Page 64 of Unexpectedly Falling
“Are you ready for the holidays?”
“Not really,” Lana says, her brow furrowing. “I moved here a little over six months ago with my kids after my divorce was finalized. It’s our first holiday in the new house.” Her smile is tight like she didn’t mean to share that much with me.
“How old are your kids?”
“My son is twelve and my daughter is eight.” I open my mouth and then close it again and she chuckles. “I’m thirty-four.”
“I wasn’t… I mean, you look great and…”
She smiles, and this time, there’s nothing fake about it.
“It’s all right. My ex and I got pregnant in college and here we are.”
Not so suddenly, I’m hit with the same sense of protectiveness that Coach Turner must be feeling when he sees Lana going through the motions day in and day out.
Thinking fast, I say, “I’m temporarily in Blackstone Falls, but a couple of the people I’ve met… we have a book club. It meets the first week in January. You should come.”
It’s the first thing that comes to mind.
Not coffee.
Not dinner.
Book club.
Like I’ve ever attended one in my life.
“I don’t want to impose,” she says, not picking up on my internal panic because my smile is still perfectly in place.
“You’ll love them—it will be great.”
“Okay, sure. Yeah, that sounds fun.”
“We’re reading that new book by Sloane Daniels.”
Lana chuckles. “I can’t remember the last time I actually sat down and read a book.”
“Well, now’s your chance to start!” I say with a wink and she smiles.
“Thanks, Nessa.”
“Don’t thank me until you meet the rest of them.”
“Looking forward to it.”
We exchange phone numbers and I say goodbye after suggesting a coffee date before then. It’s only as I’m walking to my car that panic starts to rise in my chest. Because as excited as I am, there’s a problem.
There’s no book club.
And I’ve roped Bea, Ellison, and Cal into it too.
Welp, it’s time to activate the phone tree.
NESSA: Hey so good news you have a book club now!
ELLISON: Are there snacks?
NESSA: Do you want there to be snacks?
