Page 6 of Surprised By Her

“I am,” I said as I grabbed everything. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Have fun,” Mom called from the living room.

“I will,” I said.

Most social situations set off my anxiety, and book club was no exception, but this was my fourth one, and I knew the ropes by now. The group was low-pressure, so I didn’t feel the need to talk, or have the spotlight on me, which helped a lot. Plus, we were talking about books, which was a whole lot easier than having to talk about myself, or my life, or anything super personal.

This month’s book was an older young adult book that was a gorgeous sapphic Cinderella retelling that I had already read lots of times but was happy to read again. We read both old and new releases, so it was fun to go back to something that was a bit older and see it with fresh eyes.

Everyone in the group was absolutely lovely, but I’d yet to make any really strong connections with people to hang out after book club. Right now I was just getting used to being a part of the group and contributing what I could. Oh, and bringing the dip.

I managed to make it to book club at a reasonable time, instead of almost an hour early like I had the first two times I’d come. That had been completely embarrassing, but I’d just pretended like I’d wanted to come early to help out if I could.

Joy was the first person I saw and she immediately took the tray with the dip bowls and the bags of chips from me.

“Sometimes in between meetings, I dream about these dips,” she said. “Is that weird?”

Joy had medium brown hair that fell straight down her back and the kindest energy. I loved coming to the bookstore whenever I could, and she always found something new and interesting for me to read.

“I can ask for some of the recipes, but I don’t think she’s going to want to give them up,” I said with a laugh.

Joy tapped her chin as if she was thinking.

“What are you doing over here? You look like you’re plotting,” Ezra said, coming over. When I’d first met her, I’d been a little intimidated. It wasn’t every day you met someone with knuckle tattoos. She also seemed like the kind of person who held herself back when she first met you, something I could really understand. Some people might think of Ezra as chilly, but I didn’t see her that way, especially when she was with Joy.

“Just trying to figure out how I can get Everly’s mom to give me some of her dip recipes,” Joy said.

“She always jokes that I’ll get them in her will,” I said. “She won’t even let me in the kitchen when she’s making them.”

“Hmmm,” Joy said, frowning. “I’ll think of something. In the meantime…” she trailed off and went to get the chips on the snack table along with the dips.

“Would you like a drink?” Ezra asked me.

“Yeah, that would be great. Non-alcoholic.”

She winked. “Coming right up.”

I headed to the back of the bookstore, which had an open space where the chairs were set up. Lots of people were here already, talking in small groups and already munching on snacks and sampling the drinks. Joy went above and beyond and usually did themed decorations and drinks and a cake every month. It was a lot of work for a club that was free to join.

I said hello to a few other people and found a seat. Ezra returned with my drink and handed it over.

“Thanks so much,” I said, taking it from her.

“You’re welcome.”

Joy called everyone to order a few minutes later, and my stomach started to churn a little. I told myself that I’d done this before, I knew the process, and I wasn’t required to do anything I didn’t want to. If all I was up for was sitting in my chair and eating and drinking and not even saying a word about the book, I could do that and no one would say a damn thing.

“Wait just a second,” Layne said, looking up from her phone as Joy opened the floor up for initial impressions of the book.

“We have one more who’s just parking her car,” Layne said and a few seconds later the bell above the door jingled as someone walked in. My back was to the front and I turned around to see who it was.

It was the stranger I kissed.

“Everyone, this is Ryan, Ryan, this is everyone,” Layne said as I tried to calm the hell down.

“Oh,” I said accidentally as Ryan walked toward the group. She didn’t have a book with her, but a lot of people read ebooks so they didn’t have a book with them.

This was the Ryan she was having the party for? The tall, hot stranger? The stranger who had kissed me on Monday?

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