Page 52 of Let's Pretend I'm Okay

I nod. “Of course.”

She taps her head. “And some people don’t believe in twintelepathy.” She takes a sip and closes her eyes with a sigh. “Just how I like it.”

“Have you been busy?” I ask. Other than one customer way in the back, the place is empty.

She shakes her head. “Nope. I finished dusting, and then I spent about an hour going through the donations.”

“Any good ones?” I lean on the counter.

She points to a pile of books behind her. “Most of the ones I went through were salvageable... with a little love. There were only a couple that were past rescuing.”

This is the perfect job for her. I’ve seen her fix countless busted book spines, even ones that I thought were hopeless. But she’s patient and hates to throw anything away.

“So what did you do?” she asks.

I tap my head, copying her recent movement. “Shouldn’t you know?”

She deadpans, “The twin telepathy isn’t telepathing.”

“What a shame. You should get that fixed.”

She rolls her eyes. “You should answer my question.”

I set my notebook down on the counter. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”

She raises an eyebrow. “It took you two hours to pick out a notebook?”

I gently tap the notebook. “Hey, you can’t rush something like this. I’m going to be using this for the foreseeable future. I had to spend time making sure it was the one.”

“You make it sound like you’re getting married to it.”

“Annie . . .”

“Margo.”

“You’re right. That would be an abnormally long time to spend picking out a notebook.”

“Obviously, Sherlock.”

I open up the email, but before I show her, I say, “You’re going to want to sit for this.”

“I am sitting.”

“You’ll want to continue sitting,” I tease.

“That was the plan. Now, tell me. What did you do?”

I set the phone down on the counter and spin it toward her. Her eyes bug out, and her book falls to the ground as she lunges for the phone.

“Oh my word!” She zooms in, enlarging the font. Then she looks at me. “You swear this isn’t a joke?”

I give her a look. “I would never joke about something so serious.”

She squeals and kicks her feet, hugging the phone to her chest. “I can’t believe I’m going to see Broken Sage!” She jumps up, the palm of her hand smacking the table. “How did you get these tickets?”

I have to admit it was hard. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make the trade, which is why I didn’t breathe a word of this to Annie until I was sure. If I told her about the concert and then backed out, she would’ve been devastated. “Look at the tickets again.”

She looks at the tickets again. “It’s only a month away. I have so much to plan. What am I going to wear? We have to make a sign to hold up. I’ve always wanted to do that.”

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