Page 31 of The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook

“But this location,” Estevez said, glancing up at the front windows again, “is perfect. And the square footage is adequate. You couldn’t ask for better visibility.”

Robyn’s stomach dropped.

She looked at Tyler, and Tyler looked back at her, the same horrified realization mirrored in his face.

Robyn kept her smile on for the customers in front of her.

But inside, the cold feeling of dread settled in her chest. Her great-grandmother had written between these walls. Had dreamed up characters, entire worlds, and built something that lasted generations. And now a man in a black suit was standing in the same room, measuring it for shelving units and refrigeration.

Isabel would have had something to say about that. Something fierce and cutting. But Robyn wasn’t Isabel. She didn’t have the money to buy the store, or the courage to walk away from Yale, or any kind of plan that didn’t end with her handing over the keys and driving back to a life that felt less like hers with every passing day.

The bookstore was thriving. Tourists were literally eating pumpkin pie while they shopped. If that still wasn’t enough to save it…

What was?

FOURTEEN

TYLER

Tyler was still trying to calm Robyn down—and, if he was being honest, himself—after the buyer walk-through.

It wasn’t just the idea of losing Meg’s bookstore.

It was the realization that Maple Falls could lose its bookstore forever.

Robyn was doing her best everything-is-fine smile at customers while her eyes stayed a little too bright, her movements a little too clipped. Tyler had dove into work behind the counter and was now restocking the front display. He nudged a stack of fantasy titles forward—the ones with bright covers, dramatic fonts, dragons, and sword-wielding heroines.

Robyn glanced over. “Tyler.”

“What?” He spread his hands. “They deserve some love too.”

“It does not outsell romance or true crime, and you know it.”

Tyler grinned. “Not yet.”

Robyn shook her head, the corner of her mouth twitching. Tyler counted it as a win.

The front bell chimed, and Tyler expected it to be a regular customer, but instead, the mayor’s niece, Elsie, swept in with her glossy hair, bright scarf, and that usual burst of energy that seemed to follow her everywhere.

Behind her, Mayor Bloomfield followed in a burned-orange tie and his trusty corduroy sport coat, a small enamel pumpkin pinned to the lapel. Tyler thought he’d seen his wife, Edith, wearing the matching one earlier that morning at the bakery.

Tyler clocked the way Robyn’s shoulders tensed. They were one unexpected surprise away from her crawling under the counter with a stack of inventory sheets.

Elsie clapped her hands once. “We’ve got an idea.”

“By ‘we,’ she means she does,” the mayor clarified, pointing at Elsie with a proud smile. “I just gave my approval because I think it’s genius.”

Robyn narrowed her eyes slightly. “That sentence doesn’t reassure me.”

Elsie waved her comment away, and proceeded on. The woman had never been slowed down by skepticism a day in her life. She strode straight to the window display as if it were a stage set.

“Okay. Picture this,” she said, already in full pitch mode. “An event at the bookstore. We’re calling it Midnight in Maple Falls: A Lost Love Story.” Elsie beamed. “A found manuscript. A town-wide hunt. A candlelit Halloween reading—right here in the bookstore. The great-granddaughter reads the final recovered story.”

“That sounds great,” Tyler said, before he could stop himself.

Robyn’s head snapped toward him as if she couldn’t believe he was agreeing to this.

“What? It does,” Tyler replied, unsure of why Robyn would be so reluctant.