I opened my mouth to say something, but instead, I shook my head and walked into the bookstore.
* * *
A few customerswere browsing the shelves of The Belle when I walked in. The store was separated into three parts: children’s literature, non-fiction, and romance. All the customers seemed to be romance readers, since they were on that side of the store.
Delaney was a supportive figure in the indie-author book community. She championed the authors by dedicating an entire side of the store to their books. She invited them to do regular signings, and she always threw a party for them.
It always impressed me how she catered to each one perfectly. She’d dive into the stories and base the parties on the theme of the book. For non-fiction, she’d mostly invite the authors to read snippets of their books. She’d serve wine and usually have appetizers. The entire gathering would have such a rich, literary feel to it. For the children’s books, it always felt like I’d walked into a kid’s whimsical birthday party.
I couldn’t remember my mom, but I always thought it would be fun to have one like Delaney. She loved to read, and we had long conversations about the books we devoured and loved. She was just so warm and maternal.
She was chatting with two girls who were inquiring about new romance releases and asking about the book club. It was something new Delaney was about to start. I couldn’t wait.
My entire point, though…they were smitten with her too.
She had short, dark auburn hair, whiskey-colored eyes that seemed to pop behind chic leopard-print eyeglasses, and perfect curves that were always on display in a body-hugging black top and leggings. Her flats matched her glasses. She was fond of cardigans and turtlenecks in fall and winter, and she usually added splashes of color through her accessories. She had a signature red lip.
I was totally jealous of how put together she always looked.
No, not only put together. She looked…literary. Like a trendy agent from New York.
I adjusted my own eyeglasses. Delaney had helped me pick them out. The color was called flamingo, and the style was a lot bolder than what I would have gone with if I’d gotten my usual ones. For me, it was sort of like having a red door, but not as bold.
I could see Dermot chasing after someone like Delaney, but me?
Why?
I didn’t have time to obsess over it. The girls finished checking out, and Delaney wrapped up their purchases.
As they left, they were going on aboutFire and Icenight. Delaney decided to go with a theme for each season—Spring Fling,Cuddle Fall,Fire and Ice Winter,Sizzling Summer—for the book-club nights. We’d emailed all our customers, and we had flyers up in libraries, coffee shops, and other places we thought readers might notice.
The first meeting was planned for that night, and already more than forty people had claimed spots. Even though that seemed like a small crowd, for a bunch of introverts who loved to read, it might be overwhelming. I was hoping that was as big as the crowd was going to get.
“Guess what came in today?” Delaney lifted a romance book we’d been waiting on. It was an advance copy. Her face fell and she set the book down. “What’s wrong, beautiful turtle?”
Besides Mae, Eve, and Belly (after my last name), sometimes Delaney called me her beautiful turtle. Probably because I “turtled” when things got hard. Meaning, I tucked into my shell and shut the world out.
Her news perked me up some, though. It was rare when a book boyfriend made it to husband status for me. Which was why we’d been waiting on this book to come in. It was the anticipated last book in an amazing eight-book series, and the hero was made up of all the elements that certified him as book-husband material.
I sighed and set my bag behind the counter. “Devin and Shay Craig. They were across the street. Shay caught me on her way out.”
Delaney’s face pinched. She’d been personally acquainted with the Craigs. They had harassed her for money because they said her business needed to be protected. Robert got involved, and the only reason they ducked back into the shadows was because Robert’s cousin was in politics and had pull with the police department.
Robert’s connections weren’t enough to convince the Craigs to leave me and dad alone. My dad was too smart, and again, Dermot…liked me.
Delaney sighed and set her arm around my shoulders. “It’s not going to happen. I’m not going to let it.” She gave me a big kiss on the forehead.
“Thanks.” My voice came out as a whisper. I had no clue what else to say. I was worried enough for my dad. I didn’t want to add Delaney into the bubbling pot. I wasn’t a big people person, but she was one of my people. After I gave her a big hug, I stepped away. I was ready to change the subject. “Have any more readers confirmed for tonight?”
She studied my face, wanting to say more, but just shook her head. “No.” Her smile came slow. “I know you love that.”
I couldn’t even fight my smile. “I do. Forty is a huge crowd for introverts.”
She laughed. “Maybe we’ll get a bunch of intro-extroverts since we all love what we’re coming together for…books.”
I picked up the book she’d set down. We met eyes and squealed. We both started talking at once about how excited we were to have the chance to read it. The author had sent two advanced copies for us and a few extras for a few lucky readers who were a part of our mailing list to win. We were going to have a private meeting after we all finished reading.
Delaney grabbed my hand, but she couldn’t pry my copy out of it. “What happened here?”
