“Jesus.” I swing open the door, my eyes narrowing on him for a millisecond, before stepping out of the way as an invitation to come inside. “You can’t knock on a person’s door at eleven o’clock at night. You scared the crap out of me.”

“You said you were coming over to my place after work. I called you like ten times.” He never takes his attention off me as I go to my purse and pull my phone out. “I was worried about you. Are you okay?”

When I finally find my phone buried deep beneath old receipts, the screen stays black until a battery icon flashes across the screen.

“It’s dead.” I show him the screen even though I’m pretty sure he already saw it. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I forgot to come over.”

“It’s fine.” His eyes are alert, but his tone is gentle as he walks toward me. “Are you okay? You seem upset.”

“Connor Walsh stopped by the Book Nook today and filled me in on a few things I didn’t know.” A humorless laugh falls out of my mouth as I realize what a gross understatement that is. “So yeah, you could say I’m a little bit upset.”

He comes to a sudden stop and his head jerks back.

“Connor came back?” He says Connor’s name like it’s acid on his tongue. “For what?”

“How much time do you have?” I fall onto my couch, suddenly feeling beyond exhausted and wanting this all to be over. “It was quite the doozy.”

His lips quirk at the corners. “A doozy? I haven’t heard that word in a long time.”

He drops onto the couch beside me, not hesitating at all before his arm’s around my shoulders and he has me tucked tight into his side. I don’t fight it. I push in closer, needing all the comfort I can get if I’m going to rehash this story.

“Well, apparently, Connor knew my grandma. They spoke a few times before she died because she was considering selling the Book Nook.” Jasper’s body goes tight beside me, but he doesn’t say anything as he listens to me recall the earlier conversation. “Connor works for Prose and Fable. I guess one of their new ventures is acquiring small bookshops that already have ties with the community, but putting them under their name. Because of the Book Nook’s long-standing relationship with its customers and prime Denver real estate, it made Gran the optimal target for them.”

I leave out the part where Connor told me they offered Gran a high six-figure offer if she sold everything to them outright or that she said she would get back to them . . . but passed before she could.