Page 52 of Booked on a Feeling

Working at Sparrow reminded her of Hideaway, and thinking about Hideaway reminded her that she had to go back to Los Angeles soon. A part of her wanted to stop thinking about the LA bookstore, but her suggestions could make her favorite bookstore even more successful—so successful that no one would dare turn it into a trendy café.

“You have to feed the kid dinner at some point,” Lizzy gently reminded her friend.

“He can eat while he reads.” Shannon shrugged, arrangingcolored pens into a pencil holder next to the journals. “Something easy like chicken nuggets.”

“What about bedtime?” she pointed out for the sake of argument.

“Sleep is overrated.” The book lover trumped the sensible mom in Shannon. “Reading is everything.”

Lizzy burst out laughing. “Who am I to argue with such sound logic?”

When they returned to setting up the journal table, Lizzy’s mind wandered. With Jack working most evenings, it was much harder to plan back-to-back dates than she’d thought. Maybe they could have lunch dates from now on. Eating sack lunches on the floor of the bookstore didn’t count. Those were working lunches. They could go out to restaurants or have lunch on a park bench. Something romantic.

But lunch wasn’t until tomorrow. Her shoulders sagged. She was impatient to move the dating thing forward so…other thingscould start.

“Hello?” Shannon waved a hand in front of her face.

“I’m sorry. What?” Her mind had stalled onother things.

“We finished moving the journal display. You can check that off now.” Shannon handed her the to-do list and a pen.

“Ooh, yay.” Lizzy drew a fancy check mark in the box. “We’re really moving through this thing.”

“Thanks to you and Jack.” Shannon offered her a wobbly smile. “Moving here after the divorce and starting over… It hasn’t been easy. Between Sparrow and Elliot, the only people I met in the last couple of years were customers and other parents in passing. Everyone in Weldon is so friendly, but I didn’t really have any friends.” She swiped away a wayward tear with the back of her hand. “Oh, geez. I’m just babbling. What I mean to say is I’m so grateful for you.”

“I’m grateful for you, too.” Lizzy wrapped her friend in a bear hug. “I don’t have many friends, either. Being an attorney is such an all-consuming job—it’s really isolating.” She didn’t realize how alone she had been until she came to Weldon. “It’ll mean so much to me if we keep in touch after I go back to LA.”

“I don’t want to think about you going back yet. But yeah. We’ll definitely keep in touch.” Shannon pulled back from the hug. “Now. Tell me what has you so distracted that you forgot to cross off a to-do-list item the moment it was completed.”

Lizzy hadn’t had a girlfriend to confide in for so long that she forgot she could do that. Maybe Shannon could help her figure out how to move things along with Jack.

“How should I put this?” She lowered her voice so Elliot wouldn’t hear. “Jack is a true gentleman.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Shannon crinkled her nose for a second, then her face cleared. “Ohhhh. Yeah, no. That isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially for you guys.”

“Especially for us? Why?”

“Oh, my God. The sexual tension between you two is so heavy that I have to wade through it with a machete to get around the store.”

Lizzy couldn’t even laugh at the imagery. She was so frustrated. “Help.”

“Is he working at the brewery tonight?”

“Yup.”

“What time does he get off?”

“I think he said ten o’clock.”

“Hmm.” Her friend tapped her lips with her index finger. “Why don’t you visit him at the brewery?”

“I don’t want to bother him at work,” Lizzy said uncertainly.

“Girl, now isn’t the time to be polite. Just listen. Get there close to ten and wait for him to finish up. Then you guys can gofor a nightcap.” A mischievous smile lit up Shannon’s face. “Of course, you’ll need to wear a dress that will make Jack have very ungentlemanly thoughts.”

“Ooh, you’re evil. I love it.” Lizzy nibbled her bottom lip. “But I’m not sure I packed anything like that.”

“Not to worry. I have the perfect dress for you.”

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