Page 26 of Novel Problems

Unsurprisingly, Sapphire Springs was deserted at 1:30 a.m. on a Thursday night. Heart racing, I fumbled with the key George had given me. My shaky hands finally got it in the keyhole. Holding my breath, I turned the key and gently pushed open Novel Gossip’s front door.

While I hadn’t seen any sign of a security system, I steeled myself, convinced I’d trigger a dramatic siren or a robotic voice repeating the words “intruder alert” and bright flashing lights, immediately summoning the police and George to the scene of the crime.Stop being so dramatic, Hannah. You’re not doing anything wrong. Just using a key you’ve been given to sign your own books. Not exactly acrime.But no amount of rationalizing could get rid of the feeling that I wasn’t doing the right thing.

Softly closing the front door behind me, I turned on the flashlight on my phone and carefully made my way past the empty tables and chairs, down one of the book aisles to the back of the shop where the boxes of books were stacked. The faint scent of Romina’s pulled pork mixed with smoke still hung in the air. Novel Gossip, such a warm and vibrant place during the day, felt eerie at night, dark and deserted. I picked up my pace. When I reached the books, I stopped, staring at the pile of boxes. It looked even bigger than I’d remembered. Eight hundred and forty-one books. I swallowed.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I whispered, trying to psyche myself up.

I kneeled down, ripped open a box of books and pulled one out.Damn, it looks good.I’d seen the cover on my computer screen before, but this was the first time I’d seen a physical copy. A warm glow of pride filled my chest as I examined the front and back of the book. I hoped this feeling never got old. Seeing a story I created and poured my heart and soul into transformed into something tangible was pretty incredible.

Remembering why I was there, I shook myself.Stop mooning over your book and get signing, Hannah!I pulled a pen out of my pocket and immediately realized that I needed to turn on a light. There was no way I was going to be able to sign books while holding my phone up so I could see.

I clambered to my feet and walked back down the aisle to the wall behind the counter that held a number of light switches. I hadn’t paid any attention to them before, and they were not labelled. I tried the switch closest to me, andthe front of the store was suddenly flooded with light.Oops.I hastily flicked the switch back and tried the next one, which lit the counter.Nope.The third one illuminated the book aisles.Thank god.

As I made my way back to the boxes, a dog barked. My chest tightened.Shit, that sounded like it came from upstairs.Novel Gossip was on the bottom floor of a two-story building, but I hadn’t stopped to think what, or who, was above it.Does someone live up there?I tiptoed the rest of the way back down the aisle and then settled myself kneeling on the ground. I pulled out the first book, resting it on another box while I signed the front page.

Damnit.I blinked my tired eyes and pressed the pen down again. No luck. My pen had run out of ink, and my back was already aching from hunching over while signing. I stretched out my hands and counted the pile of signed books. Seventy-seven in—I checked my watch—forty-five minutes. I did rough math in my head, and my stomach sank. Surely that couldn’t be right. I pulled out my phone and opened the calculator app.Shit.At this rate, it would take me over eight hours to sign all the books. I had to speed up. And I also needed a new pen.

Groggy, I stood, turned around, and—fuck!

My foot caught on another box. My heart lurched as I lost balance, teetered, and then fell. Narrowly missing the pile of signed books, I stretched out my arms just before I hit the floor, breaking my landing. I lay on the ground for a second, catching my breath. Sitting up, I surveyed the scene. To my relief, no bookshad been harmed. And thankfully, my wrists seemed to have survived the impact.

I walked back down the aisle, grabbed a couple of pens from behind the counter and also a handful of coffee beans.Maybe they will help speed me up.

Upbeat music makes me run faster. Perhaps it will help with signing as well?When I got back to my signing corner, I pulled my headphones out of my pocket, plugged them into my phone, put on Charli XCX, and shoved a few coffee beans in my mouth. They were a little bitter and grainy tasting, but combined with the music, they seemed to help.

I was onto the fourth box of books, bopping to “Speed Drive,” when someone touched my shoulder.

I jumped, letting out a strangled, panicked sound somewhere between a screech and a squawk. Heart pounding, I yanked out my headphones. Grasping my pen like a weapon, I turned to see who the intruder was.

“Hannah?”

Shit.

It wasn’t an intruder.

It was far worse.

It was George.

And she was holding a knife.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

GEORGE

Bleary-eyed and confused, I stared at Hannah.

Max’s barking had woken me about an hour ago. I’d assumed he’d heard a squirrel and was drifting back asleep when there was a loud bang, which set Max off again. While I’d thought the noise was most likely something falling over outside in the wind, after lying for a little while in bed, I’d decided to walk down the stairs to investigate. It was only when I reached the bottom of the stairs and saw there was a light on that I started to take things seriously. My heart racing, I’d picked up one of the big, sharp knives from the kitchen.

Clutching the knife in one hand and my phone in the other, the last thing I’d expected was to find Hannah, hair mussed and humming to music, bent over a box of books in the back corner of the bookstore.

She was now staring at me like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes widened as they traveled down my body to the knife I was holding. I hastily put it on a bookshelf.

“What the hell are you doing?” Still recovering from theshock of thinking Novel Gossip was being burglarized, my voice sounded uncharacteristically sharp.

Hannah’s cheeks flushed. “Um…I’m signing the books.”

“Why?” My brain was not computing. I stared down at the books.The Realm of Furies. My chest constricted in anger.Why on earth would Hannah be defacing my stock?I wouldn’t be able to return all the books now—or sell them.Shit.

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