Page 24 of With Stars in Her Eyes
I had been banging my head on the bookstore front desk for several minutes while my best friend squealed at every detail of getting snowed in over the weekend. At least Mondays were slow enough that there weren’t any customers to listen to the embarrassing grilling.
“Andthenwhat?”
“After she was reading?”
“Right. Then what happened?”
“Then we fell asleep. Well, Baxter fell asleep first. Then I fell asleep. When I woke up, Thea was sleeping on the other side of the cushions and the power had come back on. She got up when I did, and then said thanks and left.”
Samantha’s expression was a mixture of exasperation and awe. “I can’t believe you were snowed in with her and didn’t make a move. Have all those romance books taught younothing?”
“Ms. Jeannie was sleeping in theoffice.”
“Neither of you suggested getting naked and warming each other under the blankets with body heat?”
“Impressionablepiglet with us too.”
Sam was still growling when the bell over the door jingled, Jeannie herself entering as if her ears had been burning. I greeted Jeannie as Sam mumbled into her coffee.
“Calling me Auntie Cockblock is not a very polite good morning, Samantha Elizabeth Powell.” Jeannie gave Sam a stern look over her glasses.
“Sorry, Ms. Jeannie.” Sam sighed. “I’m just saying, the piglet could’ve slept on the couch with you, which would have allowedCourtney to potentially live out any number of romance book trope scenarios.Ina bookstore.”
I picked up my coffee mug, checking to see if it was cool enough to drink yet.
“You wanted your best friend to have first-time relations with a lady friend next to a traumatized piglet with me right down the hall?”
I spat out my coffee.
Jeannie patted my back.
“Well, when you say it like that, it just sounds pervy.” Sam plopped onto the stool by the counter and resumed both putting complimentary bookmarks in preorders and pouting.
Throat still smarting from choking on coffee, I managed to find my voice again. “Also, I had a migraine—one of the rough pressure-change ones—and I’m not at my best when that’s happening.”
“Fine. You’re excused then.” Sam put down the bookmarks. “Hey… that’s the first one like that in a while though, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I think the new medications are working. That’s something.”
Jeannie spoke before I could answer. “Sureissomething, isn’t it? So Courtney—”
“Yes, so Courtney—” Sam cut in to save me from the question Jeannie was going to ask about my plans for the future and the summer tour, which I was still refusing to think about. “So speaking of Thea, can you—”
“No.”
Sam frowned. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I’m pretty sure the answer would be no, no matter what the question is.”
“What if I was going to say can you—um—hmm.”
“I’d love to hear this too.” Jeannie stared at Sam expectantly.
I chuckled. “You can’t even think of a hypothetical question you were going to pretend to be asking I might’ve said yes to.”
“Shush. One’ll come to me.” Sam tapped the spot between hereyes. “So, here’s a question… can you confirm there was no further mention of the pluralization of marine animals during this little bookstore slumber party?”
Jeannie gaped at Sam as if worried my best friend had lost her mind.
