Chapter 41 Gosh darn delight
Gosh darn delight
Zoey
Are you sure that’s not the line for the coffee shop?” Hazel asked for the third time.
I was covered in dog hair and still out of breath from racing to the bookstore from Story Lake Haven’s last-minute pet adoption fair, where Gage and Levi were constructing temporary enclosures to introduce the senior humans to the senior animals.
Opal had already wrangled a half dozen residents and staff to volunteer at the event, which had left me free to hurry back to the bookstore in time to get ready for the signing.
So far, I hadn’t let anybody down. Yet.
I pushed Hazel down in her chair, patted her head, and laid out the pens in front of her. “Pretty sure that’s the line for your signing.”
Chevy and Cam paced in front of the door, each pausing to shoot worried glances through the glass.
I spotted the woman from Thrive’s social media team jogging down the line with a handheld camera, capturing the joyful chaos. I felt giddy, energized, a little bit ready to vomit…but like in a good way.
“It’s a mob scene. The store can’t hold this many people. What were we thinking?” Chevy said to me, wringing his hands.
Cam swiped a hand over his face. “That’s too many people. What if some of them try to kidnap Hazel? I can probably take on five or six, but if it’s a whole team of kidnappers… I mean, you guys saw Misery, right? Maybe I should call Livvy?”
“What if I spell my name wrong? What if I just start writing Hazmat on people’s books?” Hazel wondered.
I clapped my hands, startling everyone. “Relax. Okay? Despite what your nervous systems are telling you, this is not a dangerous situation. This is a celebration. Those are romance readers outside. They are the nicest of all humans, and they are here to tell Hazel what a good job she did. Then they’re going to spend a whole bunch of money in your shop, Chevy, and then they’re going to spread their joy and money all over the rest of this town. ”
“They’re waving at me,” Cam said, ducking behind a revolving book display.
“Then pretend you’re a human being and wave back,” I suggested.
Hazel hid her laugh behind a cough.
“You two have one job today,” I said, pointing at Cam and Chevy. “Be charming. There will be no panicked bookstore owner, no Cactus Cam. You will be a gosh darn delight to every single person who walks in here.”
“Gosh darn delight. Got it.” Chevy nodded aggressively.
“Have you fucking met me?” Cam demanded.
“I have, and I know as prickly as you are on the outside, nothing is more important to you than Hazel’s happiness. And what’s going to make Hazel happy today is you being with her to experience the most magical of events. A romance novel book signing. Got it?”
“Make Hazel happy. Got it. What are you going to do?” he asked.
“Everything else.”
“Yeah, that sounds fair,” Cam said.
“I’m good with that,” Chevy agreed.
“Great. Now I need you two to go into the back room and recount the boxes of stock before we open the doors,” I said.
They practically raced each other through the doorway.
“What was that about?” Hazel asked. “You recounted the boxes twice today and four times yesterday.”
“I just needed a minute with you.”
“Aww! That’s sweet. Did you get me a present?”
“Yeah. Kind of.” I took a shaky breath. “Okay. Here goes. I’m staying.”
“You’re staying.”
I nodded.
“Here? In Story Lake?”
I nodded again.
“For how long?” Hazel asked with an appropriate amount of suspicion.
“For as long as Gage still wants a future with me.”
“Oh my God!” Hazel shrieked. She stood up so fast she knocked her chair over behind her.
Cam sprinted out of the back room. “What’s wrong? Where’s the kidnapper?”
“There’s no kidnapper,” I assured him.
“Go back to your boxes,” Hazel shouted, then winced. “I’m sorry. That was aggressive. I love you. Please go back to your boxes.”
Cam narrowed his eyes. “Why are you both being weird?”
“Publishing stuff,” I lied.
“Social media,” Hazel said.
We both smiled with feigned innocence.
He pointed at us. “For the record, I don’t believe either one of you. But I also don’t see any kidnappers. So I’ll go back to the boxes.”
“Thank you! Love you,” Hazel called after him. As soon as he disappeared, she grabbed my arms and shook me back and forth. “Tell me you’re serious and that you’re also not just doing this because I guilted you into it.”
“I’m serious and I’m only partially doing it for the guilt. The rest of it was Gage asking me to stay. Which he did after seeing me at my middle-of-the-night worst and after meeting my parents. And after knowing that I can’t have kids.”
We were jumping up and down in celebration now. Hazel, my best friend and soul sister, had been there for me through it all, from pregnancy scare to unanticipated diagnosis to mourning something I hadn’t even known if I’d want. Her eyes welled with tears. “Oh, Zo! I’m so freaking happy for you!”
“I’m happy for me too! But don’t say anything. I haven’t told him yet. I’m going to wait until tonight.”
“I love that. Now tell me everything. How did he ask you to stay? I need all the details.”
“I promise I’ll spare nothing, but first you have something more important to do.”
She blinked and stopped jumping. “What?”
“Wow, I need to do more cardio,” I wheezed. “First you need to sign books for a few hundred excited readers, because you just released your first book in years, and it’s gonna be huge.”
“Oh right. That. Yay me!”
She started jumping again.
“Yeah, no. I’m just gonna stand still for this celebration.”
“Can we come out yet?” Cam yelled from the back room.
“Let’s do this,” I said, guiding Hazel back to the table and picking up my walkie-talkie.
“We’re gonna need more books,” Chevy called from the register, a tinge of hysteria in his voice.
We were an hour into Hazel’s signing, and the crowd was buying books like it was Christmas Eve in Iceland.
“I’m on it,” I yelled back. I signaled for Cam to take over flapping for Hazel. He looked a little shell-shocked, having already peopled so intensely. “You’ve got this. You’re just turning pages,” I told him as I abdicated my seat to him.
I weaved my way through shoppers, smiling and commenting on their selections until I made it to the back room.
I closed the door behind me and sagged against it.
The signing was already a success, and I could only hope that it was indicative of how the rest of the world was receiving Hazel’s new book baby.
Nerves performed Olympic-level gymnastics floor routines in my belly.
I wanted this so badly for her. For me. I could see our futures.
More books. More events like this. Maybe even some for Opal, who would surely hate every minute of it.
Ultimate bingo and lake cruises on the weekends.
Gage in his sexy cardigans when the leaves started to change.
A sky-high Christmas tree in his living room.
A stocking for me on the mantel. He definitely needed a chandelier or some kind of fixture to add the requisite Zoey “wow” factor.
“Get a hold of yourself, Moody. Focus on the books. Books, books, books,” I repeated to myself as I scoured the boxes on Chevy’s ancient metal shelves.
I had just snagged an open box cutter from the desk when two things happened at the same time.
A raucous burst of laughter erupted in the store, and I misjudged the distance between my body and the nearest shelf.
I smacked into the corner, bobbling the box cutter. I watched in horror as it flew through the air as if possessed by a murder demon.
I didn’t even feel it at first, but as soon as the blood began to soak through the denim, I knew I was in trouble. “Fuck.”
Me: I need you, a first aid kit, and a pair of pants at the back door of Stories ASAP.
Gage: I’d ask questions, but this sounds like there’s blood. Be there in four minutes.
Me: Thankyouthankyouthankyou.
Gage: There’s blood, isn’t there?
Me: It looks like I was attacked by the Fighting Vampires.
Gage: Damn it, Zoey!
Me: Yell at me later! It looks like a crime scene in here!
Three and a half minutes later, the back door flew open, and Gage rushed inside, looking grim.
“Wow. That was fast.”
“I was in my office when you texted. Are you okay?” he demanded as he cracked open a professional-looking first aid kit.
I waved with my handful of bloody paper towels. “I’m fine. My jeans kept it from cutting too deep. I just didn’t want to go back out there and bleed all over everybody.”
We both looked down at the neat slice through the blood-soaked denim.
“Jesus. I can’t leave you alone for a minute,” Gage said, kneeling in front of me and unceremoniously ripping my ruined pant leg up to the knee.
“Okay, that was hot,” I noted.
“Zoey,” he said in his “you should be taking this more seriously” tone. “You need to see a doctor.”
“Because I’m going to pass out from the sexiness of my boyfriend ripping my jeans off?”
“Boyfriend, huh? Little sting,” he said, not taking his attention off the cut on my leg.
“Little sting? Is that what you want me to call you? Because as a nickname it—ahh! Ouch!”
Fire seared up my leg. Gage smirked up at me, holding an alcohol pad to my wound.
“There was nothing little about that sting,” I said accusingly.
“This is what happens when you’re careless,” he lectured.
“I wasn’t being careless. I was distracted.” I wasn’t about to tell him this wasn’t the first time I’d rumbled with a box cutter and lost. But at least this time, I’d kept the blood spray away from the books.
“Anything that makes you temporarily forget things like personal safety falls into the careless category.” His voice was gruff, but his hands were gentle on my leg as he bandaged the cut.
Goose bumps cropped up on my skin from his touch. Would it always be like this? Would the connection always feel so real, so tangible?
There was a cheer from the crowd in the store, followed by laughter.
“How’s it going out there?” Gage asked as he secured the last piece of tape. He pressed a kiss to my shin, and I fell in love with him all over again. Damn, this guy was good.
“Good enough that I have my fingers crossed for a spot on all the bestseller lists. The readers are loving it here, and it’s the best thing in the world to see Hazel being adored.”
“You know, she credits Story Lake with her comeback,” Gage said conversationally as he packed up the first aid supplies.
I had to roll my lips together to keep from smiling. “Is that so?”
“Just sayin’. Good things happen here. I’d hate for you to miss out on anything by moving back to New York.”
“I’ll take that under advisement. Now where are my pants?”
“Not knowing the extent of the injury situation, I brought you three pairs to choose from and a couple of shirts in case there was any collateral clothing damage,” he said, tossing me a grocery bag of clothes.
I sighed and looked down at my neatly bandaged leg. “My hero.”
He ruffled my hair and finally delivered the smile I’d been waiting for. “Don’t you forget it. Now, if you’re done being careless, I’m going to go check on the adoption fair at the Haven and see how things are going at the farm.”
I tossed him a salute. “I will do my best to keep all injuries to a minimum for the rest of the day.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he said.
“Hey, have you ever thought about putting a cool chandelier in your living room?” I asked.
He blinked, then chuckled. “Someday I’ll learn to keep up with you.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” I teased.
The signing lasted three and a half hours.
By the time the last reader left with her freshly inked copy of Story Love and the six other novels she picked up while in line, Chevy was on the floor behind the register.
Cam was massaging Hazel’s shoulders while barking a to-go food order into his phone at Levi.
“I don’t fucking care. Bring me all the onion rings they have,” he snapped before hanging up. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Trouble.”
“That was a lot of people,” Hazel said, looking dreamily shell-shocked.
“That was a lot of books,” I said, massaging my face. It hurt from smiling.
Hazel leaned over and punched me weakly in the shoulder. “We’re back, baby.”
I gave her a grin that might have been closer to a grimace. “Damn right we are.”
She blinked at me. “When did you change clothes?”
“About an hour in when I got into it with a box cutter in the back room.”
“Again? Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”
“Apparently not, but at least this time, I didn’t geyser blood all over your books.”
“I have a first aid kit in my bag. Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, groaning as Cam moved to massage her hand and wrist.
I shrugged. “You were in the groove. I texted Gage, and he came over and played doctor and wardrobe specialist.”
“Speaking of Gage, when are you going to tell him about that thing?” Hazel asked.
“What thing?” Cam asked gruffly.
“Can I tell him, please please please?” Hazel pleaded. “You know he hates to talk to people. He won’t tell anyone.”
“Ugh. Fine.” I was too tired and too happy to worry.
“Gage asked Zoey to stay, and Zoey is going to say yes! She’s going to stay here in Story Lake, and we’re going to get married, and they’re going to get married, and everyone is going to live happily ever after!” Hazel announced.
“Whoa whoa whoa. Hold your free-range horses there. First of all, I’m only agreeing to stay. No one has said anything about getting married.”
Hazel shook her head. “I refuse to let you take this fantasy away from me.”
“Writing brilliant books makes her a little loopy,” I told Cam.
“I like loopy. And you and Gage better not fuck this up,” Cam said gruffly.
“He means congratulations,” Hazel said, leveling him with a look.
“Yeah. Sure. That. Also, don’t fuck this up. Because if you make my wife sad, I’ll make you regret it.”
Hazel and I looked at each other. “My wife,” we growled before breaking into hysterical giggles.