CHAPTER 9NOW
July 22, twelve days until “vacation”
Tonight, The Bookshop has embraced its alter ego. The voices are loud, the vibes are chaotic, and the store’s typical adults-to-kids customer ratio is fully inverted.
I love it.
When I pitched this Holidays in July event and one-day sale to boost The Bookshop’s consistently subdued summer profits, I told Fern to picture the bookstore version of Narnia. It turned out more like Narnia’s winter-wonderland wild-child twin.
“Good call on the earplugs,” Dan shouts.
I wince at his volume, then tell him, “Glad they’re helping.”
“What?” he yells. He pulls out an earplug. “Sorry, I’m terrible at lip-reading.”
“Just saying, I’m glad they’ve been helpful.”
“Oh, definitely.” Dan glances around the crowded store. “This might be the closest thing to a frat party that I’ve ever been to.”
I tip my head, trying to figure that one out.
“But hey, people are buying books.” He jerks his head behind him. “Boss seems happy about that.”
My stomach drops. “Fern’s here?” I crane around him, scanning the crowd. “She said she didn’t think she’d make it.”
I wascountingon her not making it. I could tell even Narnia was a stretch for her comfort. Its winter-wonderland wild-child twin is going to send her into a full-blown panic.
Dan shrugs. “Guess she changed her mind.”
I sigh. “Well, thanks for the heads-up. I’m going to go try to find her—”
“Thea!” Jordan yells.
I spin around. Jordan points to her watch. “StoryTime in five, right?”
I give her a two thumbs-up, then start wending my way through the crowd, on the hunt for Fern. “She just had to be diminutive,” I mutter.
I’m so absorbed in searching for my five-foot-nothing boss in a sea of taller people that I miss what’s in front of me, bumping hard into someone’s chest. I yelp as I stumble back.
Alex wraps his hand around my elbow, steadying me. “You good, Ted?”
“Great!” I squeak.
His eyes narrow. “Ted?”
“Promise.” I salute him. Because that’s not suspicious at all.
He lifts an eyebrow. “Ted.”
“Fern’s here,” I whine.
He leans in. “What?”
I press up on tiptoe and say right in his ear, “Fern showed up.”
Someone bumps me from behind, which shoves me into Alex.My hand slaps onto his chest. My nose smooshes into his jaw. My mouth grazes his neck. Alex clasps my waist, steadying me once again.
For a split second, my brain short-circuits, my senses telescoped to the warm, clean scent of his skin, the satisfying sandpaper scrape of his stubble, the heat of his hand gripping my waist. Every hair on my body stands on end.