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“Fine,” I said, wishing for the first time in my life Nolan wasn’t so intuitive. “I’m a little worried about the repairs. The roofing guy you sent said the lightning traveled through the building’s metal gutter and scorched part of the roof trim. He’s supposed to get me an estimate. I have no idea if my insurance covers random lightning strikes or if that’s one of those ‘act of God’ things you say they love to deny.”

That was all true. And it worried me, but not nearly as much as the fact that I was apparently losing my mind. Losing the shop would mean losing almost everything that felt safe.

Not surprisingly, he didn’t seem convinced.

I leaned closer to him, standing on my tippee toes.

“What are you doing?”

He smelled good. Always did.

“Your eyes,” I said. “Must be the streetlight, but they look more blue than green out here.”

Nolan’s eyes were hazel and changed color based on what he was wearing.

He made a sound I couldn’t quite interpret. I took a step back.

“Aren’t you on a date? Pretty sure Lisa won’t be thrilled to find you out here with me.”

From what Nolan had told me, his new female friend had a mini “jealous streak.” Or at the very least, seemed to have a problem with his best friend being a woman.

For the briefest of seconds, Nolan looked angry. Not mad-at-me angry but mad-at-the-world angry. Such a rare occurrence, it took me back.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re right.”

“I am? About what?”

“Lisa. She wouldn’t love the fact that I was out here with you. Which isn’t gonna cut it.”

My heart did a little leap, like it was happy. Which meant I was the worst person in the world. Of course I wasn’t happy. I wanted Nolan to find someone he adored. That adored him back. Just because I was unlucky in love didn’t mean he had to be too.

“I didn’t mean you should dump her.”

He looked at me oddly. “You don’t think so?”

“No. I don’t.” I wasn’t that shitty of a friend.

“Hmm.”

“Hmm what?”

“Nothing. Come back in.”

He was irritated. At me? At Lisa? I’d have asked but Nolan was halfway to the door.

“Do me a favor and tell the girls I’ll be right back. Since I’m out here, I’m just gonna check on the shop.”

“Lena,” he said in his best impression of my father.

“Ten minutes, that’s it.”

I took off before Nolan could try to convince me to stay. I put my hand in the air, waving to him. “Be right back,” I called.

I hadn’t touched the book since that night, but if I was going to do proper research and figure out what the hell was going on, I had to stop avoiding ground zero. I’d march into my shop, get the book, bring it home, and maybe, or maybe not, head back out. I could always text Charlee and tell her I called it a night.

With every step I took down the block, my heart thudded louder and louder, the chatter of tourists and locals alike mingling with a heartbeat so loud that was all I could hear by the time Between the Pages came into view.

I needed answers, pronto, and that book was the most logical place to start.