“Jane,” Kristin was first to speak. Was that a note of relief in her voice? Maybe she was getting sick of talking about her father’s outdoor cooking habits. Or maybe she was fed up with chatting to Annie? None of this made sense to Jane. Until, a few seconds later, it very much did.

Chapter Seventeen

“Great night, don’t you think?” Kristin asked Jane.

“Caitlin was a superstar,” Jane said.

Annie hadn’t even noticed Jane approach. She barely even remembered what Kristin had been talking about to her just now. Hearing Jane talk to Kristin made her feel a bit wobbly in the knees. Or no, it wasn’t so much the fact that they were talking, but more the intense feeling of guilt it ignited in her. How long had Annie been talking to Kristin, anyway? She remembered what Caitlin James had said the other day about her body language projecting everything she was afraid to say out loud.

“We sold a lot of books,” Annie said, her voice trembling a little. Mere seconds ago, she wanted the book shop to remain open all night so she could talk to Kristin for a few more hours. Or just be near her and feel as though they were working on something together, their businesses, or a joint adventure. Now she couldn’t wait for everyone to leave so she could close the shutters, and curl up in bed, hoping for this feeling of dread to pass. In fact, she’d like to stay in bed for a few weeks, until this silly, stupid infatuation had been expelled from her system, and she could go back to feeling like a normal person again.

“And a lot of coffee,” Kristin said.

“Although some people availed more of the bubbly,” Jane said. “I hope Jo’s not working tomorrow morning.”

“Even if she doesn’t have a shift at the Pink Bean, I think Jo works every morning and every afternoon and most evenings,” Kristin said. “Headache or not, maybe it will be good for her to be forced to take a few hours off. Tomorrow is a Saturday, after all.”

Annie glanced at Jane. Did she have any idea? Either way, Annie needed to extricate herself from this situation as quickly as possible. She didn’t have a problem being alone with Kristin. In fact, in those moments when she was, she could trick her mind into forgetting about her wife all too easily. But when she saw them together, and the messiness of her emotions was being thrown back in her face, it was unbearable.

“I’ll give Mia and Lou a hand cleaning up so we can all go to bed soon.”

“I believe that’s my job,” Kristin said, and left Annie standing there with Jane, to whom Annie didn’t know what to say for fear she would betray herself even more than she might already have.