Only, that got me thinking about Finn and the strange telephone call the night before that had driven him into the hallway. From there, my mind wandered to waking up in his arms with his erection pressed against me. I felt an ache in my gut. I could have him, just not how I wanted. Best not to think about Finn at all. Redirecting my focus back to my journalism career, I walked two blocks down Main Street and through the doors of Books on Main.

Although not nearly as expansive as the Strand or various Barnes & Nobles in the city, Books on Main occupied a decent-size space for a mom-and-pop bookstore, and carried all of the typical categories like general fiction, mystery, young adult, nonfiction, biography, self-help, and romance. The owner, a statuesque Black woman with chin-length dark hair, was busy talking to another customer.

Like in Twinkly Nails, I didn’t have a prepared roster of interview questions. Rather than repeat the mistakes of my past, the new plan was to engage in conversation more organically and see where it took me. Perusing the bookshelves would loosen me up like a pre-date cocktail. I uttered a quiet hello and marched right over to the romance section.

My fingers brushed the book covers with attractive couples embracing under a blue sky or in front of a body of water, mountain, park, or some other rural backdrop. Clearly, romance authors and publishers found a small town to be a more enchanting setting than a big city. Yet drop me in a small town and who did I fall for? Finn Adams from the Upper West Side, of “seeking short-term dating or hookups” fame—the opposite of romantic. Was it typical or ironic? I snorted. Probably a little bit of both.

Since turning off all thoughts of Finn was working (not) so splendidly, I removed Waiting on You by Kristan Higgins from the shelf and opened to a random page. Featuring estranged high school sweethearts Colleen and Lucas from the picturesque fictional town of Manningsport, New York, which was nothing like Pleasant Hollow, it was my favorite of the five-book Blue Heron series. While doing my buddy read with Kate, I’d ignored the descriptions of the main characters furnished by Higgins and pictured my parents instead (except during the sexy times, obviously).

“Can I help you with something?” came a friendly voice behind me.

I returned the book to the shelf and greeted the owner with a smile. “Out of curiosity, has Books on Main been the setting of any real-life meet-cutes?” I cringed as heat rose up my neck. The question had slipped out without any forethought.

The woman scrunched up her face in obvious puzzlement.