Page 1 of Tanner
Chapter 1
RACHEL
If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have said that I could set my watch to his arrival every morning at eight o’clock. But it’s been almost a week since he stopped showing up in my store.
“I don’t think he’s coming today,” Colt, my cousin, and employee, says to me from behind the front counter.
I’d been wiping down the window in an attempt to hide what I was doing, but apparently, I’m not as subtle as I’d like to think. My eyes sweep the length of Main Street out the storefront window of my book store one last time before I turn around.
“That obvious?” I ask, feeling silly that I’ve been caught.
He shrugs. “Well, it’s hard not to notice how you light up whenever he walks in.”
“I don’t do that!” I squeak, my voice getting suspiciously high. I clear my throat and try again. “I don’t do that.”
Colt puts one finger in his ear and wiggles it around, pretending like the high pitch tone of my lie just blew out an eardrum or something.
“You’re really annoying. You know that?" I half-heartedly tease.
"I do, in fact, know this about myself." He nods. "But that doesn't change the fact that you are in love with a guy that you've barely spoken to."
“I’m not in love with him.”
I just really, really like him.
“Whatever you say, cuz.” Colt shakes his head and turns to head towards the backroom.
The lights in the ceiling flicker in and out, making me look up at them. It’s like they are trying to tell me something in Morse code.Flicker, flicker, glow. You love himmmm. Flicker, flicker, glow. You love himmmm.
“Shut up,” I grumble to the lights.
Colt’s right, but I’m not about to admit that out loud to him or myself. It may sound juvenile, but I have a pretty big crush on a guy who’s name I don’t even know. But to my credit, there are some things I do know about him from the minimal interactions we’ve had around the shop.
He likes to order a large Americano and cranberry scone. He readsThe Financial Timesfront to back every morning. He likes to scratch his chin with his thumb when he’s concentrating. His smile makes the butterflies in my lower belly flutter like they are in a wind storm.
The lights continue to flicker, much to my annoyance. I smack the wall and curse the old wiring in this place. This building's price might have been cheap when I bought it, but I more than make up for it in other ways. I walk over to the counter and scribble a note for myself to call an electrician to look at the wiring. I bought this place because it has a one-bedroom upstairs, making my commute to work the best in town—one flight of stairs.
The phone on the counter rings, and I pick it up.
“Knight and Day Books. How may I help you?”
“Oh good, you’re still there,” Hazel, one of my best friend’s sighs into the phone.
“Where else would I be?” I ask, but Hazel doesn’t respond.
All I can hear on the other end of the line is muffled speaking, followed by the less muffled sound of Hazel replying, “I know, I told you I’d be right there.” Whoever she’s talking to responds, but I can’t hear them. All I can tell from their tone is that they sound annoyed. “Rachel? Are you still there?”
“Still here.”
“Okay, I’m sorry about that.” She sighs again. “I need you to do me a favor.”
“Name it.”
“I had to borrow Ethan’s truck to go to the teacher’s conference in Charlotte this morning. But I've just been informed that the email they sent out saying this thing would end at two o'clock was a typo, and it doesn't end until five.”
“Bummer,” I tuck the phone between my ear and my shoulder. “I’m not sure what the favor is that you’re asking me.”
“Ethan’s been at the hospital all day with Tanner.”
