Page 73 of Safe With You

“It was directly in front of me.”

“Ellis.”

I laughed. “Fine.”

I reached for my coffee.

She stared at me for another second before opening the notebook again.

“Local Author Spotlight,” she read.

I lowered the mug.

“Saturday Story Hour. Romance Book Club.”

She hesitated.

“And apparently I briefly considered Blind Date with a Book Night.”

“Why briefly?”

“Because Naomi would turn it into actual speed dating.”

I laughed.

“You think I’m joking.”

“I don’t.”

“That’s the problem.”

She smiled and looked back at the page.

“I don’t know. They’re just ideas.”

“You have a lot of those.”

“Too many.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“When you’re the person who has to figure out how to make all of them happen? Sometimes.”

She tapped the end of her pen against the paper.

“I’ve always wanted this place to be more than somewhere people come to buy books.”

I didn’t say anything.

Something about the way she said it made me think she wasn’t finished.

She looked around the store before continuing.

“When I was figuring out what I wanted Chapter & Charm to be, I kept coming back to how bookstores made me feel growing up. I could go in one by myself and stay for hours without feeling like I was somewhere I didn’t belong.”

Her thumb moved slowly along the edge of the notebook.

“I wanted that here. Somewhere people could come alone and not feel alone, if that makes sense.”