“Okay. Call me when you leave the store?”
She nodded. A quick peck and he was gone. She sighed, watching him walk out the door. Her insides turned into a gooey mess and it wasn’t just from the way his ass filled out his pants. He’d taken time out of his day to check on her. He made sure she’d text him when she left the store.
She’d balked the first time he’d asked her to, but after he’d explained about Bree’s attack she understood. Knowing Kevin’s crazy stalker might not be over her crazy didn’t help.
So she told him. Because he worried and he cared and she liked that he worried and he cared.
A shriek rent the air and she slowly turned to face the back of the store. She shared a wide-eyed look with Mrs. Wilson. Beside her, Seth put his finger on the tip of his nose, the universal sign for “not it.” Zoe rolled her eyes and headed to the children’s books section. Her store, her headache. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to kick anyone out for baby brawling. That would definitely make the mommy blogs and not in a good way.
* * *
The bookcases were too tall.Zoe couldn’t even reach the fourth shelf and the book she needed was all the way at the top. The shelves weren’t supposed to be this high—she didn’t have any ladders.
Where was that buzzing coming from? She spun in a circle but couldn’t find the source of the noise. Trying to follow the sound, she turned down aisle after aisle with no luck. The sound would go away and then would return coming from the right, but when she looked she couldn’t find what was making the noise. Even when she put her ear to the wall.
Where had the shelves gone?
“Zoe, wake up. You’re phone’s vibrating.”
Her eyes snapped open. “There are bees in the bookstore.”
“What?” Tim leaned over and turned on the lamp next to his bed.
Zoe flinched away from the light. “I was dreaming about the bookstore. I kept hearing bees but I couldn’t figure out where they were and then all the books were gone and it was just a room of walls.”
“Well, the bees can be explained by your phone vibrating on the table. It’s been going non-stop for the last few minutes.” Tim braced himself on his elbow. “I’m no psychologist, but I’d guess dreaming about the books being gone is your mind worrying about not being successful.”
“I hate my brain sometimes.” Her phone vibrated on the table again and she picked it up. “Elba, it’s three in the morning.”
“Zoe. I’m so sorry.”
She sat up in bed, driven by Elba’s anguish pouring through the phone. “What happened? Are you okay? Where’s April?”
She threw off the covers and picked up her jeans from the floor before she even finished asking the first question.
“It’s the Cafe. And the bookstore.” Elba’s shaky breath was audible. “There’s a fire.”
