Page 209 of When Love Takes Root

“You’ve got four minutes.”

“You’re stressing me out.” She grabbed the first book anyway.

“That’s the point.”

She dropped a poetry book into the basket. Then her hand hovered over the BLP table again, and she added a B. Love title first, a Kay Shanee romance next, and a Rosè Dior book with a cover that looked like it had secrets. She reached for a Fallynn West novel Renee had quietly pointed toward, then grabbed a Tracy Gray title that promised grown-woman emotion and a Soleil book she’d heard readers mention with that special warning that usually meant heartbreak, heat, and healing were all waiting inside.

“There you go.”

Something shifted in her.

Not wild.

Just free.

Watching it did something to me.

I just hoped I wouldn’t be the reason she ever lost that again.

She moved faster, picking books without second-guessing herself. A devotional. Another romance. A suspense novel. A book on prayer. Each choice came easier.

Renee watched from the counter, smiling.

Celeste found a purple sticky note and peeled it off.

She laughed softly, eyes lighting up. “Lyric.”

I walked over. “What’d she do?”

Celeste turned the note toward me.

Pick the purple one.

Love, Lyric

She grabbed the purple book and held the note to her chest. “She’s so cute.”

“She’s also messy.”

“She has good taste.”

“She has too much access.”

She added the book to the basket, her fingers lingering on it.

The timer dropped under a minute.

I stepped beside her. “One more thing.”

She looked up. “What?”

“We need a book to read together.”

Her face softened instantly. “Together?”

“Yeah. Same book. We read it, talk about it, argue about it.”

She laughed, nudging my arm. “You’ll probably be wrong.”