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“Beth Strauss? Dylan’s sister?” He tried to tamp down a sweep of nostalgia filled with Friday night football games spent with his best friend and the tagalong little sister.
Beth—the girl he never should have kissed in high school. Nothing had ever been the same after that night.
He shook away the memories of those bygone days.
He hadn’t come back to Deep Haven to stir up the past.
This little trip to Deep Haven had put him on an emotional bull ride, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to last until the buzzer.
“Yeah, of course.” She shook her head at his silly question.
“Why is she wearing that horrendous costume?” Even he had never expected that the nerdy girl he’d dubbed Bookworm Bethy would be wandering the streets of Deep Haven dressed as an actual…book.
“She works and volunteers at the library.” Robin squinted at the signage on the sidewalk next to Beth. “Looks like she’s promoting the children’s summer reading program.”
Beth, however, staggered around in the full sun.
“She’s going to overheat in that thing.” Grayson caught sight of two loose dogs farther down the block. Both had zoned in on the mysterious book bait, their focus now sharp and their pace quickening. Their barks split the otherwise still afternoon.
“Oh no,” Grandma said, her eyes also on the disaster unfolding before them.
A buzz rattled through the bakery, an oven timer calling for attention. Robin let out a breath. “I need to grab those loaves.” She tossed one last concerned glance over her shoulder before running to the kitchen.
Grayson shoved his hat on his head. Every dog he’d ever known loved to chew on a good book, and he’d venture a guess that by the excited barking and raised hackles blasting toward the library, the dancing book was their next target.
“I’ll be back,” he said. “Excuse me.”
He pressed the door open and broke into a run. His boots clomped on the sidewalk in his sprint toward the teetering novel.
* * *
Someone was goingto pay for this.
Beth shifted in the oversized costume, her head pounding and steam rising around her. When they’d said “unseasonably hot” on the news, she hadn’t been thinking near nineties.
She stumbled along the sidewalk in front of the library, her vision impaired by the fact that the eyeholes had been set too far apart.
A dog’s whine cut through the din in Beth’s head. She turned, squinting through one of the screened eyeholes of her costume like a desperate cyclops. No luck.
One bark. Two.
Ehh…lots of barking. Growing closer.
Please, God, help.
Rivulets of sweat streamed down her face. Her back.
She spun in a circle, hoping to zero in on the dogs’ location and go the opposite direction. The tassel on the bookmark flopped forward. Nothing. She could see absolutely nothing. She swung an arm to swipe at it, but the firm frame of the book cover prevented her arms from doing more than flopping wildly.
Why couldn’t she have been a paperback?
She tried to toss it backward by flipping her head.
Oh, mistake. Her balance faltered.
Mayday! Mayday!
Her foot hooked the hard edge of something—maybe the sidewalk? She crashed to the ground, the bright light of the eyeholes turning dark with furry bodies. Barks loomed over her with a cacophony of yaps and excited growls. Paws pounced onto her, and for the first time, she was grateful for the rigid frame.
