Page 63 of When the Angel Falls First

“You knew?” I whispered.

He winked in reply.

“Acupuncture, herbal teas, and a lavender-oil massage wereall I needed!” Mr. Anderson announced, his face beaming with delight.

I murmured to Caleb, “Lavender-oil massage, huh?”

He shrugged with that silly grin on his face.

“It was written in the stars,” Dr. Elwyn said, her arms still firmly around his neck. “We knew instantly that we were as meant to be as he was meant to overcome his suffering.”

“And you,” Mr. Anderson picked up, looking at me, “are welcome to keep the cats.”

Tears rose before I could stop them. “Oh, Mr. Anderson. Thank you!”

He cleared his throat. “Just clean up after them, huh?” I could tell he felt he had to make some kind of remark after all the trouble he’d given me. But as long as I got to keep my babies, I couldn’t care less.

“Yes, sir. You bet.”

“Then I think our work here is done.” Dr. Elwyn put her clipboard away. “We still have time to get away for the weekend. What do you say, Herbie?”

“Nothing would please me more, Elwynnie.”

Herbie? Elwynnie? Holy shit, we were through the looking glass.

I saw them to the door, intending to wave goodbye, but they only had eyes for each other. Dr. Elwyn gave Mr. Anderson’s butt a squeeze as they passed the threshold.Will wonders never cease?

Only Caleb and I, plus the cats, were left in the store.

“You played a part in that, didn’t you?” It was a question that wasn’t a question because the impish grin on his face told me everything.

“It wasn’t predestined, but it was ideal for both of them. Andlook what we got out of it.” The Bookish Cat, with its towers of books and warm pools of lamp light, felt suddenly intimate. “I needed you to have this win.” I sensed an energy pulsating between us, like the hum of a power line, both thrilling and terrifying.

Ever since that mad, beautiful kiss, and his subsequent golden glow, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my mind. It was more than a kiss; it was an admission, a confession—something binding.

A promise.The memory of his lips against mine, the feel of his arms around me, the way the world had momentarily ceased to exist, kept playing on a loop. But I couldn’t put a name to what it was. It was an emotion that didn’t fit within the narrow parameters of language, it was simply too vast, too overwhelming.

Every time I closed my eyes, I relived that moment, and each time, it felt as though it ended too abruptly. The sweet, intoxicating taste of him lingered on my tongue, a haunting reminder of what we had and what we could have been.

And what we might still become.

“Hiya, kids!” Barb burst into the shop like a hurricane, dispelling the intensity between us.

It was perhaps for the best.

“Should I take it from your goofy smiles that the cats are here to stay?”

“Yes!” I declared and wrapped my arms around Barb. “Thank goodness for you, Barb. So level-headed and helpful.”

“Ew, can’t I be adventurous and dangerous instead? You kids go have fun. I’ll do some tidying up now that we’re here to stay. Where’s that exacto knife?” She dropped her satchel on the countertop and searched for the pen knife we kept on the shelf below. It shouldn’t have been an issue and wouldn’t have been if she hadn’t shoved a particular pile of papers aside.

Because the leather-bound journal fell out, onto the floor, in plain sight behind the counter. Caleb’s journal. The one I shouldn’t have had.

“Oops!” I thrust myself behind the counter, intentionally knocking down the stack of order forms that I kept beside the register. Huge thanks to gravity, for they landed over the journal, effectively hiding it from view. “Look at me, butterfingers!”

My pulse pounded between my ears. Had Caleb seen it? Could he feel it?

“Need a hand?” He bent over the counter.

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