Walking down the stairs, I complement their sturdiness.
“Thanks,” he says, laughing. “Glad I could help.”
“How did you know how to do all that?” I ask as we make our way down the dark alley. It freaks me out walking down here at night. I feel my heart rate speed up and I find myself scanning the area. Finn takes my hand in his, lacing our fingers. He gives a little squeeze that I’m pretty sure was more for my benefit. He continues talking, not drawing attention to my little freakout, and I appreciate it.
“When I was growing up, we didn’t have much, so I would try to fix anything that broke. Plus, when I was making my way through art school, I took a lot of odd jobs. One of them was for a construction company. It was mostly grunt work, but I learned the basics.
“What about you? Have you always worked at the bookstore?” he asks, while giving me a little nudge on the shoulder.
“Umm, yeah. My mom opened the bookstore when I was around 12. She started by making me sweep the floors and straighten out books. I loved every minute. There is something about the feel and smell of books. Her love became my love.” A small sigh of longing escapes me. She has crossed my mind a lot today.
We make our way into The Diner. He opens the door for us, and the sounds of clinking glasses and Emma’s warm greeting fill the room.
“Hi Spencer, how’s it going?”
“Good, you?”
“Oh, can’t complain. Two of you tonight, sweetie?” Emma is in her late forties, but talks like she is in her eighties and southern. She was also my mom’s best friend.
“Yes, please.”
She leads us over to a corner booth. “Hey, Spencer!” Olly shouts, while waving from the kitchen as we walk by. I give a smile and a quick wave before I settle into the booth.
“Can I get you boys anything to drink first?”
“Umm, I’ll have a glass of red wine, please,” I say. “Oh, and this is Finn. He is working over at Ink Me.”
“Hi, Finn. Nice to meet you. I just adore the boys over there. You're in excellent company. Now, what can I get you?”
“Thank you. I think I’m in pretty good company, too.” Finn’s eyes dart to mine, making my cheeks blush before returning his gaze to Emma. “I’ll have a beer.”
“Sounds good, and I’ll be right back to take your order,” she says, then hurries on to the next table. They have a solid dinner rush happening.
“So, what’s good?” Finn says while flipping through the menu.
“Everything,” I say with a laugh. “The burgers are delicious, and of course you’re in Maine, so the seafood pasta is fantastic. My personal favorite is the crab tacos.”
“Being on the west coast, yeah, they have decent seafood, but there is just something different about being on the east coast and eating seafood.”
Nodding my head in agreement, “We love our seafood. Olly goes down to the marina every morning and gets it fresh.”
Emma comes back through and hands Finn his beer and me my wine.
“Okay, what can I get you?”
“I’ll have the crab tacos,” I say, like it’s not the same thing I always get.
“I’m gonna try the seafood pasta,” Finn says.
“Great, the food shouldn’t be too long,” Emma says, grabbing the menus and giving me a wink. And… Fuck, I think the gossip mill just started churning in this small town.
“So,” Finn says, turning my attention. “What do you like to do for fun when you’re not running a bookstore?”
I laugh. “Yeah, there is not a lot of time to do much of anything.” I hesitate for a moment, trying to think of what I actually do for fun. There has to be something.
“I’m a homebody, I guess. My friends, Jules and Alex and I get together once a week for dinner or something. Let’s see what else? Umm, I read a lot,” I say with a laugh. The bookstore probably gave that away.
“What kind of books do you read?” Finn asks with interest.
