5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Time to go home.
Jenna had a date with a book. After her last breakup, she preferred book boyfriends to a real-life man, who could hurt her. Her ex, Frank, came to mind, and just quickly she dismissed the thought.
When Jenna stepped into the break room to gather her things, Myra was there. Her sister glanced up from a recipe book.
“What are you still doing here?” Jenna walked to her locker.
“Working on some new items for the bakery.”
Jenna took off her apron. “Yum. What have you picked out?”
“I haven’t decided on anything yet. I was thinking about mini-cheesecakes.”
Jenna salivated. “Oh. Those would be good. Remember I’m your taste-tester.”
Myra laughed as she shook her head. “I would never forget. You won’t let me.”
Her sister was the best baker around. Jenna wished she had just a smidge of her sister’s talent in the kitchen. Luckily, she could get her sister’s baked goods at the market any time she had a craving.
They talked a little more about Myra’s ideas for the little bakery in the market before her sister asked, “Are you feeling all right?”
The question caught Jenna off-guard. “Yes. Why?”
“It’s just you’ve been extra quiet today. Just not your usual happy self.”
Was that true? She supposed so. She just didn’t realize her family had noticed.
“I’m fine. Just a little tired is all.” That was definitely true. She’d stayed up reading too late the night before. But that wasn’t her fault. It was the author’s fault. They kept putting these hooks at the end of each chapter that automatically yanked her into the next chapter.
“Okay. I thought maybe you were worried about the storm later this week.”
“The storm?” She didn’t know what her sister was talking about.
“You didn’t hear about the big storm that’s supposed to come up the coastline?”
Immediately, Jenna’s thoughts jumped to the worst conclusion. “Is it a hurricane?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Let’s hope not.”
“Agreed.” Myra was quiet for a moment. “So, I heard about your really hot neighbor.”
“My what?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know who I’m talking about. I briefly talked to Lily last night, and she filled me in on him. So, what’s his name?”
Jenna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “You two are making a big deal out of nothing. For all you know, he could be married or have a girlfriend.”
But she didn’t think so. There was no ring on his finger, and she hadn’t spotted a woman coming or going. And he didn’t give off any married vibes. Not that she cared either way.
“You did get his name. Right?”
“It’s Simon. Now are you happy?” Not wanting to talk about her new neighbor any longer, she decided to change the subject. “Do you ever think about quitting the market?”
Myra’s brows drew together. “Why would I do that?”
Jenn.a shrugged and glanced away. “I don’t know. Don’t you ever want to do something different? Maybe go out on your own like Lily and Darby have done?”
Myra shook her head. “No. I’m happy here.” Her sister’s gaze narrowed in on her. “Aren’t you happy?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m restless.”
Myra got to her feet. “My break is over.”
“Yeah, I should be going too.” Jenna’s thoughts drifted to the book she’d stayed up reading the night before. She couldn’t wait to read the end. “You’re going to be at book club tonight, aren’t you?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
After saying goodbye, she headed into the store. On her way to the exit, she made a detour to the bakery department. She glanced around and found a tray of brownies as well as cookies and Danish pastries. Hopefully, there’d be something for everyone at that night’s meeting.
A few minutes later, she arrived home. When she entered her place, she kicked off her shoes by the door and dropped her purse on the armchair. She had to finish reading her book before book club.
She was hosting it.
In fact, the book club had been her idea. When she was younger, she and her friends would go out—sometimes on the island, and sometimes they’d take the ferry boat to the mainland. She often missed those days. Now, a number of her friends were married, and some were starting families.
And maybe that was why lately Jenna had been feeling out of sorts. She didn’t even have a serious relationship, much less a family. So, she’d started the Bluestar Book Club. It wasn’t exactly the most original name for the group, but it worked. Their first meeting was last month.
She’d picked the first book they were supposed to read. So, how would it look if she didn’t even read the book?
The problem was that she’d been reading another book at the same time. And after a slow start with a big info dump at the beginning, the book had suddenly taken off—to the point she was up half of the night finishing it.
And that left her with the problem of getting her book club title read before the meeting in exactly two hours and thirty-two minutes. Now she just had to remember where she’d left it.
She looked around the living room. She didn’t see the book anywhere.
She headed up to her bedroom. It wasn’t on the nightstand. Where could it be?
She paused and tried to recall the last time she’d read it. Then she recalled going out on the deck with it the evening before.
She rushed down the steps and out onto the deck. The book should be right beside her favorite chair. But it wasn’t on the little table. That was strange.
Thinking that a gust of wind might have blown it to the floor, she crouched down and looked around. It was nowhere to be seen.
She even walked around the edge of the deck. It wasn’t there either. That just didn’t make any sense. A book doesn’t just sprout wings and fly away.
Someone must have taken it. Which was also odd because Bluestar was a safe place. It was a common joke within the community that the sheriff had the most boring job on the island. But he would be the first to admit that he liked it that way.
This thief, whoever they were, had very strange tastes. One shoe, an apron with the Island Market logo on it, and one book. It made absolutely no sense.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on it, because now she was down to two hours and nine minutes before book club was set to commence. And she had to read the book—even if she had to do it on her phone.
Write faster.
That was the advice Simon’s agent had given him after reading the first chapter of his new book. In fact, that was the only advice his agent had given him.
Simon had expected something like she loved the initial hook into the book. Or she hated the direction the book was going in. His agent was famous for her feedback. And if Simon were to be honest, his books were all the better for his agent’s input.
The email from his agent had come at the end of the workday. And though the message was brief, it was enough to spur him onward.
And so, after he’d grilled himself some vegetables and a burger that he ended up sharing with Gus, Simon got out his laptop and set to work.
With it being warm out that day, he had the sliding glass door and the windows in the front of the house open so he could enjoy the sea breeze as it moved through the house.
He’d taken Gus on a couple of walks along the beach. Gus was now stretched out on the rug in the living room. He was sound asleep.
Simon grabbed his laptop and settled into the recliner. He inhaled the salty air, closed his eyes, and let his mind focus on the book he was writing.
Knock-knock-knock.
“Woof!” Gus jumped to his feet. His eyes were still a bit glassy from sleep as he looked around for an intruder.
Simon put down the foot rest, closed his laptop, and leaned forward to pet Gus. “It’s okay, boy. It was next door.”
Gus hesitated, as though not sure Simon was right about there being no intruder.
No sooner had both Gus and himself resumed their relaxed positions than there was another knock.
“Woof-woof.”
“It’s okay. It was next door.” Simon again moved to pet Gus.
Gus moved out of Simon’s reach. The pup sent him a side-eye look.
“It’s fine,” Simon said in a calm voice. “Go back to sleep.”
Gus hesitated until the sound of female voices drifted away. Then he sank down to the rug and put his head down.
Simon turned his attention back to his laptop. The cursor blinked at him—mocking him because he was once more stuck. He had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next in the book. And the hero, Dryvokin, absolutely refused to cooperate.
Simon paged backward in the document until he reached the end of the prior chapter. The hero’s world was exploding. Everything he’d ever known was about to be destroyed. It was time for him to leave. He and his kind were escaping to another galaxy—another planet.
Suddenly, Simon realized where the next chapter would begin...
Dryvokin didn’t want to leave. And yet he was forced to step into the pod that would deliver him to his new home. He—
Knock. Knock-knock.
“Hey, Jenna. Open up,” a female voice called out.
Knock-knock.
Both Simon and Gus looked up at the open window. A frown pulled at Simon’s mouth. What was going on next door? Was Jenna throwing a party? On a Wednesday night?
He inwardly groaned. He’d come to the island to lie low and live a quiet life. The last thing he needed was a party, and it wasn’t even the weekend. Who had a party on a Wednesday evening at—he checked his watch—seven o’clock.
After the latest person entered Jenna’s side of the duplex, it quieted down. Maybe he was worried about nothing. But still, he couldn’t help but wonder why so many people were visiting her. Maybe it was her birthday.
Maybe what he needed to do was sit somewhere else. The back deck was quickly becoming his favorite place to think—to read—to just be.
Gus got to his feet, as though he could read Simon’s mind. “Okay, boy. Let’s go.”
Simon traded his laptop for his keyboard writer. With less distractions, hopefully, he’d get more written. With Gus in front, they headed for the deck. When Simon opened the door, Gus rushed through the doorway first.
“Gus, stay.” He eyed up the dog and wondered if he needed to put Gus on his lead.