Page 24 of Library or Lattes?

“Hey, Sara?”

I could feel Lennie freeze behind me. “This wasn’t in the plan,” she hissed.

Sara looked up, confused for a second. “Oh, hi. Willa, right?”

“Yeah, you were in my calculus class until you moved to AP with my friend Lennie. I suck so bad at math.” I laughed and moved out of the way so Sara could see I wasn’t alone.

“Oh, I bet you don’t, and I don’t blame you for not doing AP Calc. It hurts my head all the time.” Sara’s eyes fell on Lennie and lit up. “Hey, Lennie.”

“I love math,” Lennie blurted.

“Really?” Sara cocked her head and walked toward Lennie. “Because I distinctly remember you cussing out Ms. Gabel under your breath when she announced the last pop quiz,” she teased.

“Well, I hate pop quizzes …” Lennie’s face flushed as she started talking a mile a minute.

I subtly moved out of the way and over to the travel section, where I kept one eye on the budding romance and another on the guide to London I’d just picked up.

Even after I paid for it, Lennie and Sara were still talking.

I looked at my phone, then told Lennie, “Len, that’s my pop, I have to go. I’ll catch you later?”

I searched her face for the okay, but I didn’t have to look too hard. She didn’t care if I was lying, or leaving. She only cared about the girl beside her.

Main Street was busier than usual, with all the extra tourists posing in this perfect fall light.

I opened my phone to scroll through TikTok as I walked home. I noticed my algorithm had changed in only a day, and I was watching this cute video of “Cool things to do in London” when someone banged into me and my phone flew from my hand. I scrambled to pick it up just as a hand reached down to help me.

“Maybe take your phone out of your face once in a while?”

I knew that condescending tone before I even saw his face.

Theo.

“Why weren’t you watching where you were going?” I snapped. “Are you stalking me or something?”

Theo snorted. “Stalking you? This town is so small that there’s no way to avoid you …”

“Right.” I was icy with wounded pride.

“I was just coming out of the hardware store,” he told me, bending down to pick up what he’d obviously dropped when we bumped: wood filler, putty knife, wood glue. I bent down too, unable to stop myself. I was helpful and thoughtful, like most people in my hometown.

We reached for a small bag of screws at the same time, and when I grabbed them first, his hand rested on mine. Warm and soft. Not like I’d expected at all. He snatched it away as we both stood up.

“What do you need a putty knife for?”

From behind his glasses, his eyes flicked down to mine. “How do you know what a putty knife is?”

Someone else barged into me—a tourist with a selfie stick—and Theo put his hand on my arm to keep me steady. Once again, I had involuntary shivers.

“My pop’s the Oak Falls fix-it guy,” I explained. “But even if he wasn’t, why wouldn’t I know what a putty knife was?” Sexist as well as rude.

“It’s just quite specific, was all I meant. Are you going to the library?” He nodded down the street, and I found myself nodding before following him.

“So why do you need all the tools?” I jogged so I was walking beside him.

“I need to fix that window. I can’t concentrate.”

I had noticed a draft when we were there the other day, but weren’t libraries meant to be old, drafty places? Another thing he’d found wrong with us. Jo was going to love this.