With my mind made up, I went home and formulated a plan. Oh, she’d talk to me alright, and I was going to get some answers.
Two days of work later, it was finally the weekend and I had never felt so happy to be off. I loved my job, of course I did, but between finishing this project out, getting prepared for thenext one, and seeing Cara again, nothing sounded better than relaxing with a good book.
I walked into my favorite book store and was greeted by a young brunette’s smiling face. “Hi, welcome to Open Book.”
“Hi, Farrah. Thank you. Have you gotten any more copies ofPride and Prejudiceyet?”
“Your in luck! I saved a copy just for you.”
I smiled as she pulled it out from underneath the desk. “Thank you. You’re too good to me.”
“Are we flirting out here or working?” I looked over to see Drea coming out of the back with a smirk on her face.
Drea was the bookstore’s owner, well, one of them, and a good friend. She’d hired me to do some work in the store a few years ago, and we’d kept in touch ever since.
Farah jumped as if she’d seen a ghost and turned toward Drea. “Drea! I wasn’t flirting, I was?—”
“Relax, love. You can flirt all you want as long as you don’t scare her off. She’s a good friend. I’ve got this one, why don’t you go take a break, yeah?”
Farrah nodded and turned back to me. “It was nice to see you again, Vera. Enjoy the book.”
“Thank you”
She turned around and Drea picked up the book, her expression giving away no opinions on what she thought about me reading a Jane Austen novel.
She opened the book and took out a piece of paper, chuckling to herself. “I assume you don’t want her number?”
I laughed and shook my head. “No thanks, but that was very sweet of her.”
“Poor girl never stood a chance.” She closed the book and continued to check me out. “Anyway, I’m glad you stopped in. How’ve you been?”
“I’ve been good, just keeping busy with work. I’m off for a few days, so I’d thought I’d come by and see what you’ve got.”
She smiled. “Well, you need to come around more! We miss seeing you. Oh, I wanted to thank you again for the work you did on Kaia’s office.”
“It was no trouble. I enjoyed it, and Kaia is such a sweet girl. How’s she doing, by the way? Is she here?”
She shook her head. “No, today’s her day off. She and Daisy are going to Fairview to visit Daisy’s childhood friends for the weekend.”
“Well that’s good, I’m glad things worked out with them. They are so adorable together.”
“Yes, I quite love them together. Speaking of adorable together, I have someone who I think would just be perfect for you. She?—”
“Drea, not this again,” I groaned. Every time I came into the store, Drea was trying to set me up with one of her friends, no matter how much I declined every time.
“Come on, love. Why not? You’re single. She’s single. You both should mingle. I think you’d really hit it off. She’s hard working, just like you. She’s gorgeous. And I think you two would really take a liking to one another.”
“As always, I appreciate that you want to set me up, and if she’s a friend of yours, then I know she’s good people, but I’m just not interested. Work keeps me pretty busy.”
Work was always my excuse. It was the truth, though. Between finishing up the sidewalk work, starting in the office building, working on the car, taking care of Nyx, and now figuring out the whole Cara situation, I didn’t have time to date anyone. Unless Drea’s friend was a five foot something blonde with striking blue eyes and an ass that didn’t quit, I wasn’t interested.
“One of these days you’ll say yes, I’m sure of it! I know you want to settle down eventually, and I’ll be right here with my roster of potential suitors when that day comes!”
I laughed. “Okay, Dre. If that day ever comes, you’ll be the first to know.” She rolled her eyes and we said our goodbyes before I headed out the door. Drea said she had a date to get to with her fiancée, and I had a book to read.
When I got home, I let Nyx out while I put my book on the coffee table and made a cup of hot chocolate. All of my friends and family knew that I liked reading, but when they asked me what I read, I just said a little bit of everything. No one knew that my favorite things to read were Regency and Victorian era romance novels. There was just something about the sweetness of the romance that stole my heart. Every time.
Nyx came back in and settled on the couch next to my favorite spot. We had our routine down to a science. Hot chocolate on the couch with my favorite reading blanket. A looped fireplace video on Youtube playing in the background on the TV, and some of my favorite clustered gummy candy as a little sweet treat during my reading time. Otherwise known as the perfect way to spend any day.
