Lily was dangerous territory for him. And even worse, he felt shitty that he’d brought her to Marcus’s party and then went all caveman and cockblocked her. Turned out that dude had a girlfriend anyway, but still. Nick had said he’d help her find someone to take to her sister’s wedding, and he couldn’t let her down.
He pulled out his phone and texted her.
I was thinking we should probably come up with a real game plan for finding your wedding date.
She responded right away.
Lily: Oh, I love a good game plan.
Nick: What are you doing now? We can strategize.
Lily: I’m finishing up at work.
Nick: It’s almost seven. You stay at work this late all the time?
Lily: Most days.
Nick: You can’t see me but I’m frowning
Lily: I know, it’s bad! I’m trying to be better. What are you doing?
Nick: Walking through midtown back to our building
Lily: Wait, I work in midtown! Want to meet me and we can walk home together?
Lily: Unless you want to be alone ofc
Nick: No, I’ll meet you. What’s your job’s address?
Lily: I just dropped my location.
Nick: See you soon
Lily: See you soon
Despite pep-talking himself the whole walk over about how he needed to remember that Lily was off-limits and he should look at her as only a friend and nothing more, Nick was a nervous wreck by the time he got to Lily’s office. He peered through Mitchell & Milton’s glass doors at the large, empty lobby. And then he saw something that made him momentarily forget about Lily altogether.
There, on one of the large screens displaying book covers, was the new cover for The Elves of Ceradon. It was dark blue and silver with the name N.R. Strickland written across the bottom half in large type. In the center of the cover was an illustration of the Ceradonian queen’s castle. Nick had no opinion on the cover one way or another when he first saw it. But seeing it here, displayed so hugely and proudly in his publisher’s lobby, did something to him. It almost made him want to tap a stranger on the street and point it out. That’s my book, he’d tell them. Weird. Since signing with M&M, he’d never felt that desire.
He blinked when he saw Lily come into view. She hustled quickly through the lobby, wearing a lavender short-sleeved dress and a gray cardigan. Her face lit up when she smiled and waved at Nick. She looked so lovely, he felt like his heart might burst.
“Sorry,” she said, meeting him on the sidewalk. “Right as I was leaving, my boss wanted to go over my notes from a meeting she missed this morning.”
“It’s okay.” Automatically, Nick lifted his arms to hug her. But then he froze, unsure if they were at that level of friendship yet. So instead of leaning closer, he held out his arms like Frankenstein.
Lily laughed and stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his torso. He held her close, inhaling her vanilla scent. When that became too overwhelming, he stepped back and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
“That flashing screen is dope,” he said, nodding his head at the lobby, just to have something to say.
“Oh yeah, I guess it is.” Lily glanced at the screen, and he couldn’t mistake the way she frowned deeply when the image switched to The Elves of Ceradon cover. She turned away and readjusted her tote bag over her shoulder.
Why had he brought up the screen?! She didn’t need to be reminded of how he’d caused their email correspondence to crash and burn. He needed to stay on task and help her forget all about it.
“So, your wedding date,” he said as they began to walk down Seventh Avenue. “I think we’ve been looking in the wrong place for your man. You probably won’t find him at a bar or a party.”
“Oh? Where will I find him?”
“At the bookstore.”
“Riiight,” Lily said. “You mean the fantasy when two people reach for the same book and end up falling in love? It’s unrealistic, but I’m into it. When are we going to this bookstore?”
“Now.”
“Now?”
Nick nodded. He wondered if she’d protest, which would be fair. She’d just finished a long workday and probably wanted to go home and see her （allegedly） sweet cat.
But instead, Lily smirked and put on her game face. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Relief washed over Nick. He was glad she still wanted his help.
It had nothing to do with the fact that she was agreeing to spend more time with him.
10
Lily and Nick stood in the sci-fi/fantasy section of the Strand, waiting for . . . actually, Lily wasn’t sure what they were waiting for. They’d arrived at the bookstore and got so caught up in looking at books, she forgot their plan of action.