Page 8 of The Secret Crush Book Club (Peach Blossom #3)

Seven

Z oey didn’t get off work often. She worked a normal shift at the library, but because it was often understaffed with no room in the budget to hire another employee, she often took advantage of the overtime by filling in where she was needed.

Today was different. The library was slow enough that another hand wasn’t needed, which gave Zoey time to explore the town at her leisure.

Her latest book proposal had been accepted, which hadn’t been a surprise since it had been part of the discussions for her last release.

What had been a surprise was how quickly the publisher had agreed, given the book was a new genre for her.

Zoey had been toying with the idea of a cozy murder mystery set in a small town, but she had never really lived in one.

When she had talked to Tiffany about the idea, she was quick to tell Zoey to come to Peach Blossom.

The head librarian there had been holding off on retirement until they found someone to fill the empty librarian slot.

With Zoey’s interest, the woman had jumped at it and Zoey had quickly put in for the position, seeing it as killing two birds with one stone when it came to finding a small town to help with research and catching up with her friend.

She had been even more shocked at how excited her agent and editor were when she mentioned her book being based off the town she was currently calling home for at least the next year.

It was her first book set in a small town, and while she was excited, she was also slightly apprehensive.

This was going to take a bit more additional research, considering she had lived either on base when she was a child and moved around based on her older brother’s deployment schedule, or in a big city when she had moved for college.

Small town life had always appealed to her, with the camaraderie that came with being familiar down to the very bones of your generation.

She had wanted to taste what that was like since she was a child and felt almost lost in the shuffle of military life.

She was grateful that not only was her brother able to get guardianship of her, but that he was actually willing to take care of her in the first place.

It helped that they were only eight years apart, but he was still young when she moved with him.

Mason did the best he could, but there were times when Zoey felt like she missed out on a lot of things that went with having a nuclear family.

The problem Zoey found herself in now is that she hadn’t actually started writing her book yet.

She usually preferred to do as much research as possible before she penned her first word, but she had a firm deadline for this first draft, and she had been staring at a blank document for several weeks with no clue where to start.

She had an idea of the characters she wanted to incorporate, but she needed more.

That’s how she found herself strolling through downtown Peach Blossom, waving at the few familiar faces that walked by.

Zoey recognized mostly the children who tended to come in for the library’s children’s reading time twice a week, as well as a few of the parents who stayed around enjoying the quiet that came with someone else tending to their kids for an hour.

She didn’t doubt that for some, that was the only quiet time they got outside of bedtime or if the kids were at school.

Unable to help herself, Zoey stopped in the bookstore.

Just because she was a librarian didn’t mean she got to check out books whenever she wanted.

Plus, she still had to return them when she did.

The many books in her living room were a collection of either books she had received from fellow authors and publishers, or those she had purchased herself.

She had a book budget, and with a sigh, she noted that she was already long past it for the month.

“Hey, Zoey. Back to grab a few more books today?” Ellie called out.

Zoey smiled but shook her head as Ellie walked around one of the aisles.

Her smile was wide, and she was carrying a stack of books in her hands.

Zoey was curious, but she knew if she let herself get distracted with other people’s books, she would never finish writing her own.

“Not today. I think you obliterated my book budget for the next few months,” Zoey said with a smile.

She didn’t mind going over budget every now and then when the new releases were so hard to ignore, but she tried not to make it a habit.

“Just wandering a bit to get some inspiration.” Ellie knew Zoey was an author.

It wasn’t like Zoey was trying to keep it like some firmly guarded secret.

It just didn’t usually come up in everyday conversation.

“Awesome. Let me know if you need a beta reader when you’re done. I’d love to read more of your work.”

Zoey knew Ellie was serious and not just blowing smoke up her ass.

It was nice to be able to talk books with someone else, especially someone who had a girlfriend who was also a creative.

Ellie had let it slip that her girlfriend, Nova, was a singer, and was surprised when Zoey had a small freak-out moment.

Some of Nova’s songs had been stars of Zoey’s book playlists, especially because her last album was explicitly about women loving other women.

Ellie had been so bashful when Zoey mentioned it that she had immediately known Ellie was the muse that had served as inspiration.

“I definitely will,” Zoey replied as she made her way out of the store before her wallet accidentally fell open and money spilled out in exchange for books she didn’t need.

From the bookstore, she finally decided to make her way to the bowling alley.

She had talked to Terry a couple days ago about speaking with him about his family’s deep roots in Peach Blossom.

From what little she had found in her own research, his family was one of the founding families that essentially built Peach Blossom from the ground up.

Those were the type of deep roots she needed to explore because as someone who had never even been back to visit the city she was born in, it seemed almost improbable to Zoey for multiple generations to continue to live in one place even as the decades rolled by.

Zoey wiped the sweat from her brow. It was still spring, but summer was not far away, and she was regretting choosing to walk instead of drive.

When she opened the door to the bowling alley, Zoey let out a sigh of relief as cool air rushed toward her.

She was so deep in her enjoyment of central air-conditioning that she almost ran straight into someone exiting the alley at the same time.

“Oh, excuse me,” Zoey said, taking a step to the side.

“You’re fine. Wait, aren’t you Zoey?”

It took a moment for Zoey’s eyes to acclimate to the dimmer light, but once they had, she blinked quickly, trying to remember where she had seen the two women in front of her. “Yes?”

The other woman smiled and at once she looked even more familiar. “I’ve seen you a couple times when I came to pick Jordan up when Dani had to work. I’m her sister, Ava.”

Zoey widened her eyes all at once, understanding why the other woman looked familiar and yet not. She vaguely remembered seeing her at the library, but it was mostly her similarity to Dani that helped put the pieces together. “Oh, nice to meet you. Sorry for almost bowling you over.”

The other woman standing beside her smiled and Zoey was damn near blinded by how perfect her smile was.

The woman was taller than Ava by a few inches, with the type of skin that looked like smooth butter and a style that was the perfect blend of feminine and masculine.

Zoey felt downright dumpy by comparison with her faded blue T-shirt and boyfriend jeans.

“I’m Grace,” the woman said before holding her hand out.

Zoey scrambled to shake it instead of standing there staring.

Dani was most definitely the person she was interested in right now, but Zoey was enamored, not dead.

Grace was gorgeous and Ava was cute as hell.

If Zoey had known small towns had such cute women, she might have gone to one sooner. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Yeah, Jordan talks about you all the time,” Ava added. She cocked her head to the side. “Dani had mentioned how cute you looked in your new glasses and she wasn’t wrong.”

Now, Zoey felt her cheeks heat up and she had to fight hard not to bring her hands up to cup them.

It wasn’t the first time she had been called cute, but it was still tough to get used to after having been such an awkward kid.

It took her a minute to clock Ava’s words, but when she did, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

“Dani has mentioned me?” Once the words were out there, Zoey couldn’t pull them back.

She held her breath when Ava gave her a considering look.

She knew her words probably gave her away, so she thought quickly to figure out how she could salvage the situation without looking like she desperately wanted to know what else Dani might have said about her.

Even though she pretty much did. She was like a black hole starving for any little bit of information about what Dani thought about her. Or if.

“Did she find the books I suggested for her helpful?”

Ava’s expression didn’t change. “What books?”

“The ones…um, the self-help books.” Now Zoey was wondering if she was talking too much.

What if Dani didn’t want Ava to know about the books?

“She asked for some advice. Well, I don’t know about ‘ask for advice’ so much as helpful suggestions.

The advice was all me. Hopefully it wasn’t too much, and I didn’t overstep. ”

Grace snorted. “Trust me, if you had overstepped with Dani, she would have let you know. She isn’t exactly known for biting her tongue.

” Ava agreed with her, though her shrewd eyes never left Zoey’s face.

It was unnerving being under that stare.

It reminded Zoey of the look Mason always got when he figured out she was lying about something.

“Are you interested in Dani?” Ava asked, her tone too even for Zoey to glean any emotion.

“I…what?” Flustered, Zoey wasn’t sure what to say, her tongue tripping up and saying a lot of nothing. Ava didn’t elaborate and when Zoey glanced over, Grace didn’t even have the decency to look surprised. “Interested how?”

Ava smiled and shrugged. “Platonically. Romantically. Take your pick.”

“Oh, well. She’s really nice to talk to.

And she has great taste in books,” Zoey said, trying to figure out a way to salvage the conversation.

There was no way any information she gave wouldn’t get back to Dani.

She looked around, wondering if Dani was here, waiting in the background to pop out and say “Gotcha.”

“She’s not here if that’s what you’re worried about,” Ava added, as if she had read Zoey’s mind.

That did make Zoey feel a bit better about the direction of the conversation, but she still wasn’t sure how much she should divulge.

It was one thing to talk with Tiffany about her helpless crush on Dani, but it was another completely to voice it aloud to other people.

Especially if one of those people was Dani’s own sister.

Plus, Zoey wasn’t trying to be one of those lesbians who pined over a straight woman. Not again anyway.

“I wasn’t worried,” Zoey replied quickly. “I just didn’t want to seem like I was talking about her behind her back or anything. Dani just started joining us for book club and I want her to feel comfortable there with me.”

Whatever Ava seemed to be looking for, she nodded as if she found it before smiling widely.

Instantly the air seemed lighter, and Zoey felt herself able to breathe a little easier.

“I’m glad she’s found something to enjoy for herself.

I’ve been a little worried about her lately.

” Ava stepped toward Zoey before placing a hand lightly on her arm.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Dani, but I’m glad she has someone to turn to, even if it’s just for book recommendations. ”

Zoey swallowed hard before nodding once sharply. Ava’s smile didn’t change, but Zoey felt like she had confirmed something vital. Ava slid past her with a soft goodbye. Grace clapped her on the shoulder with a wide grin.

“Good luck. These Williams sisters are a handful, but definitely worth it.”

Zoey watched Grace follow Ava out and tried not to let her heart hope too much at those parting words.