Page 44 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

She finished her straightening and went back behind the counter as the book club trickled out. It was a good job, running the bookstore. She loved it, but she couldn’t help but wonder what she might have done instead if she hadn’t been made manager so early on. Had she intended to work here forever?

She honestly couldn’t remember.

Jeanie wandered back into the shop, saying goodbye to her fellow book clubbers as they made their way out the door. She came over to the counter.

‘So did you convince him?’ Hazel asked, gesturing toward the phone.

Jeanie shrugged. ‘Maybe. He’s still not sure, but I think it would be good for him.’

‘And good for you.’

Her friend smiled. ‘And me. I miss him. And he could stay in my apartment above the shop and I could stay at Logan’s.’

Hazel lifted her eyebrows. ‘So ... you’re moving in with Logan?’

Jeanie’s cheeks colored. ‘It could be a good test run.’

‘Yeah, and you’re there all the time anyway.’

Jeanie’s dark brows knitted together. ‘True ... but officially moving in feels like a bigger deal.’

Hazel shrugged. ‘He adores you.’

Jeanie’s smile bloomed at Hazel’s reminder. ‘I know.’

‘And he doesn’t care that you leave your dirty socks around the house.’

‘Hey! He told you that?’

Hazel laughed. ‘He said it like it was cute!’

Jeanie made a face and went to grab her notebook and romance novel from the reading nook. ‘I have to get back to the café and then I have to tell Logan to stop literally airing our dirty laundry.’

‘Your secret is safe with me.’ Hazel assured her with a smile.

Jeanie pretended to scowl at her but the woman was too cheerful to pull it off. ‘Oh, so what about the defaced books? Are they just scribbled in or what?’

‘Oh ... uh...’ Hazel pushed her glasses up her nose. A need to protect her clues flared up inside her. It didn’t make sense but she wasn’t ready to share them, to share this whole bizarre summer. She wasn’t ready for everyone to think she was so pathetic that she had latched on to some randomly highlighted lines and based the last two months of her twenties on them. ‘Yeah, just seems to be some random marks. Probably a kid or something.’

‘Hmm. Strange.’

‘I’ll keep a better eye on things. I’m sure it won’t happen again.’ Even as she said it she hoped her words wouldn’t come true. If the clues stopped, what excuse would she have to keep hanging out with Noah?

His face above her as she came apart yesterday, the blue sky, bright behind his copper hair, flashed through her mind. Right. That might be a good enough reason. For the next few weeks anyway.

‘Okay, let me know if you need anything!’

‘Thanks, Jeanie.’

‘See you later!’

Hazel watched Jeanie walk past the large front windows of the shop before turning back to her work. She had orders to put in for next month and all the chatter about Bennett coming for Christmas reminded her she needed to get the holiday books in ASAP. It might still feel like summer outside but cozy season was rapidly approaching.

She had been very cozy yesterday, huddled under Noah’s blanket into the late afternoon. She’d returned home a little sunburned, very wind-blown, and more than a little bit ... happy.

For better or worse, Noah and the clues were making her happy.

And as a birthday gift to herself she refused to think about all the ways it could go horribly wrong.