Page 95 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

And now here she was, heartsick and confused.

Annie shrugged.

‘He must have planned some way for these clues to end,’ Jeanie said. ‘Some kind of grand finale. And then he’ll proclaim his love for you!’

‘Okay, okay.’ Annie waved a hand like she could shoo away Jeanie’s romantic ideas. Hazel bit down on a smile. ‘Don’t get carried away. This isn’t one of your romance novels. This is Noah we’re talking about.’

‘Says the woman who has watchedWhen Harry Met Sallyat least fifty times.’

‘It’s a classic,’ Annie said, but Hazel cut off their debate.

‘You don’t think Noah’s capable of a grand finale?’ She didn’t care about clues or grand finales, but Annie knew what she was really asking. Did she think Noah was capable of being serious about her, about wanting her for real. Would he stick around for her?

‘I don’t know, Haze. But I really hope so.’

‘Me too.’ Noah had already surprised her so much. When she’d recruited him for this two-month adventure, she’d only expected him to be fun and maybe a little reckless. She hadn’t expected him to be so sweet and kind and sexy, well, that’s not true, she knew he was sexy. She hadn’t expected him to light up her world like he did.

She hadn’t expected to learn so much about herself just by being around him.

She hadn’t intended to do the most reckless thing of all. And she certainly hadn’t expected to fall in love.

‘Have faith, ladies,’ Jeanie said, getting up from the couch and stretching her arms over her head.

‘Easy for you to say,’ Annie said.

‘Have you talked to Mac lately?’ Jeanie teased as the two headed out of the office.

‘How dare you?!’

Jeanie’s laugh filtered back to the office. Hazel got up and followed them out to the front of the shop. Alex was behind the register. They had a romance novel in their hands.

‘Hey, Hazel. This book is marked up. What should we do with it?’

Jeanie and Annie simultaneously froze.

‘A clue!’ Jeanie’s eyes were bright with excitement.

The three of them ran to the counter, but Hazel was fast when she wanted to be.

‘I’ll take it!’

Alex assessed them with surprised amusement. ‘Okaaay...’

‘Open it. Open it!’ Jeanie was giddy beside her.

‘You guys are acting weirder than usual,’ Alex said, even as they also leaned over the book. Hazel opened it to the dog-eared page. It was a diary entry and the only highlighted line was the date.

September 28th.

Hazel’s birthday.

In the margins was a note.

Mac’s. 7:00, bring friends.

‘A grand finale,’ Annie breathed.

Jeanie clapped. ‘I told you!’