Absolutely Not in Love (Sweater Weather, #7; Appies, #2)

by Jenny Proctor

“You know, maybe your neighbor needs to meet Ivy.” He grabs his bag from his locker a few paces away, then gives me a pointed look. “I saw her at Book Smart the other night. At least I think it was her. If she’s into books, your library might make her forget you play hockey.” “Book Smart?” I ask, and he nods. “The bookstore on Maple Street. You’ve never been there? Dude, come on. You? I thought it’d be your favorite place.” We head toward the door together. “Call it self-preservation. I’m out of shelf space.” “Yeah. And your apartment is so cramped, there’s definitely no room for a new shelf.” My lips twitch. The guys like to tease me about my spacious apartment—minor league hockey players aren’t exactly rolling in extra cash—but they’d never let me live it down if they knew the actual truth. I can afford my apartment because I own the entire building. I bought it a year ago using money from my grandmother’s trust fund. My original plan was to have my apartment fill the entire top floor, but Gracie’s apartment was already outfitted as living space, and I decided it might be nice to have a little rental income coming in to help with property taxes. Originally, the building was home to Sheffield Family Publishing. They printed elementary school textbooks, early readers, that sort of thing. Pretty sure the managing editor lived in what’s now Gracie’s apartment, right up until the company went under in the early 2000s. My apartment is much larger than hers, occupying the whole...