“I have GPS on my phone.”She sets the massive, weird book she was holding on a wobbly paint-stained folding table, the only stick of furniture in the place.“I can get around fine by myself.”
“Of course you can.”I don’t know quite what to do with my hands, so I settle for putting them on my hips.
“Don’t you have something better to do than babysit me?I’m sure you do.Like, I don’t know, clean your bathroom or something.”She shrugs a shoulder, her cheeks red.“That’s what I do on my day off.Clean my bathroom, I mean.Not that it’s like, my idea of fun.Just something that needs to be done.Day off things.”
I snort a laugh, eyebrows rocketing up.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like Sylvie.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like doing it.I’d rather not.But I need to clean the bathroom here, in the bookstore, you know?The whole place needs a scrubbing.What’s the deal with that, anyway?”
She takes a deep breath, and all I can do is stand by and listen, thrown for a complete loop by her.
“The bookstore, I mean.I don’t know much about any of this.”She waves a hand around.“Is there something weird about it?It feels like there’s something weird about it.Who just randomly inherits a bookstore from someone they didn’t even know existed?Then I walk in and it’s so gorgeous, right, but weird.Not updated.That reminds me, I need to call an electrician or a contractor or whatever.I’m new to owning a business, and the to-do list already feels massive.I was a librarian, and that was hard too, but this is like… this is all on me.All on my shoulders.I want it to work so badly.”
Her hand covers her mouth, her blue eyes widening even more, and I swear I can hear her mouth snap shut.
“Sorry, I talk too much when I’m nervous.I have anxiety.Like, diagnosed.And right now, because of this whole move thing.”She cringes, and I laugh again.
Her face falls slightly and she tilts her head.
Guilt punches me because she thinks I’m laughing at her.I’m not laughing at her at all, not like she thinks I am, anyway.
There’s something joyous about the way she’s just babbling to me, something sweet and earnest and refreshing about being deemed worthy of hearing it.
“Well, I can’t say I blame you.For being nervous about moving here.I’m new-ish here too.I own part of the brewery down the way.”I gesture vaguely in the direction of The Salt Circle.“So you see, I’m the perfect choice to help you acclimate to life in New Hopewell.”
Damn it.Why am I pressing the issue?
The fish in the stocked lake are calling to me, hoping to be reeled in.
Yet here I am, more chivalrous to this woman who clearly wants nothing to do with me than I have been in my entire life.
Not that I’m some kind of asshole or anything, but I don’t usually go out of my way to escort women around town when I could be fishing.
“Oh.”She blinks, her lashes so long and thick I can’t help staring at them.“Well, I mean, if you don’t have anything better to do, sure.I didn’t think small-town life was that boring, though.That you’d be willing to give up your precious toilet-cleaning time for a stranger, I mean.”
I press a hand against my heart.“I do take my toilet-cleaning time very seriously.”
We both laugh, and her eyes light up with humor, crinkling at the corners.
Small talk might not be her strength, but I like her laughter just fine.
4
Sylvie
The charming apartment attached to the bookstore is perfect.It’s clean, which may not seem like a high bar, but from the last few rentals I’ve lived in, I can tell you that’s huge.Furthermore, there aren’t bugs painted into the walls in the devil’s version of the landlord special.The big windows let in lots of light, and the updated teensy kitchen is just perfect for me.Sure, the third-floor master bedroom and bath need a little decorative refresh, but once the movers get here and I can get settled with my stuff, I know it will be just fine.
I side-eye Aiden.
The guy in my new apartment home didn’t come with the inheritance.
He has a sort of easy way about him that has me chatting at him with hardly any thought about how damn awkward I normally am with new people.
For one, he doesn’t give me the creeps, and while that means my bar for men is in actual hell, it’s refreshing to just… feel at ease with him.
It’s clear he’s not interested in me at all, which makes hanging with him super easy.Plus, he hasn’t stopped mentioning how he’s just here to do his town duty, which is weird, but I’d be an idiot not to take the help.
