Chapter 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.
Moving sucks.
“You said you own a brewery?” I ask. I’m inspecting the huge closet on the third level, the random black cat I’ve somehow also inherited winding around my ankles and purring up a storm.
“Part-owner.” He clears his throat. “Half.”
“Is it hard? Owning a business? I basically fell into it and no matter how many times I try to read the Business For Dummies book I bought, my eyes just keep glazing over. Which is strange. For me, I mean. Usually I’m a good reader.
Like, a great reader, even. Research is my jam.
” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’m overwhelmed.”
“Hey,” Aiden says softly, and I glance over my shoulder at where he’s leaning against the far wall, next to a pretty bay window that overlooks the picturesque town square.
He’s tall, I realize with a start, almost the same height as the top of the window.
“I can help you. We—me and Jack, that’s the other owner—had to learn just about everything as we went.
You don’t have to make the same mistakes we did. ”
“How tall are you?” I blurt.
His eyebrows raise.
“I just noticed you’re really tall. And yes, I would love help, if you’re not busy. I don’t want to presume—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I offered. You aren’t presuming. Honestly, it will be good for the whole downtown, which is good for my business too. Maybe we can plan a book and beer event.” He pauses, rolling his shoulders. “And I’m six foot four.”
I scrunch my lips together and nod thoughtfully. “That’s pretty tall.”
He huffs a laugh, but I just shrug it off. If he thinks I’m weird, he won’t be the first and he won’t be the last. At least he’s being nice and not being a perv.
Again, bar, meet hell. Handshakes all around.
“Book and beer event, huh?” My phone vibrates in my pocket, then again in quick succession, and I tug it out of my shorts.
“See? That’s the kind of thing I never would have thought of.
Beer and the library wouldn’t have mixed.
I’m used to planning library programming, though, so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think outside the box. ”
Suddenly, looking at him looking at me from across the room, I feel like I can do it.
I can do this.
I can take this bookstore and this town and make a life here.
I love books. Books are what I’m good with.
People, not so much, but I can learn. I didn’t realize dealing with people would be such a huge part of being a librarian when I was a freshman picking out courses, but I’ve gotten better.
Heck, with the stipend, I could probably eventually hire someone to run the register or whatever it’s called. Point-of-sale? Huh.
A bevy of ideas race through my head, as if they were waiting for this rare moment of self-esteem to make themselves known.
I just stare at Aiden, overwhelmed, thoughts churning.
My phone buzzes in my hand.
“You going to check that, squirrel?” he asks.
“Squirrel?” I sniff.
He laughs again. “Yeah. Squirrel. I rescued one growing up, and it would look just like that as it chewed, then it would run off and do something else.”
“You rescued a squirrel?” I make the magnanimous decision not to pursue the thought that I remind him of a squirrel in favor of a much more interesting story.
I’m a big person like that.
To my surprise, his expression turns slightly uncomfortable and he nods. “It had a broken arm. I don’t know how it happened, but I took care of it until it healed up, then released it.”
My phone vibrates again, and I tear my attention away from the tall squirrel-rescuing man in my bedroom to finally check my phone.
“The movers are here,” I tell him, relieved. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”
“Perfect. We can let them in and then I’ll take you out for the cleaning stuff you’ve been talking about, cat supplies, and we can grab some food while we stay out of their way.”
The phone vibrates again, and this time, it’s an incoming call.
“Shoot, I forgot I told my friend I’d call her when I got here.” I give Aiden a scrunched up, pained expression, feeling rude for wanting to answer the phone in front of him.
“I’ll go let the movers in,” he says gallantly, and my eyebrows raise. “You take the call and I’ll give you some privacy. Meet me at the alley door when you’re done and we can head out.”
“Oookay,” I say slowly, smiling in spite of myself.
Maybe it won’t be so bad to have a chauffeur today after all.
At least I won’t be at the mercy of the GPS trickster gods, who I suspect direct me to U-turn at inopportune times out of sheer malevolence.
I press the answer button on the phone, and Ivy’s frantic voice immediately blares through the speaker.
“You were supposed to call me as soon as you got there!”
She sounds stressed, which on its own isn’t all that unusual. The oldest of four sisters, Ivy often assumed the role of mom to her younger three, and shouldered as much of their worries as she was able to, as well.
Though they certainly didn’t ask her to—nope, she took that on all by herself.
“Hi, Ivy,” I say, brushing a finger over the molding around the bay window. It’s mildly dusty, and for some reason, that comforts me.
Like if I can scrub it all away, this place will really feel like home.
Or if I paint it…
“Did you meet her?” Ivy asks excitedly.
“Huh?” I say inelegantly, all thoughts of French blue paint fleeing my head. “Meet who?”
“Oh,” she says, dragging the word out. “I thought it looked like you’d met her—”
I frown. Ivy’s always acted like she could see the future, she’s into all kinds of stuff that never really appealed to me, but this is a bit weird, even for her.
At almost that exact moment, the black cat, who’d been chasing a dust mote across the wood floors, yowls, jumping straight up in the air.
“Oh thank god,” Ivy says all in one breath. “Okay, for a minute there, you had me worried. I thought something really terrible had happened. You can’t let anything happen.”
“I’m sorry,” I say slowly, completely at a loss. Not that that’s a new place for me to be where Ivy is concerned.
“Listen, don’t worry about it, ha!” The laugh explodes out of the phone so loud I have to hold the speaker away from my ear.
The cat’s staring up at me, or the sound, more likely, with big green luminous eyes.
“Was that a cat I heard?” Ivy continues, and I swear I detect a smug note in her voice. “You know I love cats. You got there okay?”
“Uh, yeah, I got here fine, no problems. And yes, that was a cat, it seems like he—” A hiss has me quickly amending that hypothesis.
“—she lives here. So she’s mine now. And the bookstore, oh my gosh, Ivy, the bookstore.
” I pause, trying to pin down all my thoughts about the place.
“It’s gorgeous. It’s disgustingly filthy, of course, but the bones, Ivy, the bones. ”
“Damn, you already found bones?” she asks, sounding awed. “That explains what I’ve been seeing.”
“What? Of course I did. The bookshelves are all still there, and there’s this amazing stained-glass window on the door that casts this light… It’s going to be stunning.”
A shout draws my attention outside, where the small moving truck is idling.
“I gotta go, though, okay? The movers just got here and this guy has promised to take me around town for some of the stuff I need to get settled in.”
“Oooh, a guy, huh?”
I shrug, like Ivy can see me, though if she could, she would definitely see the blush that’s spreading across my cheeks.
“Is he cute?”
“He’s just helping me because the small town, you know, New Hopewell, they like…
assigned him to be my contact person. Or something.
” I frown because I don’t really get it.
I snap my fingers as a thought occurs to me.
“I did meet someone else, though! A woman that owns a bakery or something nearby. Tea shop? I don’t know, I can’t remember.
But I’m going to meet her for breakfast tomorrow. She seemed nice.”
“I’m happy for you.” Ivy sighs, and it sounds like she really is happy for me. “I’ll come and visit soon, okay? Just to make sure everything stays… where it’s supposed to.”
I snort at that, rolling my eyes. “Just because you run the best candy store on the freakin’ East Coast doesn’t mean I need you to hold my hand, Ivy. I’m a librarian.” I give the word my best Evie from The Mummy inflection, and I grin when Ivy laughs.
“I know, I know. I just, uh, I worry about you. You’re my friend.”
“I know you do, Ivy. And I appreciate it.”
“Now go have fun with this mystery man. And don’t forget to lock the door to the bookstore tonight,” she says, all bossy-like.
“Bye, Ivy,” I tell her, grinning.
“Bye-bye,” she sings out, and then I hear her set the phone down while instructing someone in the background to do something with a batch of candy before she disconnects the call.
Psh. As if I’d forget to lock the front door. Typical Ivy.
She’s the most superstitious person I’ve ever met, though her two sisters are also just as weird. Ivy sees signs everywhere, reads tea leaves, and likes to give me “special candy” when I have a bad day.
I have some suspicions about what’s in the candy.
She’s a great friend, though definitely overbearing, and I adore her.
Even if I steer clear of the special candy from her store.