Page 87 of A Novel Love Story

So, in a somewhat sweet way, him choosing me for this plight made sense.

It didn’t make me any less mortified, becausehedidn’t know that I knew way,waymore about his and Gemma’s romantic life than anyone else in town, which was just really ironic.

And tragic.

For me.

“So,” he asked, pleadingly like a lost puppy, “can you help?”

How could I say no, respectfully? If anyone knew how to help him, it was me. I held up a finger, and slipped away for a moment into the self-help and relationships section. It took a few scans, but I plucked one out from one of the bottom shelves.

“Not that one,” said Anders, materializing at my side.

I shrieked, and then punched him in the arm. “Stop doing that!”

“Ow, what did I do?” he asked, rubbing his arm.

“Snuck up on me!Again!” I hissed.

He rolled his eyes, and reached over my shoulder for another book. He was so close, I could smell his aftershave, and the woodsy paper smell that lingered on his clothes. “This one is better.”

I took it. On the cover was just a zipper running all the way down. Admittedly, it did have the better cover than the one I’d picked out, which was of a man in a hideous spray tan, grinning at the camera. I looked at both of them. “Is this a personal suggestion?”

He gave a shrug. “Pineapple.”

Which was a very well-known safe word. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, trying to hide a grin. “I’ll take it on good faith, then.” Then I returned to Thomas, and handed him Anders’s suggestion. He bought both the bee book, and the sex one, acting a little more confident than he had before.

“Jake was right,” Thomas said with a grin. “You’re good. Thanks, Elsy—see you, Anders!” He raised his hand in goodbye just in time for me to notice that the bookshop owner had been close enough for the tail end of our conversation.

I winced as the door closed.

Anders came up to lean against the counter, closing his dusting wand again. “So,” he said.

“So …”

“‘Jake was right’?” he quoted.

I feigned innocence. “I have no idea what he was talking about.”

“Eileen.”

Uh-oh. He used my full name. I twisted the lock of hair around my finger nervously, chewing on my bottom lip. “Okay, look … I might have caused some …ripples.”

He didn’t look all that surprised. “Go on.”

“So I went about trying to fix them.” I glanced out the door after Thomas, and then back at Anders. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment, tapping the dust wand in his open palm. But then he set it down and said, “I knew about Ruby and Jake.”

My eyes widened.

“And that you tried to fix it.”

“I did!” I clarified. “Ididfix it.”

His lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. “All right, you did.”

“And you aren’t mad?”

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