Page 11 of The Now in Forever
Ed’s dark brows are knitted together in a look of deep thought. It’s so sexy, I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from taking a finger and smoothing out the wrinkles.
“Hmm. A mystery.” Ed nods slowly. “Might make for a fun summer.”
I DON'T WANNNA GROW UP
TEN YEARS AGO
Patient is not a word I would’ve associated with Ed when he ran into me on the street. But as he shows me how to enter an inventory number for the third time, it strikes me that he is. After I successfully enter in a tiny plastic frog and we delete the sale, we move on to shelving books.
“If you don’t know the genre, you can leave it on the cart behind the counter and let someone else put it away.”
“I think I can figure out the genres of the books, Edward.”
“It took me longer than I’d care to admit to figure out some of them, Harriet.” He laughs. “My name is not Edward, though.”
“Ed’s not short for anything?”
“Oh, it’s short for something, just not Edward.”
“What’s it a nickname for?”
A tiny smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth, but he doesn’t say.
“Come on. You can tell me. I’ll tell you who I’m named after.”
“Harriet Tubman.”
“Nope.”
His green eyes search the ceiling and send a tiny buzz straight to my toes.
“Huh. I’m not sure I know any other Harriets.” He snaps his fingers, and his face lights up. “The turtle.”
“The turtle? Like a Ninja Turtle? Wasn’t the girl one named Ashley? I never got into that cartoon.”
He scoffs. “Um, no. The girl was April O’Neil, and she wasn’t a turtle. She was a reporter who helped them. Either way, that’s not what I meant. I was talking about the little turtle that learns all the lessons. He has a younger sister.”
Ed runs away, off into the children’s section. From my spot at the counter, I can see into that section perfectly. He goes right to the shelf, pulls a book, and then he’s back in a blur, quick as he left, this time holding a copy ofFranklin’s Baby Sister.
“Truly impressive detective work, but no.”
He slumps on the counter, burying his head in his hands. “I give up.”
“Harriet the Spy.It was my mom’s favorite book as a kid.” I always hated my name growing up, wishing I’d been named Taylor or Hannah or Madison. But my mom said I should be grateful for a unique name. Her name is Sarah, and she had five other Sarahs in her kindergarten class. When I was young, though, I would’ve given my bike away for a name that just blended into the crowd.
“Huh.” Ed says, startling me out of my thoughts. “I don’t even know what my mom’s favorite book is now, let alone when she was a kid. She’s more thehave a few beers in the backyard to relaxkind of lady. That’s rad, though.”
A small swell of pride blooms in my chest. It’srad. Maybe Mom was on to something. “Your turn.”
He blows out a long breath and heads back up to the counter as I follow.
“Come on. I won’t tell a soul.”
He smiles wide again and grips me by each arm, looking deep into my eyes.He is touching me. Ed is touching me with his large hands and looking at me with his mossy green eyes.My knees are jelly. If I swooned right now, would he catch me?
His voice is low. “You promise not to tell anyone?”
I nod.
