Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
TYLER
Tyler was still trying to calm Robyn down—and, if he was being honest, himself—after the buyer walk-through.
It wasn’t just the idea of losing Meg’s bookstore.
It was the realization that Maple Falls could lose its bookstore forever.
Robyn was doing her best everything-is-fine smile at customers while her eyes stayed a little too bright, her movements a little too clipped.
Tyler had dove into work behind the counter and was now restocking the front display.
He nudged a stack of fantasy titles forward—the ones with bright covers, dramatic fonts, dragons, and sword-wielding heroines.
Robyn glanced over. “Tyler.”
“What?” He spread his hands. “They deserve some love too.”
“It does not outsell romance or true crime, and you know it.”
Tyler grinned. “Not yet.”
Robyn shook her head, the corner of her mouth twitching. Tyler counted it as a win.
The front bell chimed, and Tyler expected it to be a regular customer, but instead, the mayor’s niece, Elsie, swept in with her glossy hair, bright scarf, and that usual burst of energy that seemed to follow her everywhere.
Behind her, Mayor Bloomfield followed in a burned-orange tie and his trusty corduroy sport coat, a small enamel pumpkin pinned to the lapel. Tyler thought he’d seen his wife, Edith, wearing the matching one earlier that morning at the bakery.
Tyler clocked the way Robyn’s shoulders tensed. They were one unexpected surprise away from her crawling under the counter with a stack of inventory sheets.
Elsie clapped her hands once. “We’ve got an idea.”
“By ‘we,’ she means she does,” the mayor clarified, pointing at Elsie with a proud smile. “I just gave my approval because I think it’s genius.”
Robyn narrowed her eyes slightly. “That sentence doesn’t reassure me.”
Elsie waved her comment away, and proceeded on. The woman had never been slowed down by skepticism a day in her life. She strode straight to the window display as if it were a stage set.
“Okay. Picture this,” she said, already in full pitch mode.
“An event at the bookstore. We’re calling it Midnight in Maple Falls: A Lost Love Story.
” Elsie beamed. “A found manuscript. A town-wide hunt. A candlelit Halloween reading—right here in the bookstore. The great-granddaughter reads the final recovered story.”
“That sounds great,” Tyler said, before he could stop himself.
Robyn’s head snapped toward him as if she couldn’t believe he was agreeing to this.
“What? It does,” Tyler replied, unsure of why Robyn would be so reluctant.
Elsie stepped closer, lowering her voice.
“First of all, I’m so sorry I missed the first meeting.
I am kicking myself, truly. But I am locked in from here on out.
You have my word.” She pressed a hand to her chest in sincerity, then moved on before anyone could respond.
“The book club has already been sending me updates. Photos from your clue hunt.” She pointed at Robyn.
“And I have a copy of the manuscript. I can start posting teasers—pictures of a page here and there, one clue at a time.”
Tyler noticed Robyn had opened her mouth, but Elsie kept right on going.
“Do you know how many book lovers are online?” Elsie went on, gesturing wildly now. “How many influencers? People eat up hidden stories and found manuscripts. They’d love this—an old romance uncovered through clues, then revealed on Halloween night.”
“Okay, wait, stop.” Robyn made an X and cut her hands through the air. “When? When do we have time to plan all this? Halloween is in, what, eleven days? And we’ve only found one installment”—she held up her pointer finger for emphasis—“and we haven’t had any luck with the second clue.”
“Hogwash,” Mayor Bloomfield said cheerfully, dismissing her worry with the confidence of a man who had never overthought anything in his life. “You’ll find it. If you don’t, Mrs. C. and Mrs. Bishop will. Those ladies won’t rest until this mystery is solved.”
Elsie leaned in again, voice dropping like she was sharing gossip. “Also? I ran into the buyer.”
Tyler’s jaw tightened.
Elsie’s face twisted in pure disgust. “He’s talking about turning this into a grocery store.”
Tyler’s hands curled at his sides.
“This event,” Elsie continued, sweeping her hand toward the shelves, the pumpkin pie book nook, the window display, “puts the bookstore in front of the right buyer. Someone who loves books and wants to keep it a bookstore. This is our opportunity. Don’t you see?”
Tyler did. And when he looked at Robyn again, he could tell she did too—beneath the panic, the practical planning brain, the part of her who felt like this would all fall on her shoulders.
“Okay,” Robyn said slowly, like she was finally coming on board. “Okay. But we need a backup plan for Halloween if we can’t find the rest of the story in time.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Elsie said instantly. “I’ll figure something out if it comes to that. You just focus on the next clue. Deal?”
Tyler and Robyn shared a look. One that Tyler hoped conveyed, We’ll do this together.
Robyn nodded, almost reading his mind, and turned back to Elsie. “Deal,” she said, although she didn’t sound overly convinced.
Mayor Bloomfield beamed.
Then Elsie clapped again, already turning back to the window display. “Perfect! Now for our theme… We need something that screams ‘Halloween Mystery Romance.’” She punctuated each word with her hands, separating them further and further apart.
Tyler watched Robyn watching Elsie. Her fingers were already fidgeting with the edge of her notebook. He knew that look. She was running the numbers. How many days until Halloween. How much of Isabel’s story they still hadn’t found. How many things could go wrong between now and then.
He leaned close enough that only she could hear. “Hey. We’ll figure it out.”
She glanced up at him and looked like she only half believed him.
He grinned anyway, hoping he was right. Because if they couldn’t find the rest of Isabel’s story in time, they wouldn’t just lose the event. They’d lose the last real chance to save the bookstore. And Tyler was starting to realize that losing the bookstore might mean losing Robyn too.