Page 68 of The Now in Forever
SATURDAY, JULY 6TH
Our book club meeting is tonight. Nathan and Ed are going to stay out of our hair. We are out getting all the supplies, wine, snacks, and a new journal for each of us. It’s our tradition. Well, when we started the club, it was Kool-Aid, snacks, and sticker books. Robin is getting the snacks, Anh is getting the wine, and I’m in charge of the journals. There is no bookstore in Fortune Falls, so I drive down the coast to Seaside.
Beach Reads is not open yet. I’m here a little too early—story of my life. I decide to get an oat milk latte at the coffee shop next door. Checking the email on my phone, I see I have another interview request, this time from the private school in Portland. I select one of the times provided, a tight knot forming in my chest. This is great. Right?
A deep voice startles me. “Hattie?”
I turn and see Superman with brown eyes, Kyle, holding a ceramic mug in his hand.
“Are you following me?”
“No.” I laugh. “I’m just killing time until the bookstore opens.”
“Ah. Care to join me?”
His laptop is open on the table by the window. “Oh no, that’s okay. You look busy.”
“I’m not.” He hands his ceramic mug to the barista, and they fill it back up with black drip coffee.
I grab my latte and sit with him as he closes his laptop and puts it in his bag on the floor. It’s a nice leather bag and compliments the white button-up shirt and blue slacks he has on this morning.
“What are you working on?”
“Listings.”
“What are you listing?” eBay comes to mind. Maybe he’s a hobby seller. He probably has a baseball card habit.
“Properties. I’m a real estate agent when I’m not pulling beers.”
“Oh.” There goes the eBay theory, and now I feel like a dick.
“You seem surprised.”
I shrug. I honestly hadn’t thought much about Kyle, but him selling real estate does surprise me. “I guess I am a little. I just didn’t know.”
“I got into it a few years ago. Not that I don’t like The Vern. It’s fun for the most part, and sometimes I get to meet interesting and very beautiful people.”
My cheeks warm. Is he talking about me?
He laughs. “Real estate pays better. It didn’t at first, but it does now. And I like helping people find their homes. It’s fun to see them imagine their future in a place, you know. Christmases, birthdays, anniversaries. It’s like selling memories before they happen.”
I smile, intrigued by this way of looking at it. “So, you deal in dreams?”
He returns my smile. It’s warm and a little lopsided…and undeniably charming. “Basically. Why are you banging down the door of the bookstore on a Saturday morning? Is there a book you just have to read today?”
“No—well, yes. There’s always a book I’m dying to read, but I’m in the market for some journals this morning.” I explain to him about our book club and our tradition with the journals. “I forgot I was on journal duty this year. Last year, Robin had monogrammed leather-bound beautiful books sent to our houses. I’m hoping I can at least find their favorite colors.”
I check the time. “It’s getting late. I should go.”
“Mind if I tag along? My showing doesn’t start for a bit, and I could use a new book.”
“Sure,” I say before truly considering it.
As we walk next door together, guilt creeps up my spine like a snake slithering through the long yellow grass. It’s fine. We’re just hanging out; it’s not like this was planned. If he were a woman, I wouldn’t feel weird about it. But he’s not. He’s a very tall, incredibly handsome man, and if the roles were reversed and Ed went shopping with a cute girl, I would be jealous. But that’s silly, isn’t it?
The bells jingle as we open the door, and the woman behind the counter greets us.
Kyle waves. “Hey Nancy.”
