The truth was I’d known there would be talk about how quickly Roane and I had fallen in love and decided to marry. We’d discussed it lying in bed and decided we wouldn’t care what other people thought. We knew that this, us together, was what we’d been waiting for our whole lives.

Peering down my nose at Harriet and Lilith, I murmured, “Ladies,” as I passed them without confrontation. I saw their expressions slacken with surprise, but I wasn’t going to waste energy on two old gossips who had nothing better to do. People would always talk, but as long as the people I cared about were happy for Roane and me, I couldn’t care less what anyone else thought.

When I returned to the bookstore, my skin still prickling a little with the encounter despite my inner pep talk, I moved toward the back staircase and stopped when I heard the giggle from upstairs.

Damn.

I’d given Lucas and Viola permission to use my apartment for privacy. Of course, I knew what “privacy” meant and trusted Viola to use the guest bedroom and not mine, but I’d expected them to be done by now. Why I’d naively assumed that, when they were both twenty-year-olds with unending stamina, I didn’t know.

Rolling my eyes, I moved back into the store, dumped my stuff behind the counter, and flipped the sign to open.

I had so much to organize over the next two weeks. Penny was ecstatic that I wanted to buy the bookstore. I was less ecstatic about what it would cost to buy the building. It would eat up the entirety of the life insurance money my dad had left me. That money would have bought me a huge house with land in Indiana. On the other hand, I’d need double that to buy a really nice two-bedroom apartment in the heart of the West Loop in Chicago.

Since it would take longer than two weeks for all the legal stuff to be finalized and Roane and I didn’t want to rush a wedding, I’d applied for an extension on my work visa. Penny had provided another letter to say I would be continuing on as an employee at the bookstore for three more months.

We were waiting on approval for that, but worst-case scenario, Roane and I would marry at a registrar’s office so I could stay in the country, and then we’d plan a proper wedding later. For now, I was planning as if the visa extension would come through. Which meant I had my lawyer on the sale, and myself on organizing a trip to the States to tie up loose ends there. And to say goodbye.