When Brian sets his cup down, there’s a dot of whipped cream on his upper lip. My eyes zero in as his tongue slips out and licks the cream away. Something prickles across my skin, like static electricity.

I shake myself and look away.

“What?” he says.

“Nothing. Just seems like you’re really enjoying your drink.”

“I am.”

“Great. It’s important to know what you like, Brian—”

“You have no idea what I like,” he says, eyes flashing. “You don’t even know my—”

“Can we keep moving?” Xander says, returning to his seat. As if we’re the ones who interrupted the meeting.

“Absolutely,” I say, picking up my pen again and facing him. The sooner this ends, the sooner I can go back to avoiding Brian. “You had something to talk with us about?”

“Yes,” Xander says. “I’m combining your stores and Beans.”

Brian chokes on his drink.

I stare at Xander. “Combining…our stores?”

Xander nods. “It’s been my plan all along, and the pieces are finally falling into place. This neighborhood doesn’t need two bookstores so close together. It’s bad for business, built-in competition.”

I’m about to tell him that my clientele is entirely different from that of a romance bookstore, but Xander’s still talking.

“And you know what people like to do when they shop for books? Drink coffee. Eddie says customers are always coming here and reading. So I figured, hey, let’s combine it all. One big bookstore with a coffee shop in the middle. People can get Harry Potters and parenting books and spy thrillers and sit right down and read them. You know?”

I’m speechless. Appalled. A little nauseated.

Tabula Inscripta has always been a small boutique bookstore focusing on literary fiction and select nonfiction. I spend hours each season curating my selection, just as the prior owner, Jerome, taught me. I imagine his bushy gray eyebrows rising in horror at all these changes.

“But our bookstores are totally different,” Brian says.

“Yes, completely different customer bases,” I say, nodding. “We’re not in competition.”

“Well, you’ll figure it out,” Xander says. “I mean, one of you will.”

I blanch. “What?”

“No reason for me to pay two managers for one store.”

“So—one of us is out of a job?” Brian sounds horrified.

“Who?” I ask, instantly sick. Xander is a man’s man. I know he’s going to choose Brian—the two of them already seem chummy.

“I’m not deciding right now,” Xander says. “Here’s the plan.”