Page 3 of The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook

TWO

TYLER

Tyler wasn’t sure what had possessed him to lean down like that, but one touch, just a hand on her waist, was enough to set him on fire.

Down the street, a gust of wind sent the hanging baskets outside Zoe’s flower shop swaying, sending petals floating to the ground and gold leaves scattering across the sidewalk. Tyler forced himself to take a step back, embarrassed by how shaky his breath sounded even to his own ears. How aware he still was of the shape of her beneath his palm. The small hitch in her breath. The warmth of her through the thin fabric of her sweater.

It was madness, what being near this woman did to him.

She made him want things, things he told himself he didn’t need. Things that didn’t exist in his reality, not since his daughter Emma’s mom walked out years ago, and Tyler closed that chapter in his life.

Or so he thought.

Robyn was his undoing.

Whip-smart, strikingly beautiful, and entirely too easy to want. The Yale literature professor with dark, wavy hair, tortoiseshell glasses, and a mouth that made every sensible thought in his head abandon him.

He should have been focused on the book.

Instead, he couldn’t stop looking at her.

The late-afternoon light caught the side of her face, making the dark waves of her hair glow amber at the edges. And those lips? Parted in surprise, and oh so kissable? It was enough to make him want to turn and kiss her right then and there, letting the excitement of the discovery, and the chemistry that had been sparking between them for weeks, finally have its moment.

His hand flexed at his side.

But he didn’t touch her.

Of course he didn’t.

Because they were just two coworkers, standing outside the bookstore with Mrs. C. and Mrs. Bishop, having a normal conversation on a Tuesday afternoon.

Even if nothing about the day felt normal.

Tyler couldn’t explain it. He was drawn to this woman, to her life, even though he knew he shouldn’t be. Everything with Robyn was temporary.

She was here for a few months of Maple Falls’s charm before she went back to her real life in Connecticut. Back to Yale and tenure-track meetings and whatever else people did when they weren’t deciding between pumpkin or apple pie.

And even if she weren’t temporary… what then?

His brain did what it always did: It pulled Emma into the frame.

Tyler’s daughter was the quiet north star behind every decision he made. After her mother left, he’d promised himself he would never put Emma in a position where she’d get attached to someone who might disappear. Never again.

So he was going to keep his distance from Robyn.

He was.

Which was why he would never act on his desires. Never take whatever this was between them any further. The playfulness, the flirting, the stolen looks—that was all it could be.

He cleared his thoughts and took one step back, then another, giving Robyn a chance to scan the note inside the book before reading it aloud:

Dear Reader,

If you’re holding this, then you’ve found the first piece of my tale, written right here in my beloved bookstore.

The other three installments are hidden around Maple Falls, spirited away by my friends in the Maple Falls Book Club. The first clue waits here, tucked inside this envelope. Follow it, and it will take you to the next clue—and the next pages of my story.

Our hope is simple: that this little adventure brings people together, stitched by the same love of books that bound us. And when you reach the last page, perhaps you’ll feel me near—in your hearts, and in the golden leaves of autumn.