Page 66 of A Novel Love Story

“Sure,” I said, and retreated behind the counter. “I’ll be here.”

“Thank you,” he replied in relief. “Don’t burn the place down.”

I mock gasped. “I wouldnever!”

As I watched him go, I drummed my fingers on the shop counter impatiently. The hardware store was on the opposite side of town, so I had a feeling that thirty minutes was a bit of a lie. Which meant if I left now I had atleastforty-five minutes to find Ruby, figure out why the hell she broke up with Jake, and fix it.

I counted to ten, and then jumped over the counter and pressed my face against the door just to make sure he was well and truly gone.

Coast was clear.

With my purse slung over my shoulder, I flipped the sign toCLOSEDand slipped out of the bookstore. No one ever came to buy anything, anyway, so I was sure I wouldn’t be missed for alittlewhile. Everything would have been so much easier if she was at home, but when I rang the buzzer for the apartment above the movie theater, no one came to the door, so I decided to check the jewelry shop that her aunt owned, but the store was closed since Mercury was not in retrograde.

I chewed on my thumbnail as I started back toward the bookstore. The early afternoon thunderstorm had left the day muggy and gray, though the sun kept trying to break apart the clouds to no avail. I felt my sweat curling my hair against the nape of my neck.

As I passed Sweeties, the scent of melted honey dragged me from my thoughts. Wait—Mayamight know where Ruby was! They were best friends, after all.

Perfect.

I hurried across the street and into Sweeties. “Maya, I have a—”

The woman at the register glanced up from counting out change. She looked a bit like Maya. They both had dark hair and warm brown skin, but her hair was long and wavy, and she always wore sword-shaped earrings that dangled just above her shoulders. Maya was a little taller than her, too, and had a more square face, but I hadn’t noticed until I stepped inside that it was the older sister at the counter.

Gemma Shah, finally.

“Not Maya, sadly.” Gemma looked up from the till, and her eyes lit up. “Oh! You must be the new girl. She’s told me a lot about you. Heard about your car,” she added, scrunching her nose. “That really sucks. I’m Gemma, Maya’s older sister.”

“Elsy,” I replied, reaching over the counter to shake her hand. “I’m looking for Ruby, actually.”

“Oh, she went with Maya today. Girls’ day, because—” Gemma quickly snapped her mouth closed. Frowned. “You know, just a girls’ day. They won’t be home until tomorrow, probably. Ruby’s got a cabin up at Stellar Lake, so they’re probably staying there for the night.”

Because she broke up with Jake.

Damn. I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to think up what to do.

Gemma said, as if reading my expression, “But Jake’s off tomorrow—every Tuesday he is—so he’ll be working on the inn with Will and Junie. Doing staining, or something. And trying to figure out the plumbing situation—I mean,thehaunted toilet.” She put it in air quotes, and rolled her eyes. “Leave it to Junie to think up the wildest thing. It’s probably a busted line, or a bad pipe.”

I didn’t want to upset whatever spirit resided in the inn’s plumbing, and I certainly didn’t want it to come after me.

“Anyway, sorry, I didn’t mean to yammer your ear off—everyone says that’s why Thomas and I get along. I talk too much, he doesn’t talkever. We balance each other out. Thomas is my husband,” she added quickly, and the more she talked the faster she went. “We married a few years ago. Took over Sweeties from Uma, but everyone calls her Granny Uma because, you know, she’s like a grandmother to everyone and oh mygodI am talking too much.” She threw up her hands. “I apologize.”

I giggled. Full on giggled. Because it felt like Gemma had just walked off the page, all 153 excited pounds of her.

Pru and I had stood outside in freezing weather the morningHoney and the Heartbreakcame out. We were so excited, we beat the owner to the bookshop, and warmed our hands on the Starbucks coffee we’d gotten across the street. Pru was neck-deep in a job she hated, so as we waited outside in the cold, she vented to me about the most horrid guests at the hotel where she worked.

“You wouldn’tbelievehow many Jacuzzi rooms we had to take out of commission after Valentine’s on Friday,” she had complained, right up until we got our books in hand. “You’re so lucky you do what you love.”

I nodded. Ididfeel lucky, back then. “I think I might apply for the tenure track. Get a PhD.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, what do you think? Could you see me as a stuffy old professor in thirty years?”I inclined my head to look more regal.

Pru snorted. “No offense, butno.”

“Offense taken! I think I would be a pretty cute old professor lady. Crotchety. But I’d secretly sneakTwilightinto all my required reading.”

My best friend was absolutely offended. “Youwouldn’t.”

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