Page 71 of The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook

But it fell away the instant he saw who it was: Estevez Rodriguez, the potential buyer.

He looked too polished for Maple Falls. Black dress pants. Crisp button-down. A long wool coat that belonged in a city, no flannel in sight.

He didn’t greet Tyler. He didn’t even look at him.

He pulled a measuring tape from his pocket and started measuring the door frame.

Tyler crossed the room, unease tightening in his chest. “Can I help you with something?”

The man glanced at him briefly, then extended the measuring tape without ceremony. “Yeah. Hold this.”

He pointed to the corner of the doorway while he measured the width with a satisfied little hum.

“That’s what I thought,” he said, mostly to himself. “The freezers can slide right through here.”

Tyler blinked. “Freezers?”

“For the frozen food section,” the man said as if Tyler was slow for not keeping up. “This is going to be Maple Falls’s finest organic grocer. You won’t find better produce or organic options anywhere else but here. Give me two months. Six weeks, even, and you won’t recognize this place.”

Tyler’s stomach dropped so hard it felt like he’d missed a step going down the stairs.

He forced his face to stay neutral and his voice to remain calm, even though inside, his body was growing numb.

Because the little world Tyler had been building in his head—the one where the bookstore stayed the bookstore, where Robyn stayed in Maple Falls, where all of this mattered—suddenly tilted.

And he knew without a doubt, Robyn would be just as devastated.

Tyler watched him tuck the measuring tape into his pocket and sweep his gaze over the space like he was already rearranging it in his mind. The shelves. The counter. The pumpkin pie book nook. Emma’s favorite corner chair.

Then, without another word, the man headed back out, the bell above the door chiming cheerfully behind him like it hadn’t just destroyed Tyler’s world.

Robyn had so much joy on her face when she walked into the bookstore five minutes later, there was no way Tyler could tell her what had just happened.

“As expected,” Robyn said, coming forward with the bundled package from the stove, “the book club wants to meet tonight. I’m good with that if you are. Maybe you could just bring Emma?”

“No need. Remember, she has that birthday party tonight.”

“You’re right—how could I forget? Dinner. You and me… Sorry, my head is just all over the place right now. Are you good with doing dinner after the club meeting?”

“Yeah, absolutely.”

“Perfect.” Robyn was beaming, absolutely smiling from ear to ear. It was infectious. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am that we found this. I was freaking out, thinking I was gonna have to write it or something, and we all know how well that’s been going for me lately.”

Tyler chuckled to himself because he had an idea to help Robyn overcome her writer’s block. It wasn’t the kind of thing you’d find in a self-help book about the creative process. But if he knew Robyn, it might be exactly what she needed.

He just had to get her to say yes first.

THIRTY-THREE

ROBYN

Seven days. We can do this, Robyn told herself, giving herself a little pep talk while setting up extra chairs. The book club had been growing steadily, and the pumpkin pie book nook that had once comfortably fit a handful of people was starting to feel snug.

People started trickling in as the sun dropped behind the lake. Emily arrived first with two pumpkin pies balanced in her arms and a grin that said she’d been baking all afternoon. Anita, the owner of the Maple Leaf Café and the club’s newest member, came in right behind her carrying a crockpot of roasted butternut squash soup with a stack of Styrofoam bowls and a bag of oyster crackers balanced on top. The store filled quickly after that: Mrs. Bishop and Mrs. C. shrugging off their coats, the mayor settling into his usual chair with the air of a man arriving at his own parliament, Cassidy slipping in with a box of her autumn truffles.

“Is it true that there’s a buyer who’s interested in the store?” Cassidy whispered in Robyn’s ear, seconds after she arrived.

“Don’t remind me. I think he came through once last week, but that’s all I’ve heard. I know Meg is eager to sell, though.”