Page 24 of The Luck of Finding You
“She did?” Gracie pulls away from me a bit so that she can gauge my feelings about this.
“She also left it to me. And, technically, her granddaughter, but only one of them has to work here in order for us to inherit some money Marsha left.” We’ve reached the couch and circle of chairs. I will not look at Noah, but I can feel his eyes on me as I sit in one of the folding chairs.
“He’s handsome!” Pam sits on the other side of me. “Wouldn’t tell me who he is, but he looks a little like that Captain America guy. What’s his name?”
I bite my cheek to keep from smiling. Pam has always been a talker; she probably didn’t give Noah a chance to introduce himself. And she’s not wrong about him looking a little like Chris Evans. They’ve both got the same jawline and hair color.
I sneak a glance at Noah. His cheeks are red as he’s taking in all the women who are now staring at him and shouting out questions, mostly about who he is, if he’s dating me, and if he knows why I’m having man trouble.
“Ladies.” Time to rein them in. “This is Noah Jones, Marsha’s grandson. She left him the shop, so he’ll be around for a year. Give him some space though. Noah, these are the book club ladies.”
I don’t introduce them individually; I know they can do that all on their own.
Noah gives them all a grin that shows off his dimple. I swear Shirley swoons. “Nice to meet you all. But I don’t know about Tally’s men problems. She’s been pretty tight-lipped about her dating life.”
All five heads swivel in my direction.
I lick my lips nervously. “Like I said. No men problems.”
“You were fine last month. Something is definitely going on,” Shirley declares. “So it’s either his fault or your online—”
“Okay, fine, I finally listened to your advice and set up a dating profile.” I do not need Noah to find out that the only “relationship” I’ve had in the past two years is with a guy I’ve never met and am not actually in a relationship with. Now I’ll have to make an online profile just so I don’t feel guilty about the lie. “A few guys have reached out, but I’m not super interested in any of them.”
I can tell right away that Shirley doesn’t buy my story. From the other ladies, I get the words, “Good for you, honey.”
I glance at Noah, who’s got a single eyebrow raised at me like he’s daring me to call my own bluff. I glance away, hot all over from the lie.
“What book did you ladies read this month?” Noah asks, saving me from my own embarrassment. I don’t need saving, but I’m thankful. He hasn’t seemed to notice the variety of books that are in our laps.
Pam grins as she holds up her book. One by one the ladies show their covers, all of which are different.
“Isn’t the point of a book club to read the same book to discuss?” Noah looks confused, even though I swear I remember telling him about how this book club worked.
“No, dear.” Collene, who’s sitting next to him on the couch, pats his leg. “We all pick a new book every month before we leave here, read it, and then we talk about what we read.”
“So you all read different books?”
“Right,” Shirley says. She picked out a pirate romance last month, and I’m kind of dying to hear about it. Sometimes the ladies end up swapping books if the ones they read sound interesting. “This one, for example, completely flopped. The story had no plot, other than the fact they were on a pirate ship and they fell in love. Very steamy.”
Shirley hates steam. She only comes to the book club because Collene is her neighbor and invited her. She always tries to pick books that won’t be steamy, but she also loves every single cover that has a half naked man on it, so I’m not really sure what she’s expecting.
“I’ll take that, then.” Gracie reaches over to take the pirate book from Shirley. Gracie will read anything and everything.
I risk another glance at Noah and see he’s taking it all in.
We move around the circle slowly. Pam didn’t like her book, but Gracie says hers is a new favorite. Collene laughs when she starts telling us about how her cat sat on her book and then knocked over a glass of her husband’s coffee onto the book, so she only read about fifty pages.
“Tally, what book did you read this month?” Pam asks. All eyes turn to me, and for once I’m at a loss for words. Usually, I can talk about a book for hours and hours. Usually, I do. But the room is sweltering. Maybe we should go back to talking about my man problem.
“I picked a historical romance,” I start. “With a guy who’s got a bad reputation.”
“Not your go-to,” Gracie pipes in. She’s right. I mainly read contemporary romance, rom-coms, or fantasy.
“No, but it was really good.” I pause for a beat. That’s all I can say? I write book reviews online as a hobby, and all I can say is that it was good? It was swoon-worthy good. Gran caught me squealing. Twice. All the women and Noah are staring at me expectantly. “It was steamier than I thought it would be.”
“Those historical fiction ones always get you, but aren’t they so great?” Gracie is gushing. Historical romance is her favorite. “It makes me wish I were young again. Not that my new wife has any problem—”
“Okay…” I interrupt her before she can share any more details about her intimate life, which she tends to do more than anyone else I’ve ever met. Mom would have liked her. Gran would probably be friends with her if I ever introduced them, but Gran has no interest in the book club. I finally stopped asking her if she wanted to come last year because I realized she wasn’t going to change her mind. “But it was good,” I finish my thoughts lamely.
