The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)(54)

The ship cut through the waves, tossing Arabella’s curls around her face. Salt spray misted her face, and the wind whipped around her skirts. She felt like she was flying.

Well, damn.

She looked up from the page, half expecting to find Noah grinning at her, but the store was suspiciously devoid of smiling fishermen. She supposed he could have recruited someone else to leave the clues. Someone like a certain busybody book-club president. Or maybe even his best friend, Logan?

As she stood with the book in her hand, her stomach already swooping with the thrill of seeing Noah again, Hazel found that she didn’t care how this clue got here, but only that it was here.

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to her HANSOF partner and just hoped he was still up for a few more adventures.





Chapter Twenty-Two





Noah was reading the latest fantasy novel Hazel had recommended when his phone buzzed on his bed.

Hazel.

Hazel, the woman he’d been sort of avoiding but thinking about constantly for the past week. He’d wanted to see her, of course. He’d nearly wandered into the bookstore a half dozen times last week, but the way things ended the other night, he thought maybe Hazel wanted a little space between them. Maybe a little distance, a little breather was a good thing.

But now with her name flashing on his screen, Noah realized what a complete idiot he had been and how happy he was to see her message. And how he didn’t want any distance between them at all, like not even an inch.

Another clue! You in?





Hell, yes!





Maybe he should have played it cooler? Waited more than half a second to respond? He didn’t care. He wasn’t cool around Hazel.

All he got back was a smiley face so he assumed she was busy at work. Not that that made it any easier to wait to hear more from her.

He flipped his book back open and lost himself in the pages. These epic fantasy novels seemed to be the antidote to his normally fidgety behavior. When he was in the story, everything else faded away. If you had told him a year ago that he would regularly be tearing through five-hundred-page books, he never would have believed it. But he loved these things. What had started out as a flimsy excuse to see Hazel had turned into something real.

If nothing else, his little infatuation with her had given him a new hobby, a way to quiet his mind and calm his body. It was nice, laying here on a rainy day in his sweats, totally absorbed in another world. If school had been like this he definitely would have finished.

But you probably can’t learn calculus from a werewolf.

He’d made it through a few chapters before his phone rang. He was expecting the call, but still his heart lurched at the idea that it might be Hazel.

It wasn’t, but it was his two, second favorite people to talk to.

‘Uncle Noah!’

‘Hello, ladies.’ He propped himself up on his new pile of pillows. His nieces’ faces were crowded around the screen. ‘You’re looking fancy this morning.’ Cece was wearing a tiara in her dark hair, bright pink lipstick slashed across her mouth. Ivy on the other hand, was in full zombie mode, face powdered an eerie white, complete with fake blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

‘We’re testing out some Halloween costumes,’ Cece informed him, straightening her crown. ‘I think Ivy’s is too scary.’

‘Halloween is supposed to be scary! Right, Uncle Noah?’

‘I think you could go either way with it.’ He didn’t bother to point out that Halloween was still a month and a half away. He knew that Halloween was serious business for these two and the costume process started early. He also knew these costumes were likely to make an appearance at every holiday following Halloween.

Ivy frowned and he had to bite down on his smile at the grumpy little zombie.

‘Are you coming to visit soon?’ The girls were jostling the phone between them, and for a moment he was looking at nothing but his sister’s ceiling, but Cece’s question came through loud and clear.

‘Yeah! Are you coming for Halloween?’ Ivy’s face filled the screen again, her blue eyes big and imploring.

Christ. How was he supposed to say no to those little faces?

‘Girls, you know Uncle Noah is very busy.’ His sister’s voice came from somewhere in the background. They were at Rachel’s this weekend. He knew his sisters took turns babysitting on Sundays so they could each get a break.

The way Ivy nodded, like of course he wouldn’t come visit and she had already come to terms with it, nearly killed him.

‘Maybe Thanksgiving, though.’ The words were out before he could stop them.

‘Really?!’ Cece squealed. ‘Did you hear that, Mama? Uncle Noah’s going to come for Thanksgiving and you can tell him all about the baby in your belly!’

Noah winced. There was no taking it back now.

‘All right, let me talk to your uncle, please.’ Again the screen was filled with snatches of Rachel’s home, of his sister’s life that he rarely saw because of his own stubbornness.

‘Hey, Rach.’ She was frowning. Off to a good start.

‘Please don’t get their hopes up, Noah.’

‘Jesus. Give me a chance to actually let you down before you get mad at me.’

She blew out a long sigh, her eyes to the ceiling like she was looking for strength up there. ‘Look, Noah. There are two little girls here who love you, and, frankly, I’m too sick from this pregnancy to sugar-coat things for you right now.’