Page 2 of Cinnamon Roll Set Up

“Then I guess I’m ready to bring my pizzazz to the Harvest Festival. I’ve loaded up on the perfect sweaters for the occasion.”

If a fall sweater doesn’t blind you with faux foliage or have a giant pumpkin on it, I don’t want it.

“Thank you for agreeing to that.”

“Quit it with the gratitude. It’s going to be fun.” Miles answered the community’s call and signed Dogeared up for some volunteer positions during Magnolia Ridge’s Harvest Festival over the next two months. It’s really just the Saturday farmers market but with more fall flair and lots of games for kids. Which is probably what we’ll wind up manning, but I’m down for anything.

“Tell me about the sweaters.” He knows I live for my thrift shop runs.

I smile sweetly. “No spoilers.”

“You do have an outstanding eye for style.”

My older brother, Sam, gets right to the point and calls itoverkill, but I’ll take the compliment.

“Speaking of my outstanding eye for style…” I put my hands on his laptop where it sits on the counter. “May I?”

He nods and shifts to give me room. “Of course.”

I open the laptop and pull up a new browser tab, quickly navigating to theFound & Freebieslisting that’s been on my mind for the last twenty-four hours.

“Look at this beauty.” I click through the photos, sighing a little over each one. “A rotating bookshelf. And they’re just giving it away.”

He sweeps his fingers beneath mine to take control of the laptop’s trackpad, moving through the pictures again. “Is this for the shop or for your apartment?”

“I’d take it, but I was thinking I’d bring it here. It would fit perfectly in the back corner. Maybe we could fill it with our middle-grade books.”

“Are you going to paint it?”

A sound of disgust escapes me. “You think I’d keep a plain whiteanything?”

He looks like he’s fighting amusement. Acommon expression for him. “Only under extreme duress.”

“I feel like that’s a yes on the bookshelf.”

He lets loose that adorable smile of his that he doesn’t reveal nearly often enough. “Yes. Sure. Get it.”

“You won’t regret it! And if you do, the bookshelf will magically find its way to my apartment.”

Commandeering his trackpad again, I close out theFound & Freebiestab, and his main browser window pops open. The picture that takes over the screen is a star field withAndromeda Awardswritten out in bold, futuristic text.

“Wait.” I grab his biceps and give his arm a little shake. “Did you…?”

Without waiting for an answer or even finishing the question, I click through to the award categories. There, underRising Staris his name: Miles Forrester.

“Miles!” His eyebrows twitch at my shriek, but I plow on. “Why didn’t you tell me you were nominated?”

“I was getting around to it.”

Another fun fact about Miles: he’s humble to a superhuman degree. When people praise the café’s baker, he always says he’ll pass on the compliment even thoughhe’sthe one in the back every morning turning out pastries. I’m one of the few people in Magnolia Ridge who knows that he wrote the books in the Quantum Station series. Heck, most people don’t even know his first name, they just know him as “that bookstore guy.”

Which is a real travesty because Miles is probably the best person in this town. Including me, and I’m awesome.

“We shared our Wordle stats this morning! You fed me an apple danish! I spent an hour messing around in the window!” I’m probably going blue in the face, but I don’t care. This is huge news, and he just sat on it. I could never.

“I was…waiting for the right time?” His mouth tips into a cringey smile.

I plop myself onto the wooden stool beside him. “The right time is now. I need all the details.”

---