“Where the Wild Things Are. I can get it for you, if you want.” Harper moved like she meant to, and Daniel reached out, gently putting his arm on hers to stop her.

“Nah, that’s okay,” he said, letting his hand fall back to his side. “I think I’ve read it before. It is a good one, though.”

“Yeah, it is,” Harper agreed.

“I have to come clean with you,” Daniel said gravely.

She swallowed hard. “Oh?”

“I didn’t come in for a book,” he admitted, and one corner of his mouth turned up slightly.

Harper glanced over at Marcy, who was standing on the other side of the desk, unabashedly watching the two of them talk. Harper raised her eyebrows, trying to give her friend a knowing look, and Marcy sighed.

“I guess I have some books to put away or something,” Marcy muttered, and started pushing the cart out from behind the desk. “Because it’s not like I don’t have all day to put away twenty books. I need to do it right now.”

Once Marcy was out of earshot, Harper turned her attention back to Daniel.

“What is it that brought you here, then?” Harper asked, hoping she didn’t sound as nervous as she felt. Daniel had a way of making her completely flustered.

“I wanted to see why you’ve been avoiding me.” Daniel was smiling when he said it, but he couldn’t hide the hurt in his hazel eyes.

“I haven’t been—” Harper began to protest, but he waved her off.

“You’ve been ignoring my calls, and you haven’t been down to the docks to bring your dad his lunch,” Daniel said. “The poor man is probably starving.”

Brian worked down at the docks near where Daniel lived on his boat. Her father was notorious about forgetting his lunch, and Harper saw Daniel a lot when she brought it to him.

“My dad didn’t work that much this week,” Harper said. “He is today, but I honestly can’t tell you if he remembered his lunch or not. I forgot to check.”

“Oh,” Daniel said. “Well, that makes sense. But that doesn’t explain you ignoring my calls.”

“I…” She stared down at the floor, unable to meet his gaze. “Daniel, you know what the situation is. Things are so strange right now, and I really don’t have time for anything.”

“I wasn’t suggesting we run away together,” Daniel said. “I know how crazy things are. That’s why I was calling. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Oh.” Harper licked her lips and tried to think of something to say. “Well. Things are…”

“Why don’t we go talk about it?” Daniel asked. “Let’s go across the street to Pearl’s and grab some lunch. I’ll even let you pay for me.”