The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)(7)

‘Kidnapped Lover... Or no, that wasn’t it ... Trapped? Caught? Bound up by the Pirate?’

Oh. My. God. If Noah uttered another word about this book or being tied up by pirates, she was going to skewer him with this marshmallow stick.

‘It was Love Captive,’ she ground out, happy for the semi-darkness to hide her heated cheeks.

‘That sounds perfect!’ Jeanie clapped her hands.

‘I bet pirates smelled pretty bad.’

Jacob reached over Hazel to smack Annie on the arm. ‘Don’t ruin sexy pirates for me!’

Noah was still looking at her while the rest of the group descended into chatter about the cleanliness of pirates. He was looking at her like he knew that she had taken that book home and read it cover to cover and that the pirate she was picturing looked nothing like the one on the cover...

‘I need to g—’ Hazel stood too fast and her chair tipped over. ‘Uh ... to the bathroom.’ You did not need to announce that to everyone!

‘Just be careful making your way back to the house. It’s getting dark and the Bobs got out again,’ Jeanie said with an apologetic smile.

‘Okay, yep. No problem.’ Hazel scurried away from the ring of light around the fire and the laughter of her friends. The sun had dipped low enough in the sky that long shadows concealed the dips and pits of the field. Great, I’m either going to break an ankle or get attacked by goats.

She knew her way from the back field to Logan’s grandparents’ house well enough to do it in the dark; she’d been coming here for years. But in her current state she wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up in a ditch. Or worse, pecked to death by Logan’s precious flock of chickens.

Hazel shuddered and hurried to the house. She didn’t even have to go, but she did need to get away from good-smelling fishermen and bloodthirsty bugs, so this seemed as good a plan as any.

She let herself in the house and found Nana and Grandpa Henry dozing in front of the TV in the living room. They startled awake when she walked in.

‘Hazel Kelly is that you?’

‘It’s me, Nana. How are you?’

‘Oh good, good. There’s leftovers in the crockpot if you’re hungry.’

‘No one wants that, dear.’ Henry patted her leg lovingly and Estelle shot him a glare. Hazel smiled. It was like coming home with Logan in high school all over again. They’d adopted each other as siblings a long time ago since neither of them had any.

‘I’m full of s’mores actually. Just came in to use the bathroom.’

‘Okay, dear. You let me know if you need anything.’

Hazel nodded and made her way down the hall to the little bathroom off the kitchen. It still had the same faded wallpaper, the same blue-tiled floor. She looked in the mirror and found the same reflection she’d seen in high school.

Well, maybe a little different. A little older.

But she felt the same.

Same old Hazel.

Could you have memories of things you hadn’t done? Standing in Logan’s bathroom, Hazel couldn’t help but remember everything she didn’t do. Like the fact that she never skipped a single day of school because she’d been too worried she’d miss something important. Or the fact that she’d only ever gotten tipsy in high school once and it was here at the farmhouse and then she’d felt so guilty she’d confessed to Nana.

She lived at home during college, too. Hadn’t gone out to clubs, hadn’t ever had a one-night stand, hadn’t been arrested.

Okay, so maybe it was good she’d never been arrested, but the point was she had never been reckless, not even a little bit.

Hazel liked herself in general. She liked her life. But she still couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. That all those holes in her memories were turning into something like regrets. Regrets she didn’t want to bring with her into her thirties.

She thought about Noah’s smiles and those crooked books and blueberry picking. Maybe she didn’t have to be stuck. Maybe for the next two months she could be ... fun. She could have fun, right? That’s what summer was for, wasn’t it?

The floorboards creaked under her feet as she went through the kitchen, grabbing the wine on the table that Jeanie had forgotten to bring out.

Fun. Adventure. A teensy bit of recklessness...

She could do it.

She would start tonight.

She went out the side door, the one that led to Grandpa Henry’s private garden, and found an unexpected surprise. Blueberry bushes! Blueberry bushes she had totally forgotten existed on Logan’s farm. She stood there on the edge of the garden, darkness creeping in around the edges of the sky, and felt every bit her age. She wasn’t in high school anymore, or college. She couldn’t go back and change the past and she didn’t want to, not really. But in the months leading up to her birthday, she wanted to step outside herself. To let go. To be young and fun and twenty-something before it was too late.

And maybe she’d inhaled too much woodsmoke but the fact that she’d ended up right where the crooked books had pointed her just felt like too much of a sign to ignore. The books were the key to her adventure. It was time she started paying attention.





Chapter Four





Noah found Hazel a little bit drunk in the small garden. The air smelled like dirt and woodsmoke. It was full dark now and Hazel was sitting at the edge of the garden holding a half empty bottle of wine.