Page 24 of Surprised By Her

“Oh, well,” Mama said, going for another slice of pizza.

“What?” I asked.

“It just seemed like you had some momentum that might lead to other things,” Mom said.

“I have momentum,” I said, feeling defensive. “I told you, I hung out with people last night.”

“You know, you could always invite some of your friends over here. We’ll make ourselves scarce. You could have a sleepover!” Mama said.

“Mama, I’m not twelve. If I’m having a sleepover, I’m going to rent a hotel or something.” The other reason I’d have a sleepover is if I was dating someone, but that was a completely different thing and I didn’t want to discuss those details with my parents at the moment.

“We just want you to feel free to invite anyone over,” Mom said. “If you wanted to.”

“I’ll let you know,” I said, licking garlic butter off my fingers.

Saturday I slept in and woke to rain pattering on the windows. I watched the water sliding down the glass for a few moments before I got up. I had to work until noon and then I had the rest of the weekend for myself. Right now, my plans included curling up in my favorite chair in the corner of the living room and reading as much as I possibly could with a plate of snacks. I might put a record on my parent’s turntable to really set the ambience. The perfect weekend.

Work flew by with the shop packed with customers from the minute I unlocked the door to when I told the last customers that I needed to close and that we’d be open for a few hours on Sunday and they could come back.

It was still raining, much to my delight, and the bookstore was open until four, so I headed down the street and ducked into the shop, shaking off my umbrella. The bookstore was also busy, so I had to shove myself in between other customers to browse.

Joy wasn’t working today, but Kendra, the owner, and Erin were, but I knew they probably had their hands full. It was up to me to figure out what to read.

I hit the queer romance area, with the new releases on the top shelf. There were two new sapphic romances I hadn’t read, so I grabbed them before I decided to scan the historical romances and then the nonfiction. I was a big fan of biographies of interesting people. My last stops were the craft books and crossword puzzles for my parents, but nothing new there.

I got in line and pulled out my phone to amuse myself while I waited. From what I could overhear, there was a problem with the card swiper, so poor Erin was completely frazzled. I hoped people were being kind to her.

“Find anything interesting?” a voice said, and I looked over my shoulder right into a familiar chest. I raised my eye level so I didn’t seem like a creep. She did have a lovely chest, though.

“Hey,” I said. “I did.” I held the books up so she could see.

“Did you get anything?” I asked.

She held up our next book club pick, a wildly popular cozy fantasy book about an orc opening a coffee shop. I was really excited about reading and discussing it, but I hadn’t started yet.

“Nice,” I said. “I was hoping we’d read that one.”

Ryan looked down at the book and nodded. Guess we were done chatting.

The line moved forward as I tried to think of something else to say.

“I love rainy weekend days. They make me feel so cozy,” I blurted out.

Ryan nodded. “I agree.”

At last, it was time for me to pay and I said hello to Erin, who looked tired.

“I think we’re back up and running, but let’s cross our fingers things don’t go down again,” she said as I prepared to pay with my card. I knocked on the wooden counter as she added a bookmark in between one of the covers.

The card went through and she handed me the receipt as I stuffed the books in my bag to protect them from the rain.

“Enjoy the book,” I told Ryan as she stepped up to the counter.

“You too,” she said.

I bit my lip, knowing I should leave, but always feeling that tug of something unsaid between us.

“Have a nice weekend, Ryan,” I finally said.

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