Page 6 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

‘Youlook kinda strange.’

Annie stuck her tongue out and Jeanie giggled.

‘The heat always makes her grumpy,’ Annie whispered to Jeanie, like Hazel couldn’t hear her.

‘It doesn’t make me grumpy. It’s just not my favorite.’

‘Hazel hates sunshine. She’s like a vampire.’

‘I am not! I just prefer to be inside. I’m an inside cat.’

Jeanie laughed again, her gaze flicking between the two old friends. ‘Well, since you’re an inside cat, you may not want to come, but I convinced Logan we should have a bonfire tonight.’

‘A bonfire?’

‘Or like a regular campfire. I don’t know. But there will be s’mores!’

‘And drinks?’ Annie asked.

‘And drinks.’

‘Great, I’m in. And you, little inside cat? Can you manage the outdoors for a few hours to have fun with your friends?’ Annie was just teasing but her words hit a little too close to home. Hazel’s friends thought she couldn’t even tolerate a campfire?

She scowled. ‘Of course I can.’

‘Perfect!’ Jeanie clapped her hands in excitement and Hazel realized what she’d just signed on for. Bugs and smoke and dirt. And quite possibly Noah, considering he was Logan’s friend. Her stomach did a concerning swoop at the thought of the fisherman.

Damn it.

It was too late to back out. Jeanie was already packing up the rest of her sandwich and hustling out the door. ‘I gotta go. I left Crystal alone with the lunch rush, but I’ll see you guys later. Around eight!’

Hazel gave her a weak wave before meeting Annie’s eye again. Her best friend raised a blonde brow. ‘You sure you’re okay?’

Hazel sighed. She wasn’t okay. She was having some kind of mid-life crisis. Or quarter life crisis? Was that a thing? Either way, she was considering going on a scavenger hunt, inspired by some town book-defacer, just to have something to show for herself by her thirtieth birthday. None of that really seemed okay, but she didn’t feel like sharing it all with Annie just yet.

‘Yep. I’m good. Just a little worried about the lack of customers.’

Annie glanced around the empty store. ‘I wouldn’t worry too much, Haze. Everyone is just a little stir crazy after that long, wet July. They’ll be back.’

Hazel nodded. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’

Annie smiled and passed her a fresh baked cookie. A peace offering.

They ate the rest of their meal in companionable silence but Hazel’s attention kept slipping back to the crooked book and the blueberries and the rest of the summer stretching out, hazy and hot and wide open in front of her.

* * *

Hazel had already been bitten by no fewer than fifteen bugs and no matter where she sat around the fire the smoke seemed to blow in her face. She held a lukewarm beer in one hand and a s’more with a burnt marshmallow in the other hand. She was pretending to have a good time.

She wasn’t having a good time.

And Noah had just strolled in all sun kissed and freckled and her stomach was doing that swooping thing again.

‘Hey, everyone.’ He held up a hand in greeting and everyone called their hellos.

Hazel was flanked on either side by Annie and book-club Jacob, who were sitting in camp chairs while she got stuck with an old kitchen chair she was pretty sure might give out at any moment. George from the bakery was also here, standing with his beer while toasting a marshmallow. Isabel, Jeanie’s other book-club friend, had wandered away from the group to call home and make sure the kids had fallen asleep without her. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed. No one else seemed to be getting eaten alive.

Logan was tending the fire with more concentration and strategy than Hazel felt should be needed to tend a fire, but even he seemed pleased with how the evening was going. Annie was right. Summer made Hazel grumpy.