Page 52

“Thanks, Bren.”

She pulled her phone out and took a smiling selfie. “My aunt is always pestering me to go out and do things, so this is evidence that I did. And I’m going to tell my friend that I came and had a good time.”

She was so damn cute I couldn’t stand it.

My phone buzzed with a new message and I saw that it was from Melliferal.

Survived my first book club meeting. Found a friend, so it wasn’t terrible!

Everything in the room ground to a halt.

I stared at the message and then looked at Honey.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, my voice sounding like it came from someone else.

Before I freaked out, I was going to check, so I stumbled to the bathroom and locked the door before sending Melliferal a message.

That’s great! What book was it?

My hands shook as I held my phone and waited for a response from Mel.

It came almost immediately, and the title of the book was the one that we’d read tonight.

My phone clattered to the floor and I found it difficult to breathe. Running to the sink, I turned on the cold water and thrust my hands under the tap, meeting my wide eyes in the speckled mirror.

“Holy shit,” I said, my entire body trembling like I was in the midst of an earthquake.

Honey was Melliferal.

Honey

I waited for Bren to come out of the bathroom, but she’d been in there a long time. Most everyone had left, and I needed to get home myself, but I wanted to make sure she was okay.

Gently, I knocked on the bathroom door.

“Bren? You okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” she said, not sounding fine at all.

“Are you sure? Do you need anything? I can give you a ride if you need.” No matter what was going on with her, I wanted to help. Even if she ruined the passenger seat of my car.

“I’m fine, Honey. Just go home.” Her voice was sharp and irritated. Okay then. She didn’t want me to help her, but I wasn’t going to abandon her in the bathroom.

I found Delaney folding up the chairs and taking them to the storage room.

“Hey, so I think something is up with Bren, but she doesn’t want me to help, so can you just make sure she’s okay?”

Delaney’s eyes went wide. “Oh no, I hope she didn’t have a reaction or something. Thanks for letting me know.”

She went right away to the bathroom and I stood back as she knocked. Whatever Bren told her made her nod at me and then shrug as she stepped away from the door.

“She said she’s fine. Just had an issue with her contacts.”

As far as I knew, Bren didn’t wear contacts. Something was up, but she wasn’t going to tell me about it. Like I’d care if she had her period and stained her pants or anything else like that.

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Delaney,” I said. There was nothing else I could do but send Bren a message saying I hoped she got home safe and to leave the bookshop completely and utterly confused.

Bren didn’t respondto my message and then Bibliofile had also gone silent. Had I done something to piss off everyone in my life?