Irritated for him, I sighed. “You have nothing to be sorry for. That’s awful. Is there anything I can do?” It was probably a stupid question, considering I was carless.

“You’re doing it.” I thought I heard a smile in his voice. “Meet me at The Anchor after dinner? Eight o’clock?”

“Of course.”

I wished him luck sorting out the vacation home crisis and we hung up. Staring out at the sea, I thought about how disappointed I was that I wouldn’t get to spend the afternoon with Roane and wondered if maybe bonding with this guy so quickly wasn’t a very foolish idea after all.

Yet I knew I wasn’t going to do a damn thing to stop myself.

Eight

Before I knew it, my first two weeks in Alnster were almost up. It was a frustrating quirk of human nature that time seemed to slow when you were going through something difficult or when you were bored. Yet it sped up, racing away from your control when life was pretty darn good.

My second Sunday arrived with alarming alacrity, and it followed a busy Saturday at the bookstore. Saturday morning had started with a book bang. The books I’d ordered for the new releases bookcase arrived. I was a kid in a candy store! Pulling the beautiful paperback and hardback books out of the boxes; smelling that new book smell and feeling crisp, unread pages beneath my fingers; and wishing they were all mine. Organizing the books on the shelves, I’d posted a selfie on Instagram of me hugging the bookcase with longing in my eyes.

Apparently, Saturday was the store’s sweet spot, because almost as soon as I’d finished organizing the new titles, the bell above the door tinkled. A couple ventured in, each holding the hand of the little girl between them. Nostalgia filled me as I watched them peruse the children’s titles with her, remembering days when my mom and dad had done the same thing with me.

I loved how the hours melted away as I engaged with my customers. As it turned out, my bookworm tendencies did come in handy when customers asked for recommendations or asked if I’d read a certain book and had an opinion about it. As a voracious reader, I was super helpful.

Unless a customer asked me about Northumberland and the best I could do was direct them to the books written about the area.

I was counting that as helpful too.

My daylight hours during my first two weeks were spent at the store, working on edits when things were quiet, and then taking walks on the beach during my lunch hour if the day was dry. In the evening, I met Roane and Shadow at The Anchor. Sometimes we met early to eat, other times at night just to catch up on our day and chat among the locals.