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Lark looked around and then stepped close to me. “Like you want to—” She stuck her tongue between two fingers held up in a V and laughed.

“Jesus Christ, Lark,” I said, going twelve different shades of red. “It’s a good thing Liam didn’t walk out here and find you doing that.”

She cackled and gently shoved me. “You should have seen the look on your face.”

“You know, I think Sydney is rubbing off on you,” I said. That motion was something she definitely would have done.

“Mmm, she definitely is,” Lark said, raising and lowering her eyebrows.

“Gross, Lark,” I said, making a face. She just laughed and I couldn’t help but be happy for her. She adored Sydney and was adored in return.

I wanted that. I wanted it so much.

I went back to cleaning to try and stop myself from thinking about it.

* * *

Lark and I both tried to rush out of work so we’d have enough time to get home and get cute for book club. The previous night I’d set out my planned outfit, so all I had to do when I got home was take a quick shower, do something with my hair, and get dressed before walking down the stairs and then around the building so I could enter Mainely Books from the front.

“Whoa,” I said when I walked in. Since the book we read took place in a café, Joy had gotten lots of cute café decorations, as well as pink balloons and streamers.

She and Ezra were still running around and setting everything up, so at least I wasn’t late.

“Hey, good to see you,” Joy said, giving me a bright smile and a quick hug.

“It looks beautiful, as always,” I said.

“Thank you,” Joy said, beaming from the praise. She put her heart and soul into every single meeting of this club, and I didn’t think she’d ever know how much it meant to everyone that she did. Book club wasn’t just about the reading. It was a safe space where sometimes, we had put aside the books and let people just vent about their shit in a safe space. We had come together more than once to raise money for members, or to support someone when they were going through something. It really was a community, and I was so grateful for it.

“I know it’s late, so caffeine can be tricky, so we have a lot of decaf on hand,” Joy said. “But coffee is probably the last thing you want to drink right now.”

“You’d be right about that,” I said. Although, I did love an espresso martini every now and then.

“Well help yourself and get a chair and we’ll start when everyone gets here,” Joy said, fiddling with the arrangement of cupcakes on the table. Layne had been here already, because there was a plate of incredible-looking brownies, and I didn’t miss the trio of dips nestled with various crudité and chips. Drawn more to the voices in the back of the shop than the food, I headed around the shelves to the little area where members were setting the chairs in a circle.

Lark, Sydney, Layne, Honor, Everly, and Ryan were already here, along with a number of other people. So many of us tried to get here early to ease the burden on Joy.

“This is all pretty fancy,” a voice said behind me and I turned to find Tenley standing behind me wearing a faded bookish t-shirt and jeans.

“Yeah, Joy does an incredible job,” I said.

Tenley’s eyes flicked to the group that was already gathered and chatting with each other.

“You going to introduce me, or how does this work?” she asked, standing so close to me I could feel the heat from her skin.

“I can, if you want,” I said. “We get people coming in and out, but there’s no pressure to stand up and say your name and three facts about yourself or anything like that.”

Tenley snorted. “I would, if I had to. I don’t mind speaking in public.”

No, she definitely did not. I’d forgotten that she’d been in the drama club in high school and had been in several of the school plays.

I led her back toward everyone else and immediately Lark came over.

“Hey, it’s weird seeing you outside of CG and without your laptop,” Lark said.

“Sometimes it feels like I’m surgically attached to it, I swear,” Tenley said. “When you’re self-employed, you work all the time.”

“Truth,” Sydney said. “Hey, it’s nice to see you, Tenley.”