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“Oh yeah, we are,” I said, pulling her in for another kiss. “Now help me take some of these ingredients and make some actual food.”
“I will, but only because I love you,” she said, and I squeezed her ass.
* * *
Everly seemedto be on edge all of Thursday and I told her that she didn’t have to go to book club if she was stressing out about it.
“I know it’s not a big deal,” she said. “I, um, I have a little bit of anxiety around new people.”
That was obvious, but I didn’t say that.
“You can always bail if you need to and no one will judge you. I’ll show you where the back entrance is, and it’s near the bathroom, so you can just pretend you have to pee and escape out the back.”
Everly sighed in gratitude. “Thanks. I know it’s embarrassing, but it’s just kind of how my brain works.”
“Brains can be mean sometimes,” I said. “If you ever need any kind of accommodations to make your job easier, please let me know.”
She blinked at me a few times and then turned her face away, as if to hide a few tears from me. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but she seemed like she’d been treated badly in the past by someone, or by a lot of someones.
“That means a lot,” she said, and I busied myself arranging mugs so she didn’t feel like I was staring at her.
“You’re welcome,” I said.
Everly cleared her throat and then said she was going to dust some of the shelves.
* * *
Thursday evening,I closed the shop, told Everly I’d see her in a few hours at book club, went upstairs to change my clothes, decompress, and then headed back down to Mainely Books to help Joy out with setting up.
“It looks like Hallmark threw up in here,” I said as I walked by a pile of heart-shaped lights, exploding heart centerpieces, and a stack of plastic hearts that needed to be hung from the hooks on the ceiling that Kendra’s girlfriend Theo had installed to make decorating a whole lot easier. Ezra was pulling out the ladder and I assumed she’d be the one climbing it while Joy directed.
“What do you need?” I asked Joy, who was frazzled, as usual.
“Food table, place those decorations, drinks, you know the drill,” she said, starting to untangle the heart lights.
“Got it,” I said. I’d just covered the food table with a red shiny tablecloth when Lark came in.
“Hey,” she said, giving me a kiss. “Need help?”
“Always,” I said, taking pleasure in seeing her face for the first time since this morning. “Fuck, you’re so pretty.”
She blushed and giggled, which made her even prettier. Fuck.
“You’ve gotta stop looking at me like that or else I’m going to have to drag you upstairs,” she said in my ear.
I stifled a groan. “You have to stop saying things like that to me, because you know that I’m going to picture it.”
“That’ll just get you ready for later,” she whispered, brushing her hand down my side before grabbing a bag of cups.
She was going to be the death of me.
* * *
Everly did showup to book club, and I made sure that Lark and I sat with our chairs in the same direction as the back exit. She didn’t contribute anything, but she stayed the entire time and even had some snacks at the end before coming over to thank me for inviting her.
“Thanks for coming, and don’t forget to vote for the next book when they send out the email tomorrow,” I said.
She nodded and headed out.
