𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒

Chapter 41 |Bookstore|

"Hey, Dad." I greet him through the phone. I rest the phone between the side of my face and my shoulder while I fold my clean clothes. It was a cleaning day for the guys and me.

"Hey, how are you?" My dad asks. We had been talking at least once every day. We have always been close but never as close as mom and me. I was happy he was making an effort to get closer to me.

"Good, how are you?" I ask him as I put away a pair of underwear. I hear my door open and I look up and see Leo walking in with an empty hamper bin. I thanked him and grabbed it to put it in the corner.

"I've been managing. Listen, I have to tell you something." Dad says his voice is unsure. I stop what I'm doing and hold my phone properly.

"What's up?" I ask him. I hear him inhale before exhaling.

"It's the bookstore, your mom left it in your hands. If you don't want ownership over it then I will take it." Dad says and I feel my heart stop for a second.

I practically grew up in that store. I have so many amazing memories there and the thought of me handing it over didn't feel right. Mom had left it to me in her will and I wasn't going to give it away even if it was to dad.

"You there?" Dad asks me and I break out of my thoughts. I clear my throat before I reply to him.

"I keep it under me, I'll find some way to get it backup and working," I say. We talk for a while more before we bid each other goodbye. Right as I hang up my door opens.

"Hi beautiful," I say as River walks over to me. She smiles that gorgeous smile of hers at me before placing a kiss on my lips.

"Hi," River mutters against my lips when she pulls away. I watch as she takes a seat on my bed and takes out her book from her bag. She was dressed in a baby blue knitted cropped shirt with a short black skirt and black boots, her wavy hair was free on her shoulders.

The weather has been warmer this week, so her wearing a skirt didn't surprise me. She had a tote bag next to her with everything she needed inside of it. She looked different today. I look at every detail about her to figure out what it was.

"Did you get your nails done?" I ask her as I look down at her hands. She had baby blue Acrylic nails with a clear nail with flowers on it on her ring fingers.

"Oh! Yeah, do you like them?" She asks as she holds her hand out. I take her hand in mine and look at them.

"They look gorgeous," I compliment. She smiled so might, I think the sun is jealous. I kiss her forehead and tell her that I'll be done soon. She nods and goes to my bed and I watch her for a second, admiring the beauty in front of me.

I quickly finish putting away all my clothes before I crawl onto the bed. I lay down with my head on River's lap and my arms wrapped around her waist. She had her back to the headboard of the bed while she looked for something to watch.

I close my eyes and relax in her arms. I feel her hand start to rub my back. I look over at the TV when I hear voices start to speak. 'Control Z' is what she decided to watch. "What's on your mind?" She asks me gently as she clicks play on the show.

"Dad told me that mom had left her bookstore to me in her will. I don't know how I feel about it. I want to keep it up and running but I need someone to work there." I tell her honestly.

"How about, you let your dad work and take care of the place. Until summer. Then once summer is here and we are done with the year. We can fix it up, hire employees and all that, and then we will figure out what to do next when we get there." River tells me.

"That's a good idea," I say mumbling to myself. I think over her words and agree with what she had said. I can run everything with dad to see how he feels about it.

"I know." River says with a teasing smile. I chuckle at her cockiness as I snuggle my head in her lap. I tell her to press play on the show she had chosen. I slowly start to fall asleep while River plays with the strands of my hair.

~~~~~

I wake up to a loud noise coming from downstairs. I jump and reach for River only to see her side of the bed empty. I hurry off the bed and swing open my door before running down the stairs to the kitchen.

When I rush into the kitchen, I see Greyson and Roman getting scolded by River. Nora sat next to them silently laughing as she sat on the floor playing with Autumn.

"What happened?" I asked them after I finally determined that no one was severely hurt. I watch River look over at me and her glare softens as she walks over to me.

She wraps her arms around me and I muzzle my head into the crook of her neck. "Those idiots happened." She tells me as my body relaxes in her hold. I sigh while I calm down, they scared the absolute hell out of me.

"I didn't think he would smack me with a pan!" Greyson exclaims and that makes Nora laugh loudly. I looked up at them confused about what they were talking about. Nora is the one to tell me as she laughed so hard I think she might not be able to breathe.

"Greyson thought it would be a good idea to scare Roman. He hid next to the wall near the yard door and jumped out. What he didn't know was that Roman was bringing in the cooking pans that they used last night." Nora stops speaking to take a breath.

"Roman jumped and smacked him with the pan." She lets out a dramatic sigh when she finally calms down. I watch as she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye.

I glance over at the two people standing next to the kitchen island. Greyson rests his elbows on the marble while he holds an ice pack to his forehead. Roman stands next to him apologizing and then telling him how stupid he is.

"You guys scared the living daylights out of me," I say as I point a finger at the two of them. Roman lifts his hand in surrender.

"I never understand that saying!" Greyson exclaims as he sits up and places his other hand that's not holding the ice pack on his hip. Roman turns to him and mutters something to him.

"I'm going back to bed, please don't do anything stupid," I tell the guys before I give River a quick kiss on her forehead and make my way back upstairs.