Page 36 of A Novel Love Story

I denied it, flustered. “I—I didnot—”

“Does shelooklike she stabs people in the thigh?” Junie asked, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, babe.”

The man replied, leaning in behind her, putting his chin on her shoulder, “But, Junebug, I try not to put people in boxes.”

My mouth was dry. It was him—it really was him. It was—

Junie kissed him briefly on the lips. “Elsy, meet Will.”

I know.

I tried not to stare, but it was hard. Like seeing Aragorn step out of the pages, or finding out you’re seated beside sparkly-skin-of-a-killer Edward Cullen himself.

“Is it true you tried to take out his eyeballs?” Will asked, and Junie punched him in the arm.

“Seriously, Will?”

“Ow! What? I heard she had!”

She rolled her eyes. “Please ignore him. He’s huffed too much paint today. We’re finishing up the kitchen in the inn. Babe, she’ll be staying there tonight, is that all right?”

He gave a gasp. “What, we getroomies? Amazing. It’ll be a pleasure to have you.”

“I’m just happy I don’t have to sleep in my car,” I said.

“We’d never let you do that,” he replied, and slid onto the barstool beside Junie and stole a French fry from her plate. “Heart of my heart, love of my life, daffodil of my eye, how was your day?”

“Lovely. Yours?”

“Still looking for a new plumber.”

At that, Gail came over with a beer for Will. “New plumber? What happened to the one you had?”

“Fell,” June replied. “He’s been down on his back for six weeks now and we don’t know when he’ll be up to working again, so I think we need to just find a new one.” She sighed wistfully. “He wassoclose, too. All we had left was the haunted toilet. It works sometimes, and then sometimes it just … floods for no reason, and water ends up everywhere.”

Will stole another fry, until Junie slapped away his hand with a glare. “We aren’t sure if it’s actually haunted or if it’s just the leaky pipes.”

“Shush, we can market it if it’s haunted—itmightbe haunted.” She added toward me, “You’ll be far away from it, I promise.”

“Junebug, who would come to a town of two hundred peoplejustto see a haunted toilet?” Will asked, not unkindly. There was adoration in her nickname, in every syllable. I wondered what it was like to have someone call you by a name like that.

Junie inclined her head and replied, quite certainly, “You’d be surprised, William.”

And I raised my hand to prove her point.

Aghost storyin the middle of Quixotic Falls? I felt like this was a story writtenjustfor me. There was no part of this that I wasn’t about to thoroughly enjoy.

After Gail took Will’s order so he’d stop absconding with his fiancée’s fries, I asked Junie, “If it’s just that little thing … can’t you open up without it?”

“Sadly, no. It’s theoriginof all our … waste issues … to begin with,” Junie admitted. “It’s the biggest fix, and there isn’t another plumber in town so …”

“It’s a waiting game,” Will finished for her.

She agreed. “A long one.”

Will wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s what she said.”

Junie gave a sigh so tired, it sounded like her soul was leaving her body. She planted a hand on his cheek and said, in all seriousness, “You’re awful. I love you.”

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