The Next Always by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

look like?” Ryder called out.
    “One of the many reasons Jonathan Wickham is a jerk? Throwing over somebody who looks like Hope, has her brain and energy, for some pinched-nose, big-racked social piranha.”
    “Confirmed. I’ve got to get back,” Clare told her. “Let me know what Hope says. This would be great.” She beamed at Beckett. “Will you be here later? I can probably get back around two or two thirty.”
    “Sure.”
    “See you later then. Oh, and you’ll be lucky to have Hope if this works out. She really is perfect.”
    Ryder scowled as she hurried out. “I don’t like perfect. Because it never is, but you don’t see the trouble until it’s too late.”
    “I’ve always admired and envied your sunny optimism.”
    “Optimists never see the boot coming until it kicks their balls into their throat. Optimism is how a forty-three-year-old woman ends up with one kid in college and another in the oven.”
    “Owen’ll fix it. It’s what he does.”

    CLARE MET WITH a sales rep, then chatted with her UPS guy while she signed for a delivery. She loved new shipments, opening the cartons and finding books, the covers that closed in all those stories, all those worlds, all those words.
    While shelving, she paused when her phone signaled an incoming text, then smiled at Avery’s message.
    H will talk to O tmoro. If click H cms up nxt wkend 4 intrvw. :)
    She texted back. Fingers X’d.
    Wouldn’t it be wonderful? she thought. Not only for Hope, but all of them. She’d have a friend right down the street, and another right across. She’d be able to pop over to the inn now and then to see Hope, and all those beautiful rooms. They would be beautiful. She was sure of it now.
    Oh! She’d book the Titania and Oberon room for her parents’ anniversary next spring. Or maybe Elizabeth and Darcy. A perfect gift, romantic and special. The Montgomerys ought to push that, subtly, in their brochure.
    She should make some notes.
    She took out her phone to do just that, then tucked it away again when one of her regulars came in with her toddler in tow.
    “Hi, Lindsay, hi there, Zoe.”
    “Need book!”
    “Who doesn’t?” Charmed, as always, Clare plucked Zoe up, set her on her hip.
    “I was a block away,” Lindsay said, “and I wasn’t going to stop in. But she got so excited, bouncing in the car seat.”
    “I swear, I’m going to hire her the minute the law allows.” Clare kissed Zoe’s dark curls as she carried her back to the children’s section.
    By the time they left—two books for Zoe, one for Mommy, and a pretty plush kitty purse for a niece’s birthday—Clare had been filled in on celebrity gossip, town gossip, the niece’s mother’s recent weight gain, and Mommy’s newest diet.
    When the door jingled closed, Laurie peeked up from the annex. “I deserted the field.”
    “I noticed.”
    “You handle her better than I do. She gives me an earache.”
    “I don’t mind. She just needs to talk to an adult now and again. Plus she spent more than fifty dollars. Did you take your lunch yet? I can handle things if you want to get out for a bit.”
    “I brought mine with me. Lindsay’s not the only one on a diet. I’m going to eat my measly salad in the back. Cassie just got in. She’s getting some net orders together for shipping.”
    “I’ll take the front. I need to go back out about two, but I’ll be back before you leave for the day.”
    “Give a shout if we get busy. One of us’ll come out.”
    She could only hope. The store hadn’t exactly bustled with business today. She could use a few more Lindsays before closing, she thought as she got herself a cold drink from the refrigerator.
    She carried it into the children’s section, tidied up the toys Zoe had played with while her mother had her visit. And thought of Zoe’s soft, dark curls.
    Clare wouldn’t trade her boys for anything in heaven or on earth, but she’d always secretly hoped for a little girl. Pretty dresses, ribbons