Mine Tomorrow by Jackie Braun Read Free Book Online Page A

recently boasted its seventy-ninth anniversary. But what about her shop? Would it be there also? Oh, the building would be, she figured, but what or who would be occupying the main floor?
    For a moment, as ridiculous as it seemed, homesickness assailed her. Not for the building or the shop, but for her sister. Although it had been mere hours since she’d last seen Em, whether she counted the time that had passed in her dream or the pizza they’d shared the evening before when they’d met up near New York University, she missed her. Would her sister be here? It didn’t seem likely, but anything was possible in a dream, right?
    It was stifling hot inside the cab, even with the windows rolled down and the wind rushing in as they traveled down Fifth Avenue. In the apartment, the temperature hadn’t been too bad with the heavy draperies pulled closed and the metal blades of a tabletop fan circulating the air. It was amazing the attention to detail in this dream, right down to the lack of air conditioning and the perspiration Devin could feel gathering on her brow.
    Gregory had moved closer on the bench seat. Despite the heat, she welcomed his nearness. He had questions. She could see them brewing in his hazel gaze. What kind of answers did she have for him? For that matter, what answers did she have for herself? This was so real, yet it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.
    The remainder of the drive was made in potent silence.
    * * *
    “Here you are,” the cabbie said as he pulled to a stop several minutes later.
    In the present day, the neighborhood was more eclectic, eccentric, than it was here. While Gregory paid the fare, Devin scanned the storefronts. The shop wasn’t there. The building was, of course, but the sign that hung in Yesterday’s Closet’s big front window read: Sal’s Timepiece Repair. She hadn’t really expected to see her shop, but as foolish as it seemed, she had hoped to find Emily. Devin had no desire to wake up from this dream, but she was eager to share her thoughts with her sister.
    She sighed in disappointment.
    “Is everything all right?” Gregory asked.
    “Yes. Fine.” How could she tell him otherwise? She fanned her face. “God, it’s hot.”
    When in doubt, talk about the weather. It was Devin’s standard fallback whenever she ran out of things to say while on a date. Not that this was a date. Nor had her mind gone blank. More like it was full of topics, brimming with them in fact. But how to bring them up without having the man think she was insane?
    She shook her head, bemused.
    “And now I’m worrying about what a figment of my imagination might think of me,” she murmured.
    “Devin?”
    “Nothing.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “I’m just talking to myself.”
    “We’d better get you out of this heat.”
    Whether she was in a dream or not, the look of concern on his face was refreshing. Other than her sister, Devin had no one looking out for her. Even with Em, Devin held things back. She was the older sibling, after all. It was up to her to put on a brave face and march forward, and she took the obligation seriously. That didn’t make it any less wearying.
    As they passed the repair shop, Devin slowed her steps so she could peer through the front window. Beyond her reflection, she could see that a half-wall divided the space nearly in two. Otherwise, the shop’s floor plan was remarkably similar to Yesterday’s Closet. But then the building’s original finishes and vintage vibe had been what prompted Devin to sign the lease in the first place when she’d been looking for a location to open her business.
    She could make out an older man bent over a work bench located where the counter containing the cash register was set in Yesterday’s Closet. The man glanced up and then smiled broadly when he caught sight of her. Before she and Gregory moved out of view, he was on his feet, waving Devin inside.
    “I think he wants to see you,” Gregory said. His tone was teasing