Page 8 of One Small Spark (Love in Sunshine #4)

SIX

WREN

She’s secretly obsessed with him, too?

She’s secretly obsessed with him, too?

It’s been two days, and I can’t get Callahan’s smug voice out of my head. I’ve tried listening to audiobooks, ASMR, and even two-thousands-era boy bands to wash it out. No dice. It’s stuck in my brain like baked-on grease on a cookie sheet.

It doesn’t help that his voice is pure chocolate, all rich and smooth. Everything would be easier if he had a squeaky, high-pitched voice, not this low monstrosity that would make me crave the sound if it weren’t attached to him.

The other part, the part he said first… that’s easier to forget. He’s not obsessed with me. That’s just part of what we do. We needle and get under each other’s skin and say things that sound like some kind of confession, but it’s all leading up to the real punchline: that I’m secretly into him.

Obsessed .

Ha.

As though I spend my days thinking about Callahan.

“Are you okay?” Tess asks. “You’re wringing out that washcloth like you want to tear it in half. ”

I shove Callahan out of my mind like a woman throwing her ex’s belongings out the window. I smooth the rag in my hand and lay it on a shelf behind the counter. In between customers, I’ve been rage-cleaning the bakery. Countertops, tables, even the mopboards are sparkling.

“I’m fine.”

I don’t love lying to my sister. The problem is, I know how this goes. The second I bring up Callahan, people start smirking and giving me knowing looks as though they didn’t hear a word I said. It’s obnoxious.

I’ve witnessed zero cases of enemies turning into lovers in real life, but everyone thinks the guy I can’t stand is my one true love. Make it make sense.

“You’d be a better liar if you fixed one thing.” She points at me, her finger inches from my nose. “Your face. It’s obvious something’s bugging you.”

True. And if I tell her, she’s going to take a running jump right into Lake Callahan’s Not So Bad. Everyone I know loves swimming there. As far as I’m concerned, the waters are infested with brain-eating parasites.

I’m not in the mood to discuss him with Tess. But I can deflect a wee bit.

“Hope isn’t moving into an apartment with Griffin.” An issue I haven’t looked at head-on again since she told me. “They’re going to stay where they are until their house is ready. So I’m back to square one on finding my own place to live.”

It’s disappointing enough that I don’t even have to fake extra emotion to go with the fib.

“Oh.” Tess’s expression falls. “That’s a bummer for you. Understandable, but a bummer.”

“But, hey! Maybe you and Ian want to move in together? Then I could take your apartment. Or his. I’m not picky.”

It’s a really nice duplex, and they get it for a steal because Ian’s aunts own it. I wouldn’t expect the same hefty discount on rent, but I’d take one of the units in a heartbeat. I would have my own place and be close to August’s cuddles again. A win all around.

Tess doesn’t break out the “What a great idea!” smile I was hoping for.

“We’re not ready to move in together. We’ve only been dating for a few months. We know where this is going between us, but we don’t want to rush anything—for us or August. Plus, I need this time living on my own, even if Ian is right next door.”

“Ugh. Why do you have to be so sensible?” The Responsible Oldest Sister Curse, I’m guessing.

“You’ll find a place.”

“Yup. Just like you found a place—by having one dropped in your lap by a well-meaning friend.” Ian’s aunts not only asked her to live there with reduced rent, they practically threw a boyfriend into the deal.

All the rentals I’ve found want first, last, deposit, an extra fee for my lack of rental history, and my firstborn child.

We are not the same.

“You could ask around more,” she says.

“Brilliant plan. So many people we know have a sweet apartment they haven’t advertised.”

She leans a hip against the front counter. “You’re being a pill.”

I drop my sarcasm. None of this is her fault. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just annoying. Why is rent so expensive?”

Whenever I see the massive total I’ll have to shell out for a subpar apartment, my enthusiasm for finally moving out of Mom’s house fades a little more.

“You’re not exactly broke.” She gives me a critical once-over. “Unless you’ve spent all your money on something crazy.”

“Yarn is not crazy. ”

I go to the fiber goods store at least once a week. I tell myself I’m just going to look, but then I start touching, too. Touching usually results in purchasing. It’s a vicious cycle.

“Are you still saving for New Zealand?” she asks, all soft and sympathetic.

Her borderline pity makes me ready to slam the door on this conversation. Just because I’ve been dreaming about traveling for years and haven’t actually done it yet, everybody wants to make it out to be some tragedy.

I raise my voice so I can be heard across the shop. “I’m saving up for the most lavish wedding present for Hope and Griffin.”

From her side of the pass-through between our stores comes Hope’s, “Woohoo!”

“Diamond-encrusted salad tongs are all the rage.”

“I can’t wait to use those tongs,” she shouts back.

Tess looks unimpressed, but too bad. If we got into a discussion about not doing the things we really want to do, we’d both wind up sad about our choices. She’s doing better at going after her goals now, but for a long stretch of years, neither of us followed our dreams.

A few minutes later, I’m spared any more uncomfortable looks from my sister. Rosetta walks into the bakery, and I go into customer service mode.

“Welcome in.” Unlike some versions of customer service mode, my big smile is genuine for her. I liked her when I only knew her as Sunshine’s head librarian, but now that I know she can throw down about romance, I’m an even bigger fan.

“Wren. I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”

Her stern-mom voice sends a chill through me. “What? Why?”

Have I been kicked out of book group already? I wasn’t that bad the other day …

“I think you brought those pies to book club to get us hooked.” Her faux-frown morphs into a grin. “It’s only been a few days, and here I am, needing more.”

I put a hand over my racing heart. “Geez. I thought you’d looked through the fine history on my library card or something.”

I stopped checking out paperbacks because of the constant late fees. At least ebooks return themselves on the right day.

“Not at all. I’m just here for more of your wonderful desserts.” She looks over the selection of pies in the display case. “That pear pie had my eyes rolling back in my head. Ooh. What is the cranberry silk pie like?”

My brain fizzles out as I relive Callahan ordering the same pie.

Because I made it. He does it every week to get to me.

I shouldn’t care anymore. But I do. It’s our thing, in a twisted way.

Some week, he’s going to order something I didn’t make.

Park in a space other than mine. Or he’ll stop coming in entirely.

And what will I do then?

“It’s, uh…” I need a second. “It’s a custard pie that offsets the tart cranberry flavor with the sweetened cream piping and a caramel cookie crust.”

“I’ll take one of those.”

Tess moves to the side so I can grab one to slice and box up.

“I tried to reserve the ebook for next month from the library, but it’s got a long waitlist.” Best to distract myself with a safe topic. The popular cowboy romance they chose is as good as any. “Paperbacks were the same.”

Even though checking out a paperback would result in brand-new late fees.

“Give the waitlist a try,” Rosetta says. “The club ladies are the bulk of the current reads. They should finish up in a week or two.”

“That’s good to hear. I didn’t want to go into Bend to find it at a bookstore.” Bookstores are worse than yarn stores for impulse buys.

“I have to say, you and Shepherd are already making our group ten times more fun.”

Tess stills. She slowly turns toward me like some kind of spooky predator. “Shepherd Callahan is in your romance book club?”

“The very same.” Rosetta’s got a big old smile on her face.

“I know,” I say to Tess. “I’m shocked, too.”

“Why?” Rosetta steps closer to the counter. “He’s in the library all the time.”

Probably researching ways to ruin other people’s businesses. There are handbooks for everything these days.

“He’s a voracious reader—always paperbacks—and a faithful volunteer.” She sounds as proud as if she’s talking about her own son.

I freeze mid-slice. “He volunteers at the library?”

“Oh, yes. He started out just shelving books, but we’ve had a program for the last few years to help middle school boys improve their literacy.

Reading with young men like Shepherd makes them feel cool and accepted, and the books boost their vocabulary.

It’s an informal mentorship situation, too, if the turnaround in Jackson Donaldson’s behavior is any indication. ”

“That’s really…something.”

I can’t say much else. If it were Hope or Tess, I’d think they were making it up just to get a rise out of me. But Rosetta’s so earnest in her praise of Callahan, I can’t question it.

He volunteers at the library? With kids? He’s a voracious reader? What?

I ring her up, still reeling from this new information. It’s not like I thought he was a monosyllabic goon, but that and library volunteer are at two very different ends of the spectrum.

She takes the pie, and her smile turns devious. “Who wouldn’t want to read with that man, am I right?”

Rosetta walks out, leaving my imagination running wild with scenarios of Callahan reading to me . I blame Lila and her Adonis boyfriend. Right after they started seeing each other, she told us how he read to her on the camping trip where they met—and still reads to her practically every night.

A vivid image barrels into my head and parks there: Callahan and me lounging on a couch, his long legs tangled with mine, my head on his chest while he reads a book aloud. My heart pounds a frantic beat, endorsing this imaginary plan.

Tess slides closer to me. “You left a lot out of your description of your new book group.”

Yes. I did. I already heard Hope’s “I think you’ve got him all wrong” speech, I didn’t need to listen to another.

I take a big step backward. “I think it’s time for my break.”

Tess’s mouth quirks. “That’s convenient.”

“And mandatory by law. So.” I hook a thumb over my shoulder. “I’m just going to…”

Escape, is what I’m going to do.