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

by Laurie Gilmore

Not that Hazel understood that line of reasoning. She always wanted to be browsing the shelves of a bookstore.

Hazel had a different problem with thirty. She’d forgotten to have wild and storied days.

Her twenties had been ... calm? Responsible? Boring. Hazel had essentially been in her thirties since she was fifteen. Or more like her seventies if you asked Annie, without whom Hazel probably wouldn’t have picked her head up out of a book at all.

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?

‘That’s all you can do. Try your best.’ The little girl’s face was solemn as she delivered the advice before running off in the direction of the rides.

‘Tell me your secret, then, and I’ll psychoanalyze you. It’ll be fun.’ He flashed her a grin and she let out a quiet laugh.

He liked that about her. Hazel didn’t say things unless she meant them. It made everything she said that much more important.

Not that she thought her friends and neighbors didn’t like her, but what if they saw her as pitifully as she saw herself? Or worse, what if they didn’t think about her at all and these clues were meant for someone else and she’d just inserted herself into the story where she didn’t belong.

‘I always bring a book, just in case.’

‘Sometimes I still just feel like ... I don’t know. Like I’m missing something. Or I’m going to commit some kind of Dream Harbor faux pas.

Who were these losers that didn’t properly take care of this woman? But if he was being honest, things were rarely that good.

Noah looked into his sister’s worried face. She always looked at him like that. Like she wondered how he managed to survive in the world without all of them. Like how did he even manage to feed himself without his big sisters or his parents’ business to fall back on?

‘Hanging out? You missed trivia night and now half the town thinks you’ve been kidnapped.’ Hazel huffed. ‘I’m clearly right here.’ ‘Hazel...’ ‘What? Can’t a girl have a little fun?’ ‘Of course you can, but this just feels like––’ ‘Like what Annie? Like not my type of fun? Like it’s totally out of character for me? That’s exactly the point! I can’t ... I just needed ... something different.’

Hazel Kelly thought he’d made something beautiful. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like a screw-up. And for a minute, he felt like he could be worthy of a girl like Hazel.

She just needed to look at herself, at her life, in a new light.

But adventures weren’t safe, right? Getting out of your comfort zone was by definition, uncomfortable. And if these last few weeks had taught her anything, it was that good things came from being a little bit unsafe, by taking a few risks now and then.

Noah nodded because that was all he could manage at the moment. How was it that even at this age, his father’s approval could still mean so much? He didn’t know but it really did.

Her heartbeat immediately ratcheted up. She opened the book and found a highlighted line. I met a girl this summer. Innocuous. Innocent. And yet... She grabbed the next book. The kiss was incendiary. He could have sworn his entire body had gone up in flames. A bit over the top but Hazel knew the feeling. She grabbed another, working her way down the pile. Each book had a marked page and a highlighted line. Each book set her heart beating faster. This couldn’t be... Attraction: noun: the action or power of evoking interest, pleasure, or liking for someone or something. She put down the dictionary and took the next book. A picture book. ‘Will you be my best friend?’ the fox asked the rabbit. ‘But we’re so different,’ said the rabbit. ‘That’s why I like you.’ A scientific journal: According to a team of scientists led by Dr. Monica Hunter at Yale, romantic love can be broken down into three categories: lust, attraction, and attachment. The science-fiction novel that had been flying off the shelves: She brought him back to life, reconstructed him into a better version than the original. And he felt alive. He was alive. He was real. The latest in the fantasy series Noah had been reading on the boat: Fierce sea birds swooped from the sky, but he held them back. Anything to protect the princess. She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her at that. The next book was small and worn; the perfect size to smuggle in a purse. She didn’t know when her hands had started to shake. He dip...

‘No, I just meant that I don’t care if you do this or you do fishing tours or bartend at Mac’s or do whatever other plans you might come up with. You don’t have to prove anything to me, Noah.’

it’s real. You. You’re real. And I love you.’

‘It’s real,’ he said, his voice as broken as she felt. ‘You and me. I promise.’