Page 32 of Love on the Run

“Good. Make him behave. If he gets unruly, put him in timeout for half an hour. That usually does the trick.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Truthfully, she hadn’t wanted to distance herself from Beau yet. The feeling might not be reciprocated, but his grumpiness had been on the low side of the scale since they left Blackwater.

“Also, do you want me to log in and respond to messages on your social media accounts? I don’t mind taking care of that if it’ll help you to step away from it for a while.”

Olivia was truly a gift from the Lord, but she had no idea how many messages the fashion vlog received in a day. “Thanks, but I’ll take care of it. Ihave to decide on a course of action before I do anything.”

Anna glanced up as a cute little cabin-style store came into view. When the sign out front was close enough to read, she gasped and pointed. “Beau!”

The car swerved into the other lane before he reined it in. “What?”

“That bookstore looks so cute! Let’s stop there!”

Beau let out a sharp huff. “You scared the life out of me! You could have gotten us killed!”

“Don’t be scared. It’s just a bookstore,” Anna said before biting her lips together. Maybe she’d overreacted a tiny bit.

Beau slowed the car and turned into the small, gravel lot. “It’s not the bookstore I’m afraid of,” he mumbled.

“Tell him to shut up and drive,” Olivia said. “He’s such a drama llama.”

“I know. He almost drove us into a ditch because of a bookstore,” Anna said, glancing over at Beau to gauge his reaction.

He parked in front of the cabin and turned off the car. Reclining the seat, he pulled his ball cap over his face and crossed his arms. “I’ll be waiting right here.”

“Oh, come on. You’re not going with me?” Anna asked.

“I’m going to let you handle things there. Remind him that he’s a stick in the mud and this ishis one chance to become moderately cultured,” Olivia said.

Anna took in the surly man leaned back in the driver’s seat of her car. “I don’t think he cares about being cultured.”

A muffled “Oink” came from behind his cap.

“He claimed men are pigs and he warned me,” Anna said to Olivia.

“True story. I gotta run. Have fun. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Anna handed the phone back to Beau. “Come on, Beau. Please just go inside with me. I feel like I’m a teenager getting dropped off at the mall by my parents.”

“Do people do that anymore?” he asked from behind his hat.

“I hope not. It was weird. Anyway, how about you go book shopping with me and we forget about ice skating?”

Beau lifted the hat from his face. “Really?”

“Really. I don’t think I’d like ice skating anyway. I just wanted to try it to see if I would like it.”

“That’s actually a good reason to have something on your bucket list,” Beau said.

“Yeah, but you got me thinking about how life is short and maybe I shouldn’t do things I doubt I’m going to like.”

“Fine, but I don’t read books.”

Anna rolled her eyes. Men and books. “Why? Are you afraid you’ll learn something?”

“Actually, I read manuals all the time, and I have no reason to read if it doesn’t teach me something.”

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