“Coming, dear.” On shuffling feet, a head of white hair emerged from the back, which Gia assumed was an office. “Ah, it’s you. I was wondering when you’d stop by to visit an old friend.”
Gia smiled thinly. As a teenager, she used to stop in once in a while to smell the roses, literally. But the colorful memories of her childhood did not compare to the lifeless space she now stood in.
“It’s so good to see you, Rosie.” The lines on the woman’s face were deeper, her hair a shade of silver, but the warm affection in her brown eyes had not changed. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
“Oh shush. I’m old, not stupid. The place is as dead as my husband.”
“I see you have lost none of your bite.” Gia’s smile stretched widely. “You’re selling the place?”
A weary sigh escaped Rosie, making her seem impossibly smaller. “Afraid so. Unfortunately, there were no biters. Why? Are you interested?”
Gia stared at the gleam in Rosie’s eyes, the wheels turning in her head. That seedling grew a stalk and reached toward the beamof hope, but reality came crashing down, smothering it in darkness once again.
Maybe if life had been different, she would be right here with Rosie, but unfortunately, she had too much unfinished business to even consider taking on anything else.
Shaking her head ruefully, she moved in to give Rosie a hug. “Just came here to say hi to a friend.”
Her heart sank the same way Rosie deflated.
After a few minutes of polite conversation, Gia left the shop without a backward glance and headed to the bookstore next door. The bell chimed, signaling her entrance. Moonflower Pages was the picture of cozy and eclectic. The smell of dusty books made her tense shoulders instantly relax.
From the doorway, she could see row upon row of weathered shelves of varying heights with signs displayed at the top of each shelf showing the genres. Gia spotted her favorite section, romance, in the back corner and made a beeline to it. The floorboards creaked with each step. Behind the checkout counter, Lana sat with a frown, waving when she saw Gia rushing by.
She was reading the back of a romance book with a half-naked man on the cover when a familiar teenager found her.
“Hi, Gia! How’s it going?”
Gia jerked at the unexpected voice. She’d been so deep in her head, she’d lost track of her surroundings. Realizing what she was holding, she shoved the book back into its place. Hand on her chest, she turned to face her visitor. “Oh, Marley. You surprised me.”
Marley looped her fingers into the straps of her backpack. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine, totally fine.” Marley rocked back on her heels, chewing on the inside of her cheek as if debating what to say. Then, with a deep breath, she whispered, “I need your help with something.”
Brows furrowed, she leaned in and replied in a hushed tone, “What do you need?”
“Well, so, I have a sensitive situation, and I was thinking you would be perfect to help.”
“A sensitive situation?”What am I being roped into?
Marley frowned. “Well… it kinda involves a cat.”
It was the last thing Gia had been expecting. “A cat?”
“Yeah… Well, kinda. I’ve been trying to trap it all week.”
“Why?”Do I even want to know what’s going on?
“I’ve been watching it from my window every morning, and for the past week, it just didn’t look right…”
“Did Jake put you up to this?” Gia popped her hip, arms crossed against her chest defensively.
“Jake? No way.” Marley shook her head vehemently. “He has no idea about any of this.”
Gia narrowed her eyes at the wide-eyed teenager standing before her. A halo of wild curls framed her flushed face as Gia considered her answer.
She didn’t know what was going on. Between the overly enthusiastic welcome she received when she walked into the bookstore ten minutes ago and the puppy-dog-eyed teenager who made a beeline for her—she was suspicious.
