Finding Love in Payton Read Free Page B

Bryan
absolutely adored her.
    "We're off to the park, Dinah," Valerie said cheer fully as she picked up Bryan's bag of tricks. "Then
home to a bath and a nap."

    "Great. I'll be home around six," she said, glancing
up from a stack of catalogs.
    "Take your time."
    Dinah knew that neither would miss her, which
made her feel both relieved and amused at the same
time.
    But she'd have plenty of opportunity to wade
through her stack of mail and invoices now. Absently,
she petted Bonnie, the beagle the shop was named
after, and worked for a solid hour before any customers arrived, then smiled happily when they came with
a vengeance.
    She poured coffee for them into oversized ceramic
mugs, helped select books, and chatted with her customers about recipes and such as they made their purchases. Every once in a while Bonnie got up from her
cedar filled dog bed to be petted.
    She was just helping Mrs. McClusky put her books
in one of her canvas bags when Joanne Sawyer came
in.
    "Hi there Mrs. Mac, Dinah," Joanne said with her
usual breezy smile in place.
    "Joanne," Mrs. Mac said. "I'm not due in to work
for another hour."
    "Yes, ma'am," Joanne said with a gleam in her eye.
Dinah had to laugh; Mrs. Mac was a large woman with
the disposition of a ornery goat. And she just happened to be Joanne's husband's receptionist at the doctor's
office.

    Rumor had it that the only person Mrs. Mac was
nice to was Stratton Sawyer. "May I help you,
Joanne?"
    "Not yet. I just came to look around."
    "All right," Dinah said, waving goodbye to Mrs.
McClusky and concentrated on ringing up another
woman's purchase. As soon as the room cleared, both
she and Joanne gave a comical sigh of relief.
    "Would you like a cup of coffee?"
    "I would, thanks," Joanne replied, already making
her way to the back of the store.
    Dinah followed. Joanne had come for a reason, but
obviously she was going to get to her point in her own
time. Dinah poured a generous amount of steaming
coffee in a purple and orange mug with the words
READ printed on the side, part of a gift from her
mystery book club that met on Tuesday nights. As she
handed the mug to Joanne, she sat down in the wide
rocking chair next to Bryan's crib and waited.
    She didn't have to wait long.
    "I saw Jeremy yesterday. You know, my younger
brother."
    Dinah didn't miss the jibe. "I saw him yesterday,
too. Well, I met him in aisle five at the grocery store."
    "He told me."
    Joanne's voice seemed to be both censorious and
encouraging at the same time. Dinah continued. "Jer emy got to see Bryan in all his glory, having a hissy
fit in the middle of the cereal aisle."

    "I've been known to have those, too. Stratton's inordinately fond of bran cereal. My tastes have stayed
near the kids' boxes."
    Dinah laughed. "Anyway, we chatted for a little
while. It's funny that I'd never met him before, since
I've met the rest of your family."
    "He's quite a bit younger than the rest of us."
    Ah. "Well, he's a nice guy."
    "He is. He just graduated from college, you know."
    She knew. Dinah glanced at Joanne for a long moment. Was she actually warning him off of her
brother? "He's going to be teaching at the high school,
right?"
    "Right."
    "Ah."
    Joanne sipped her coffee and eyed her over the
brim. Dinah waited, still unsure if she was about to
get hit with any more zingers. "We talked about you
last night."
    Dinah was glad she wasn't drinking any coffee herself, because she probably would have spilled it by
now. "Is that right?"
    "Yep. I told him about how we had been in the same
class, how you had a baby ..." Her voice drifted off.
    "Well, I know you'll have a nice time being in the
same town again. He spoke very highly of his family."
    "He spoke very highly of you," Joanne blurted.

    Dinah met her gaze. "He did?"
    "He did." Joanne reddened. "I just thought you
should know that."
    "Thank you. I think. Um ... is there a reason you
thought I should know?"
    "No. I'm just making