Page 1 of The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook

ONE

ROBYN

Robyn carried two cups of pumpkin spice latte down Oak Way, the breeze teasing strands of her chestnut hair from her face. Slipping toward the lake, the sun cast everything in warm October light. The downtown area was decorated with hay bales and pumpkins, and blooms accented wooden barrels and window boxes. There were bushels of chrysanthemums in buttery yellows, burned oranges, and burgundy.

She inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of woodsmoke, cinnamon, and that warm, sunlit scent Maple Falls always seemed to bottle up this time of year. This was what she was here for, an extended pause in her favorite season. Yale had been kind enough to grant her a semester’s sabbatical from her job teaching literature. And her heart had led her as it so often did, to her grandparents’ picture postcard town.

Robyn wasn’t at all used to taking a break from the career she loved, but after her recent break-up with the man who would now be known only as Professor Beige Cardigan, a getaway had been necessary. Six weeks in, six to go. All she had to do was run a little bookstore while its owner, her best friend, Meg, was away. What could be more perfect?

The bookstore had been Robyn’s great-grandmother Isabel’s, long before it was Meg’s. Every corner held a memory. October mornings in the cozy space by the window that had been transformed this fall into the “pumpkin pie book nook.”

There, as golden leaves drifted down by the window, generous wedges of pumpkin pie from the local bakery could be slowly enjoyed while customers leafed through books.

A piece of Robyn’s heart lived in that book nook. Her happiest childhood memories were visiting her grandparents in Maple Falls, and spending hours in that same special space: sunlight through the windows, brown sugar lattes. Book boyfriends she’d fallen for time after time, curled up in that soft window seat.

So, yes, she couldn’t be happier to have this time in Maple Falls, living right above the bookstore she loved so much.

Expect… it wasn’t quite that simple. A few weeks ago, Meg had asked her and her part-time colleague, the impossibly handsome Tyler, to sell the bookstore.

At first Meg had only planned a short trip to Paris, leaving Robyn and Tyler in charge. But then the opportunity of a lifetime appeared and now she was going to open a bookstore in Paris instead.

Suddenly, they weren’t just holding the fort. They were showing the shop to buyers, tidying shelves, and getting it ready for its next owner, all while Meg lived her Parisian adventure.

Now it was no longer the nostalgic, restorative break Robyn had hoped for. It was such a wrench, to imagine the bookstore in the hands of someone she didn’t know. Still, if helping her best friend live her dream meant selling the store, she would do it. It was what best friends did, right?

But if she was going to have to turn this beloved bookstore over to a stranger, then Robyn had decided, at the very least, she would make sure it went to someone who deserved it.

And she’d already started a list, because it was Robyn, so of course she had.

The perfect buyer would be someone who loved Maple Falls, books, and, of course, cats. Every good bookstore has a cat. She thought of her own black cat, Mr. Darcy, and how he’d made the bookstore home within forty-eight hours. He’d claimed the sunniest shelf by 10 a.m. on day one, commandeered the armchair by the window by day two, and by the end of the first week had locals coming in specifically to bring him treats.

She’d also added financially stable and personable to her list, and then immediately second-guessed whether that was too specific, and then decided it wasn’t specific enough and added three more sub-points.

Robyn was mentally debating item five when she glanced up and lost the entire thread.

Her colleague Tyler was in front of the shop. He was restocking the clearance table, lifting box after box of old books like they weighed nothing. The sleeves of his green-and-white checked button-down were rolled to his forearms, and Robyn absolutely did not notice the way his shoulders flexed when he shifted the box against his hip.

Her brain, as brilliant as it was, turned traitorous at that moment, serving up an image of those strong, capable hands on her waist, lifting her with the same easy strength.

She swallowed hard and focused on the cups in her hands before she spilled coffee all over herself.

When it came to Tyler, she had a strict look-but-don’t-touch policy. Okay, make that a look-but-don’t-touch-but-100%-fantasize-about-him policy.

And honestly? She deserved some kind of award for sticking to it.

Because Tyler, who’d moved to Maple Falls not so long ago, was easy to want. The attractive single dad with the soft knit sweaters, a love of literature, and a salacious vocabulary made her pulse race.

Then there was his adorable daughter, Emma. The way Tyler doted on her made Robyn’s heart melt a little bit every time she saw them together.

But that’s where it ended.

Because Tyler wasn’t into her.

Or at least, she didn’t think he was.

She’d caught him looking at her more than once, and not in a casual colleague kind of way. It was a look that lasted a beat too long, but then he’d just as quickly look away. Whatever was going on behind those eyes, Tyler kept it firmly to himself. He wasn’t crossing any lines, so she wouldn’t either.

Even if, some days, she wanted to drag the line into a dark corner and thoroughly ruin it.