Juliette stared critically at the display table and moved the bookstand a little to the right, adjusting the carefully gift-wrapped book.
“You’ve touched those books five times in the last ten minutes,” Emery, her coworker, said from behind the counter at Willow & 2ndBooks. The Mill Creek staple was a romance novel forward business that hosted monthly theme nights and book clubs.
Juliette had put together a “blind date with a book” display, wrapping each novel in brown paper and tying them with ribbon, adding handwritten notes to tempt readers to take a chance on something new.
A vampire romance had a tag that read:He bites.
A shifter romance promised:One look is all it takes.
She smoothed her fingers over the green bow and stared at the shifter romance novel. “This is a little intense, maybe?”
“You read it,” Emery said. “Didn’t you say it was an intense story?”
“Yeah, but all shifter books are like that. I mean, imagine a guy who can turn into an animal deciding you’re his forever girl the moment he smells you? That would be intense under any circumstance, let alone this poor girl who is being hunted by vampires for her unique blood type. I wonder if that ever happens.”
“Vampires aren’t real.”
“But shifters are.”
In fact, across Pine Run River was a town full of shifters, but there were no shifters in Mill Creek, where Juliette had lived her entire life.
“True. I guess you could go ask one of them.”
Juliette snorted. “Pass.”
“Are you keeping the book in the display?”
“Yes. It’s a good one, even if it might be a little out-there.”
She turned from the table and walked to the counter, watching as Emery fixed easily removable labels on the covers of new books. “I guess we wouldn’t know if it’s out-there or not, since we’re not shifters. But you’re a little jaded,” Emery said.
“What? I am not.”
“Yes, you are. You told me you don’t think love is real. How can you have a romantic name like Juliette and not believe in love?”
Juliette scoffed. She’d heard all the jokes about her name her whole life. She’d learned to just ignore them. “First of all, I do believe in love, romantic name or not. People fall in love all the time. What I said was the love at first sight, have sex immediately kind of love in romance novels doesn’t happen in real life. Real life is more like a slow burn romance.”
Emery finished fixing the last sticker and pushed the stack of books toward Juliette. “I think fast would be good with the right guy.”
“Fast burns out. Slow and steady, baby.”
She took the books and turned from the counter.
“Slow and steady sounds boring!” Emery called after her.
The bell over the door chimed, and she glanced over to see her best friend Cassidy walk in with a carrier of coffees from The Coffee Shop Next Door where she worked. The two businesses side by side were a match made in heaven.
“What’s boring?” Cass asked.
“Your bestie,” Emery said.
“Hey!” Juliette huffed out a laugh.
She found the right shelf and placed the books, keeping one to look at. It was a mystery with some romantic elements, not quite her style, so she tucked it next to the others and went back to see what Cass had brought.
“It’s May Day, so I brought you May themed coffees.”
“What is a May themed coffee?” Juliette asked, taking the offered cup.
