The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)(45)

‘Hazel, come on,’ Annie said, like the whole thing couldn’t be more obvious. ‘Then it’s definitely him. He’s been hanging out around here for months now. He’s clearly into you and look, he figured out a sneaky way to spend time with you!’

Wait. Could that be true? Did Noah set up this whole thing to hang out with her? And sneakily made it sound so nefarious.

Hazel’s heartbeat had ramped up over the course of this conversation and now she felt dizzy. Could Annie be right? And did she want her to be? Devising a sneaky, scavenger hunt did not sound casual at all. But the more time she spent with Noah the more she liked him and...

She shook her head. She was getting way off track here.

‘Annie, have you gone down a romcom rabbit hole already?’ Her friend had a tendency to binge-watch seasonal romantic comedies from September through to the new year.

Annie huffed. ‘My viewing habits have nothing to do with what is very obviously going on here.’

‘And that is... ’

‘And that is that the sexy fisherman, who has had the hots for you for months, has been leaving you little love notes so you guys can go on dates together.’

Hazel frowned. That couldn’t possibly be right.

‘But Noah doesn’t do relationships, remember? This feels very relationship-y.’

‘There’s a first time for everything.’

Noah had said those exact words to her at the carnival. A first time for everything. Was Hazel about to be the woman who got the infamously promiscuous Noah to settle down? Did she want to be? Wasn’t she trying to un-settle herself?

She groaned and leaned her forehead on the desk.

‘Or...’ Annie paused, thinking. ‘It could just be some sociopath who likes to highlight books and then leave them on the shelf.’

Hazel groaned louder.

‘Haze.’

‘What?’

‘Are you coming to the town meeting tonight?’

‘I guess so,’ she mumbled.

‘Great.’ Annie got up and patted her head. ‘I’ll see you then. Love you.’

‘Love you, too.’ Hazel gave her a little wave and went back to staring at the next month’s book orders she’d been attempting to work on for the past hour.

There was no way Annie was right about Noah and the clues, which was fine. It was good, actually, because Hazel didn’t want anything serious with Noah. So really it worked out perfectly. And she could just continue with her reckless summer of fun even though it was nearly September and thinking about the end of her little experiment gave her a stomach ache. But it was all perfectly fine.

Really.

Fine.





Chapter Eighteen





It wasn’t hard to spot Hazel at the town meeting since she always sat in the same seat next to Logan and Jeanie and because Noah’s gaze seemed to find her no matter where she was in any room. He headed over to them, glad he wasn’t late. He’d rushed right here after his tour ended. It had been a mellow afternoon with a father and his adult sons out for an afternoon of fishing for their dad’s birthday and Noah had enjoyed spending the time with the family. Even when it brought back memories of fishing with his own father. Memories he usually tried to avoid. Memories from before he’d let his dad down.

He actually used to like spending time with his dad when he was a kid. Being out on one of their boats was always his favorite thing to do. His dad wasn’t a man who talked a lot but he showed Noah everything he needed to know about boating and fishing and weather and the tides. Watching him work, Noah had learned more than he ever had in a classroom.

Too bad his father couldn’t teach him world history while he was at it.

He wasn’t sure if it was the last few weeks with Hazel and wanting to show her he could be more than a fun time, or if he was thinking too much about his family lately, but he felt ready to finally share his plans with the town board.

Or at least his initial ideas.

He knew there would be plenty of paperwork to file and townsfolk to convince and licenses to apply for but he wanted to get the ball rolling. It was a good idea. A solid idea. And maybe it could be the start of something bigger for him here in Dream Harbor.

And if that just happened to make Hazel see him in a different light, then that would be a happy side effect. Because if the last week of fooling around with Hazel had taught him anything, it was that this woman wasn’t getting out of his system anytime soon.

She turned as he approached and a secret smile crossed her face, reminding him of exactly how much she was embedded in his system.

He really freaking liked this girl.

‘Hey, Noah.’

‘Hey.’ His gaze was stuck on hers until Logan’s voice cut in.

‘You gonna sit or just stand there and stare at Hazel all day?’

Noah grinned at his friend. ‘Hello to you, too, Logan. Hey, Jeanie.’ The café owner gave him a wave as he slid into the seat next to Hazel. Annie was in the row ahead of them, whispering furiously with Isabel.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked, tipping his head toward Hazel.

‘Newbie.’

Noah glanced around the old meeting hall, only finding the familiar faces. He lifted a hand in greeting to Tim and Tammy before turning back to Hazel.

‘She’s not here yet, but supposedly she’s on her way,’ Hazel went on.