Chapter 5 Window Confession Incident

The security footage from Meridian's archives had been damning. Daniel's voice, clear as crystal: "Alter the structural assessment. I want that bookstore condemned." Armed with this evidence, Emily had spent the past week preparing for the historical designation hearing, working alongside Lucas to develop a preservation plan that would satisfy both the committee and Meridian's board.

Tonight, however, was for celebrating. Sofia had insisted Emily take a night off, practically pushing her out the door for dinner with Maggie. "The bookstore won't collapse if you leave it for three hours," Sofia had argued. "Besides, I need to rearrange some displays."

Now, returning home after an evening of Maggie's surprisingly wild stories about architectural rivalries in the 1970s, Emily turned the corner onto her street and stopped dead in her tracks.

Bookmark's windows glowed with warm light, but they were completely transformed. The usual book displays had been replaced by an elaborate scene straight out of "Casablanca"—vintage suitcases, a miniature airplane, and a piano positioned perfectly in the window. A banner across the glass read: "Of all the bookstores in all the towns in all the world..."

Emily approached slowly, mesmerized by the detail. Inside, she could see Lucas directing Sofia and Janet as they arranged the final touches. The entire front section of the store had been transformed into Rick's Café, complete with Moroccan lamps and potted palms.

Her phone buzzed with a text from Sofia: "Surprise! Come in through the back door."

Emily hesitated. The display was stunning, romantic even, but a knot formed in her stomach. This was her bookstore—her sanctuary—altered without her permission. By Lucas, who despite everything, still worked for the company trying to take it from her.

Instead of going to the back door, she pounded on the front window.

Lucas turned, his face lighting up when he saw her. He hurried to unlock the door. "You're early! We're not quite—"

"What is this?" Emily demanded, pushing past him into the store.

Lucas's smile faltered. "It's... a surprise. For you."

"You changed my store without asking me," Emily said, her voice tight. "You rearranged everything."

"Just temporarily," Lucas explained. "For the weekend. I thought—"

"You thought what? That you could just take over? Decide what's best for my bookstore?"

Sofia stepped forward. "Em, it was my idea too. We wanted to do something special before the hearing."

"Casablanca is your favorite film," Lucas added. "You mentioned it that night in the attic."

Emily shook her head, emotion rising in her throat. "That's not the point. This store is all I have. It's my life's work, my home, my responsibility. You can't just come in and change it, even if you think you're helping."

"Emily," Lucas said softly, "everything can be put back exactly as it was. I took photos of every display before we moved anything."

"That's not the point!" Emily's voice rose. "The point is you did this without asking me. Just like Meridian thinks they can decide the fate of this building without considering what it means to the people inside it."

Lucas's expression hardened. "That's not fair. I've been working around the clock to help save this place."

"While still collecting a paycheck from the company trying to demolish it," Emily shot back.

The words hung in the air between them. Sofia and Janet exchanged glances and quietly retreated to the back room, leaving Emily and Lucas alone among the Casablanca props.

"I thought you'd understand by now," Lucas said, his voice low. "I'm trying to find a solution that works for everyone."

"By making decisions for me? About my own store?"

"It was supposed to be a gesture," Lucas insisted. "Something to show you that I see you—that I understand what matters to you."

Emily's anger flared hotter. "You don't get to decide what protection looks like for me or this store!"

"Why not?" Lucas challenged, stepping closer. "Why won't you let anyone help you?"

"Because the last time I trusted someone with this place, they betrayed me!" Emily shouted. "Daniel used everything I told him about the store's financial struggles against me in Meridian's first takeover attempt."

"I'm not Daniel!"

"No? Then what was that handshake I saw at the party?"

Lucas ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "I told you—it was about my alternative proposal!"

"Which you created without consulting me first," Emily pointed out. "Just like this... this takeover of my store!"

"It's not a takeover, it's a gift!" Lucas's voice rose to match hers. "Why can't you see that?"

"What gives you the right to decide what's best for me or my bookstore?" Emily demanded, tears threatening.

"Because I've been in love with you since I was twenty-two years old!" Lucas shouted.

The confession echoed in the silence that followed. Rain had begun to fall outside, pattering against the windows as they stared at each other.

"What?" Emily whispered.

Lucas took a deep breath. "After that night on Maple Street, after you helped me... I used to walk by this bookstore just hoping to see you. I was this screwed-up kid with burn scars, and you were this fierce, beautiful girl who stood up to monsters."

Emily shook her head in disbelief. "That was fifteen years ago."

"And then I saw your name in the preservation society newsletter when I moved back to Cambridge," Lucas continued. "Emily Carter, fighting to save Bookmark. I took the Meridian job partly because I knew they were targeting this neighborhood."

"You've been planning this for years?" Emily asked, incredulous.

"Not the display," Lucas clarified. "But finding a way to become someone worthy of the girl who saved me? Yes."

The intensity of his gaze was too much. Emily turned away, overwhelmed. In her agitation, she knocked into a prop suitcase, sending it crashing into the window. The glass shattered, raining shards onto the sidewalk and letting in the storm.

"Emily!" Lucas moved toward her, checking for injuries.

"I'm fine," she insisted, pulling away. The rain blew in through the broken window, soaking the Casablanca display. As Lucas rushed to salvage what he could, something caught Emily's eye among the glass shards—a framed photograph that had been hidden inside the prop suitcase.

She picked it up carefully. It showed a young woman in graduation robes, standing proudly in front of a building that looked remarkably like Bookmark. Beside her was a small boy with a familiar pearl earring. And on the woman's other side stood Maggie—decades younger but unmistakable.

"Lucas," Emily said slowly. "Why is Maggie in this photo?"

He turned, water dripping from his hair. When he saw what she was holding, his expression softened. "Because she's my grandmother."

"Your grandmother?" Emily repeated. "But that would mean—"

"That the woman who's been living in your upstairs apartment for the past year is my estranged grandmother, yes," Lucas confirmed. "The same woman who gave me this earring, who taught me that buildings have souls, and who apparently has been orchestrating this whole situation from the beginning."

Emily stared at the photograph, pieces falling into place. "She knew who you were the night of the storm."

"And she's known who I was since I took the job at Meridian," Lucas added. "She's been three steps ahead of all of us."

The rain poured in through the broken window, soaking books and props alike, but neither moved to address it. They stood facing each other in the wreckage of Lucas's romantic gesture, the truth finally exposed between them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Emily asked.

"Would you have trusted me if I had?" Lucas countered. "Or would you have assumed I was working with her to take over your store?"

The question hung between them, unanswerable. Outside, the storm intensified, a fitting backdrop to the emotional tempest within.

"The hearing is tomorrow," Emily said finally. "Whatever game Maggie's been playing, whatever your real intentions are—tomorrow we find out if any of it matters."

Lucas nodded, resignation in his eyes. "For what it's worth, every word I said was true. About you. About us."

Emily looked around at the ruined display, the shattered window, the rain-soaked books. "There is no us, Lucas. There's just a bookstore that needs saving and a lot of broken glass."

As she turned to find a broom, Lucas called after her: "You're wrong, Emily. There's always been an us. Since that night on Maple Street. Everything else—Meridian, the development plans, even this display—it's all been my way of trying to get back to that moment when someone finally stood up for me."

Emily paused but didn't turn around. "Tomorrow, after the hearing, we'll talk. About Maggie, about the store, about... everything."

"I'll be there," Lucas promised. "Whether you want me or not."

As Emily began sweeping up the broken glass, she caught sight of her reflection in a shard—fragmented, distorted, but somehow clearer than she'd been in years.