Page 112 of Accidental Blind Date

“Define PDA…”

“Don’t touch my sister in front of me. I wouldn’t want to have to kick your ass again.”

I chuckle at that. Obviously, it’s not realistic to not touch her at all in front of him. But I’ll give it to him for now. Baby steps. “What else?”

“If you’re going to…mess around…in the shop, turn the fucking cameras off first.”

That actually makes me laugh. “Yeah…I’m still sorry about that.”

“Me too,” he shudders again.

I swallow a gulp of beer and then reach in my pocket, pulling out the golden key. Then I set it on the table.

“What’s that?” he asks.

“My key to the shop.”

Kai looks up at me skeptically. “Okay?”

“It’s a family business. I have no right coming in and changing that.”

“What about Hemingway?” he asks.

“We’ve opened three stores just this month. One of them on the Harvard campus. I’m not pressed for grand openings, Kai. But this shop, your family’s shop, it’s not a Hemingway. It’s not a means to an end. It has history and people who love it for what it is. My kids love it for what it is. I can’t stand to see it changed.”

Kai stares at the key before picking it up. “Alright. But you have to promise me something.”

“Name it,” I say.

“Don’t give up on her.”

I clink my glass to his, a silent pact. Because I couldn’t give up on Libby if I tried.

Chapter 41

Libby

There is something to be said about silencing your notifications. There is even more to be said about turning your phone off completely. Once I know that my shop is being repaired and the doors will be closed for a solid three days, I exhale all the toxicity of the last week from my body and truly rest. It’s like not wanting to go to school on a Friday because school is brutal and being a kid is hard, and then finding out it’s a snow day anyways.

By the time we open the doors again, I feel fresh. Wounded, but fresh. I know Dax knows better than to come around and all the shop changes are on hold. While my brother has tried in vain to get me to talk to Dax, I’ve ignored that too. I don’t really know how to feel about this new, more selfless version of my older brother. If I had to guess, it’s a phase so I don’t put a lot of hope in it.

Still, his words do get under my skin a little. Not just his, but Joni’s, Summer’s…I mean shit. Even Tom has tried to convince me to give Dax another shot. To hear him out. Hence the reason, my phone is off. I’m not trying to be a bitch about it. I am normally a very forgiving person. I don’t hold grudges, and I assume the best in people. But considering the amount ofdamage the man has done to a heart that was only just recently in the remission stages of heartbreak, it’s a little hard to just wave it off.

So, I hide in my bookstore, my happy place, in the horror section because I can’t stomach romance right now, even if there is a new Evvie Solomon book out. Despite being closed for several days, it’s been a quiet Saturday morning, and I don’t hate it. I have my coffee, I have a new price labeler, and I am content.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Summer’s voice comes from the other side of the horror shelf. She’s dusting an already dusted shelf, but I do have to give her an A for friend effort.

“Nope,” I say, taking a sip of my iced latte, choosing to relish the little things and ignore the realities.

“Fair enough,” she says but keeps dusting. She’s not going away yet.

“Because if you do, I’m here to listen.”

“Thanks,” I say.

More dusting.

I’m about to tell her, as her boss, to go find something else to do. Of course, there is nothing else to do and I’m not that kind of a boss.