Surprise Surprise...

--I know I've been MIA for almost a year now...its been a really tough year for my family, but I'm really looking forward to getting back on track with this blog. Please comment and let me know what you think of the story thus far. :0) -Liv

“What do you mean not the only surprise..?” I stammered as I entered the shop and instantly became engrossed in the perfect balance of old fashioned-ness and elegance it upheld.

“I said, Maybe. Now, go look around, enjoy” Cameron essentially said to my back as I was well beyond listening at that point.

I feel like sometimes there are places in this world where someone really feels at home. A place where even though it is absolutely not your home, the sights and smells have a calming and soothing affect on your soul. This was my place.

I love ever nook and cranny-- every cobweb and discarded piece of furniture. I don’t mean to make the place sound like a dump, because it absolutely, is not, it is just not perfect either. Actually, that fact is probably the best thing about it. I think things in life are a little better with imperfections, less expectations, and more room for forgiveness and improvements.

Running my hand along a “new” (to the shop) dresser, I idled and opened the drawer. Gasping I reached down further and pulled out the paper inside, “Olivia”.

Spinning around grasping the paper in my hand I looked back at Cameron and Maggie who were looking back at me eagerly.

“Go on hun, open it” Maggie pressed.

Lifting off the top page, I looked down at the deed to the shop, written out to me.

“Seriously?” was about all I could choke out. This can’t even be real. There was just no way that the shop was going to be mine.

“Seriously.” Maggie chuckled back, waving me to come back to the front counter. Handing me a piece of candy she looked at me expectantly as I sat down.

“This is so unbelievable. So-so-…” I couldn’t even find the words to express the emotions running through me. “What’s the catch?”

Cameron sat down next to me and let out an exasperated sigh, “There is no catch Liv, this is real,

sometimes good things happen to good people”.

“Really, Olivia,” Maggie chimed in, “after all the years I have known you, you think I would play some cruel trick on you and include a catch with this arrangement.”

“I just am having a hard time believing that all of this is real, and that this could be happening to me. I mean I want this, so much, but I don’t understand..”

Maggie sat down in front of the bar and leaned forward slowly placing her fingertips together, “So let me explain”.

And explain she did. To sum it all up she simply cannot handle the shop anymore and the agreement is for a 60/40 partnership on the business for the next year. After one year if she is happy the deed to the shop will become under my name only, and the percentage of profit increasing in my favor 10 percent for the next four years, after which Maggie and her family will be given 20% of the profits (as it was their business to begin with) with as much interaction as needed per my request. Amazing is really what I would describe it as.

Shaking hands with Maggie I turned and walked away from the counter, leaving her and Cameron to discuss the finer points of our contract. I began up the first isle and immersed myself in every detail, taking pride in the fact that this was going to become mine. Wondering if a new paint color here, a rearrangement of furniture there would bring in a new clientele.

After what felt like minutes, but was more along the line of hours, Cameron walked up behind me resting his arms on a particularly lovely mirror, gold with small rosettes painted along the inside of the hand carved details, and reminded me that the real world was calling to him, and as fun as watching me think is, he’d like to get going home.

The car ride home was quiet at peaceful as I was still immersed in thoughts of my future. It wasn’t until Cameron pulled up in front of Hayden’s that my heart started pounding a little harder. And at the first sight of the scowl on his face, my stomach became filled with butterflies.

As Cameron put the car in park, he leaned over and kissed my cheek, a familiarity with him that was second nature and I hadn’t previously minded, until I looked off and saw Hayden’s scowl darken.