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“What did you mean? That when you said yes to the date you thought you were going out with my sister?”
Daniel ran a hand over his face. “You guys look exactly alike. It’s a trip.”
“It’s called being twins.”
“But I should have noticed the difference right away. I mean, Autumn’s loud and laugh-a-minute and she’s got this mysterious quality to her. And you’re more—”
“—reserved and predictable.”
“Predictability is a good thing,” he said vehemently. “Guys might want a little mystery, but after a while they just want something comfortable, loyal, and warm.”
“You just described your dog.” Summer told herself that it didn’t matter, it would only add insult to injury, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Would you have said yes if you’d known it was me?”
“I was relieved it was you,” he said with no hesitation, and her bruised ego recovered just enough so she could take in a breath without inflicting too much pain. “I’m not looking to date right now. Between work and my research, I don’t have the energy for anything more than friends.”
“So you knew I’d be a friend right off the bat?”
“Didn’t you? I mean, you asked me to meet you at the dog park. We talked about books and medical journals, and our dogs’ gastrointestinal systems. That doesn’t really scream ‘date.’”
She crossed her arms over her chest, flashing the public be damned. “I wore a new dress. A red, hot-date kind of dress.”
“Maybe, but your energy is dialed to ‘waiting for someone else to come along.’”
Was it?
Summer liked to think of herself as open and responsive, genuinely looking for that right connection. Maybe she’d been so busy looking for the insta-love that she’d missed out on a slow burn with a great guy. But she’d tried the slow burn with Ken, and the embers had been so contained that he’d walked away to start over, three thousand miles away—where, according to a social-media deep dive on her part, he’d found his flame.
Daniel stilled, his eyes going soft with something that made Summer nauseous. “Did you think this was a date?”
Yes! Of course I thought it was a date. Any woman would think so!Then again, she wasn’t any woman. Summer Russo was Ridgefield’s honorary bookworm and shy girl with a penchant for chasing away great men. “I’ve got to go.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “So we’re still good for Friday?”
Summer gave a lame two thumbs up and Princess Buttercup barked. “So good.”
She waited until Dr. Daniel and Freckle had disappeared around the corner before she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.
Why was this her life? This was the seventh failed meet-cute just this year, and it was only May.
“Upward and onward,” she said to Buttercup.
Buttercup looked at her with those big doggie eyes and cute wrinkly jowls and farted.
“Pretty much sums it up.” She straightened and led Buttercup through into the shop, the jingling bells welcoming her and bringing her back to the first time she’d stepped through that door.
She was immediately greeted by the musty smell of ink on paper, glue from the bindings, and a hint of the aroma of the hand-pressed Italian espressos that had been served to customers earlier that day. She was also greeted with the many memories she’d made there. Huddled on her grandmother’s lap, both in their pajamas, readingThe Secret GardenorLittle Women. She could almost feel her nonna’s arms around her, whispering in her ear the words that one day this shop would be hers.
Summer wasn’t a storyteller like her father or a shining star like her twin. But in this bookstore, she could become anyone she wanted to be. A fair maiden, a deadly assassin, or even the sometimes awkward but endearing girl who, through self-exploration and pluck, got the boy of her dreams.
Summer took it all in and found herself smiling. So the date hadn’t gone as planned. So what? She was living her dream. Spending her days at All Things Cupid, using her superpower of pairing the right love story with the right person.
After unleashing Buttercup, who immediately waddled to her food bowl and then plopped down in front of it like one of Her Majesty’s Guards protecting the Crown Jewels, Summer unbuttoned her dress and slowly made her way back toward the counter, where she kept a spare change of clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror that hung behind the register and let out a sigh that came from the depths of her soul.
Normally, being in her nonna’s shop, surrounded by all the beautiful books and endless adventures, could erase even the worst of days. Owning All Things Cupid was every bookworm’s dream and every booklover’s escape from the daily grind of life.
But not tonight, she thought as she looked at her reflection. Tonight, she felt like a big red fire hydrant in a dog park. She was covered in fur, snot, and possibly had dog poop stuck to the underside of her heels.
“You never know, this may end up being a friends-to-lovers situation,” she told herself, pulling her dress over her head and inspecting the gigantic rip. The dress was ruined, but her night hadn’t been a total disaster. She’d gone on a date with a charming man, gained some new experiences, and come out one failed meet-cute closer to her soulmate.