Page 5 of The Secret Crush Book Club (Peach Blossom #3)

Four

Z oey hung up the phone and stared down at it in silence.

She wasn’t sure what to make of the past couple minutes.

As juvenile as it sounded, it was like Christmas and her birthday had rolled into one to give her an amazing present in the form of a tall, leggy fantasy named Dani.

Fingers snapped in front of her face, jolting her from her thoughts.

“What? Why did you snap at me?”

Tiffany stood in front of her, hands on her hips as she gave Zoey a curious look. “Because you were just standing there, staring at your phone,” she explained. “What’s going on? Was it your brother?”

“No, it wasn’t Mason. That was Dani,” Zoey said as she slowly shook her head, trying to make sense of her thoughts.

It was like as soon as Dani’s voice had come over the line, her brain had made an immediate exit, and she was left with nothing more than air between her ears.

She had barely been able to stammer out a greeting before realizing Dani was taking her up on her offer.

“She said she wants to join us for the next book club.”

Tiffany stared at her for a moment before letting out a loud shout. Zoey instinctually shushed her before looking around and giving the few patrons around them an awkward smile.

“I can’t believe I just had to shush you,” Zoey joked with a pleased smile.

“How are you a librarian and breaking one of our most sacred rules?” She wasn’t really angry.

She was ridiculously happy at not only the fact that in a few days’ time, Dani would be sitting on her couch as they discussed books, but also that Tiffany was clearly just as excited as her about the newest development.

“Who cares,” Tiffany aggressively whispered, leaning in to Zoey’s space. “This is your time. This is where you and the sexy single mama have your big meet-cute moment that’s in every romance novel ever.”

She shook her head, but her smile didn’t wane. “I don’t think it really counts as a meet-cute if we’ve already met one another. And besides, she’s not coming as a date. She’s just coming as an acquaintance who is interested in books.”

Tiffany waved her hand, dismissing the words. “I refuse to believe this is anything other than romantic overtures, and your pessimism will not change that.”

“It’s not pessimism,” Zoey countered. “It’s realism. I don’t even know if she would be interested in someone like me. Besides, what are the odds that all of the sisters like women?”

“What are the odds that all of them are straight? What are the odds that all of them are right-handed? Who cares about odds. Your crush is coming to your book club. Why am I more excited than you are?” Was Tiffany more excited than Zoey?

That was a good question, and one Zoey didn’t have an answer for.

She was ridiculously excited to have Dani in her space, but she was also nervous.

“And what the hell do you mean ‘someone like me’?”

Despite working with the general public, Zoey knew she was not what was considered a people person.

She was awkward, and sometimes when she got too excited her brain and her mouth did not always agree on what should and shouldn’t be said.

It was part of why she started writing. It was easier for her to get words on a page and use them to make sense of the world and how she was feeling than to think of what to say on the fly.

Her high school English teacher had encouraged her to share her words, and that plus Mason’s never-wavering belief in her led to her writing her first book.

Still, two book deals and four novels later, she still felt the grips of imposter syndrome that left her insecure about the viability of her author career.

“I mean, she’s in the medical field and has a kid and a house. She has her whole life figured out, and I’m still trying to decide if I’ll be here in a year or if I’ll end up crashing on my brother’s couch and trying to restart again in a new city.”

“Well, first of all, I’m not letting you leave,” Tiffany said firmly. “Do you know how many librarians we’ve gone through in the past three years alone? You reaching out to me and agreeing to give my little hometown a shot was a miracle. I’m not letting you get away from me that easily.”

Zoey had known that Tiffany was excited when she had agreed to move to Peach Blossom even if the contract was initially just for a year.

Zoey had been doing all she could to breathe new life into the little library that had become like home to her.

It wasn’t like she wanted to leave after a year, but libraries depended on budgets, and this one might not have enough in it to keep her.

“It’s not like I want to leave—” Zoey’s words were cut off by Tiffany raising her hand, halting the conversation.

“No. We aren’t talking about that shit right now. We will save that for another night when you aren’t about to be face-to-face again with the future Mrs. Zoey. Right now, I want to understand why you aren’t excited about Dani coming to book club.”

That had Zoey’s heart beating overtime. She had invited Dani to book club on a whim partly because she wanted more time to get to know her, but also because Dani seemed to need something.

Zoey had always been observant, and with those skills came her strange ability to guess what people were looking for, particularly when they asked questions in the library.

Most of the time it was just about books and their reading habits.

Other times it was about activities that the library and surrounding community provided that she helped connect people to.

When she and Dani had talked, she had sensed not only that Dani loved books, but that she would enjoy having other people to talk about those books with.

And selfishly, Zoey wanted to be there to see Dani’s enjoyment.

It wasn’t the first book club Zoey had ever established, but it was one of the most surprising ones.

When she had put the flier out about establishing the club, she had assumed it would take a while to catch on, but the ten spots she’d had open were immediately filled by the end of the day.

She was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a good range of ages too.

When the votes for their first book were done, Zoey’s shock continued when Mrs. Pauline, one of the older members, had suggested and voted for a book with content warnings that looked like a grocery list. It wasn’t chosen, but Zoey had picked it up for herself anyway.

For research purposes, of course. Now, she was excited to open it up once again to see how Dani would fit into their group.

“I am excited,” Zoey reiterated finally. “I’m just nervous, I guess. What if I say the wrong thing and she gets the wrong impression of me? It’s not like we’ve ever really had an extensive conversation.”

Tiffany nodded as she gazed at Zoey. “You have a point,” she conceded. “I can understand being so nervous that you might say something that doesn’t land as well. But I have no such concerns, so how about I help you out and ask the hard questions?”

“Would you really?” Zoey asked, some of her anxiety melting away.

One of the reasons why she and Tiffany worked so well together was because Tiffany was far more outgoing.

She didn’t seem to agonize about whether or not to say something, like Zoey often did.

Sometimes that created awkward situations, but Tiffany always seemed to power through them, emerging on the other side with smiles on her face and the faces of whoever she was talking to.

If she ever dwelled on the interactions later, Zoey never knew.

Zoey knew that if she had that uncanny ability, she would probably be a menace.

It was a good thing that they balanced each other out in that regard.

“Of course,” Tiffany said with the smile. “Plus, this way I get to see you and Dani interact, and I can let you know if you should kick things up a notch or dial it back.”

Zoey sighed in relief before another thought struck her. She narrowed her eyes and gave Tiffany a considering look. “Do you want to be there just so that you have something to gossip about later on?”

Tiffany noted. “Oh, of course. When you guys are at your wedding, I will be giving the speech about how all this came about. Don’t worry, I won’t gossip with others. I selfishly want to be the only one who knows how all of this started. Consider it my fee.”

Zoey chuckled and shook her head. She would happily pay that fee for Tiffany’s help, so she let it go.

“Now that that’s settled,” Tiffany said, drawing Zoey’s attention again. “We need to figure out what you’re going to wear for the next book club and which restaurant you’re going to recommend.”

Zoey frowned. What did a restaurant have to do with anything? “Why do I need to recommend a restaurant?”

“For when you ask her on a date. You need to already have a place in mind to take her. Don’t just leave it open-ended. Take initiative. Women like that sort of thing, or so I’ve been told.”

The book in Zoey’s hand dropped onto the floor with a loud thump. She hadn’t gotten that far in her thoughts. “Date?” she asked, her voice going high. “I can’t ask her on a date at book club.”

“Why the hell not? Isn’t that what all this is for?”

“I mean, yeah,” Zoey confirmed. “But after her asking me for help, wouldn’t asking her out just seem opportunistic? Like I only asked her over for one thing?”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “That sounds like a load of bullshit to me. It’s not like as soon as she comes in, you’re going to invite her to see your strap collection.”

“Tiffany,” Zoey hissed, reaching out and covering her mouth.

She glanced around to see if anyone was paying them attention, and was relieved to see everyone else focused on their books or screens.

“I swear, you’re going to be the death of me.

” Zoey slid her hand away and rolled her own eyes at Tiffany’s shit-eating grin.

“I’m delightful and you know it,” she joked before pushing Zoey with her shoulder. When Zoey sighed, Tiffany patted her on the shoulder. “Cheer up, friend. Leave Operation You Get the Girl to me.”

* * *

Zoey clearly wasn’t thinking straight. She couldn’t do this.

She had spent the better part of the afternoon brooding over her decision to extend the book club invite to Dani.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want the other woman to come, because she really did.

Not just for selfish reasons either. Everyone who came to book club had such varied opinions and it made their insights about whatever book was chosen that month even better.

Sometimes, people could be looking at the same situation but have radically different interpretations, colored by their own experiences.

The discussions that arose from those differences were what Zoey lived for.

“Oh my gosh, sit down. I don’t even like the woman and yet you’re making me nervous.”

Zoey sighed but did as Tiffany asked, sitting at one of the barstools and trying not to vibrate out of her skin. “Sorry. It’s just been a while since…you know. I invited someone over I actually liked.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell at all,” Tiffany joked. She smiled over her shoulder. “Just relax. You had just about everything prepared before I got here. You even dusted your bookshelf.”

“I was stress cleaning.”

“There’s no reason to be stressed out,” Tiffany countered. “Dani is going to get here and when your eyes meet over the book, wedding bells will ring, pages will flutter and panties will fly.”

Zoey sputtered out a laugh. “Tiffany. You can’t just say stuff like that.”

Tiffany turned around from the stove and fixed a wicked smile on her face. “And why not? I know that’s what you’re hoping will happen. I’m just speaking it into the universe to manifest its existence.”

Zoey shook her head, but the ridiculous words had done their job. She was feeling a lot more relaxed about the whole thing. By the time the doorbell rang, she was almost calm about the fact that soon enough, Dani would be in her house.