Page 23 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

Gemma’s gaze moved back and forth between both of us, light glinting behind her mischievous eyes as she waved us away.

I looked both ways before crossing the street to the brick building, Finn at my side. “You know Gemma thinks there’s something going on between us,” I said.

“Someone should tell her that your idea of a pet name ismenace.”

I laughed as I stepped into the store. Warm light and shelves of merchandise surrounded me. TheAnne of Green Gables—BBC version—soundtrack played quietly in the background. Nostalgia ran over me for the seven hundredth time that day.

“Do you feel like you’ve fallen into a junior high daydream?” Finn asked, his voice teasing.

“Try adult daydream.”

“Still obsessed?”

For somereason, I wasn’t as annoyed as I’d historically been when Finn Harrison had brought up my love ofAnne of Green Gables. Unlike in school, he hadn’t spent every waking minute we’d been together so far teasing me. Just half of them. So, there was a fifty-fifty chance this wasn’t a tease but an actual question.

“Maybe even more so,” I responded as I walked into the store. “Now I’m not just obsessed with Anne, I’m obsessed with Lucy Maud. She was a genius.”

“Fun coincidence that you have the same name.”

“No coincidence. My mom loved the books too.” I picked up trinkets here and there for my cousins, laughed at a few T-shirts, and just enjoyed the fact that I was here, surrounded by a world that had helped raise me.Anne of Green Gableswas a fantastic story in its own right, but add the fact that Anne had been my best friend when I’d felt so misunderstood and misplaced, and it would’ve held a special place in my heart regardless.

Finn didn’t stick by me the entire time. At one point, I saw him chatting with the girl at the checkout counter, and at another time, he was looking at merchandise across the room. But after a while, he came up beside me again, eyes raking over the armful of goodies I held. “Once you’ve bought out the store, I’ve got something I want to show you.” He gestured to the door with his head.

“Okay, just let me buy this stuff first.”

Again, he looked over my souvenirs and bit his lips together in clear amusement. I ignored him, also ignoring my better judgment and my bank account as I made for the counter. Still, at the last second, I did put a couple of things away—only a couple, though. I had to be forgiven for a lack of complete restraint. As Finn had said, I had been dropped into my adulthood daydream. I couldn’t help myself.

Once I’d paid, Finn grabbed my merchandise bag from my hands and held the door open, leading me down the street. A few shops down, he stopped. I glanced up and read the painted words across the windows.Anne of Green Gables Chocolates.

My daydream had just been upgraded.

Finn bought a box of chocolates for me, despite my protestations. And when he held the door again and purposely walked between me and the street, I almost told him to cut it out. But I couldn’t exactly say I didn’t like how nice he was being, so I just bit the inside of my cheek instead. My mind was in its usual state of overdrive—what did all of this mean? Why was he being so solicitous?

The knowledge that he’d had a crush on me was clearly wreaking havoc with my thoughts. My brain seemed to think that a decade ago was synonymous with this week. But it wasn’t. Most likely, he’d simply grown into a decent guy. Just because I hadn’t had much experience with men like that didn’t mean they didn’t exist.

So again, not my fault that my mind was struggling here. Also, as an addendum to that, it was not my fault that my eyes kept straying to the side, noticing how he’d shortened his long stride to match mine and how the light breeze was ruffling his dark hair. Thank goodness for the distraction of meeting back up with the Hastings. Together, we perused shops for another hour before arriving early for the musical.

I was seated between Finn and the eldest Hastings daughter, Martha, or Mar as she insisted I call her. She had her newborn baby strapped to her chest, snoozing away. The seats were plush, and the hushed conversation around me reignited that bubbly feeling of anticipation. I had watched every Anne adaptation there was, but I had not seen a musical, and my leg was bouncing up and down with suppressed excitement. I stopped myself from taking a picture of the empty stage just for the memory.

Finn’s hand landed on my knee, stilling it. I looked with surprise up into his face. He was silently laughing.

“You are shaking our entire row,” he said, his eyes crinkling at the sides. The warmth from his hand on my bare knee somehow made me shiver.

As if sensing my reaction, his eyes lost a bit of their humor as he stared at me. There was something in that look. Something in the way his eyes flicked to my lips and back up.

Something I wouldn’t name. Nope. Not doing it.

I tore my gaze away, intently watching the stage. After a way too long couple of seconds, Finn’s hand lifted from my leg. I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

But then he sank lower in his chair, opened the program, and stuck his elbow across our shared armrest. Inches from my arm.

In an attempt to distract myself, I opened my own program. Mar leaned across me to talk to Finn, a hand to the back of her baby’s head.

“Have you seen this before?” she asked.

He didn’t answer, so I glanced up just in time to catch the tail end of him shaking his head.

My brows pulled together. “What do you mean you haven’t seen this before? You’ve taken tours here a ton of times, haven’t you?”

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