose.
    “My name is Taryn Watts, Mike Sterling brought me by yesterday evening before you closed for the night.”
    Taryn . Eh, well she was at least close on the name. However, Taryn didn’t seem to flinch, cower or seem intimidated by Gabby’s somewhat unconventional business manners. “Okay. And?”
    “Well, I have fallen in love.”
    Gabby rolled her eyes.
    Yes, she knew Mike was a decent guy, a hot one at that and he protected the town, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so he was one of the very few she would actually have more than a three word conversation with. He was