The Boy with the Bookstore

by Sarah Echavarre Smith

The door of Max’s office door is cracked open, and I spot him standing by his desk, his back to me. I lift my hand to knock, but then I freeze when I hear his angry voice.

This book is poorly written

He’s the spitting image of ABC newscaster David Muir if David Muir wore wire-rimmed glasses and were a tad scrawnier.

How did this get published lol

I live for your bibingka. I thought I was doomed when I found out that I had celiac disease and couldn’t have gluten anymore. My life was pastries. But this ooey, gooey, coconutty rice flour cake saved me. All the sweetness and satisfaction I crave from a pastry, but without the gluten.

Holy awkward exposition batman

Pumpkin chewed through some old editions of Moby-Dick, The Scarlet Letter, A Moveable Feast, The Jungle Book, and a couple other

These are very common bools wtf

“What the . . . why the hell would you think that’s okay? God, that’s so unsanitary.”

This guy sucks

That’s the cost of living life, sweetie, Dad’s always said. There’s always something to pay for, and it’s always more expensive than you think.

Capitalism :(

“I’ve gotten really into whiskey over the past year. God, I sound like a douche.”

Uh yeah

“I mean, with my nerdy glasses and unruly, messy hair, not to mention the fact that I’m pretty much covered in flour twenty-four-seven. It’s not really the picture of hot and sexy, you know?”

And the paint-splattered overalls

“What? Whitney, no way am I doing that . . . because it’s inappropriate!” I twist around. “Everything okay?” Joelle holds the phone away from her face. “Whitney wants to video chat. She wants to see us together.” “Sure.” “Really?”

Red flag

slices of bacon, corn, and arugula pizza

lol wht thw hwck kind of pizz

Our first photo together as a couple.

Eyeroll

I realize how we look so very opposite: a tatted-up bookseller clad in leather and the sweetie-pie baker in a puffer jacket and thick-rimmed glasses.

With the paint splattered overalls

I tuck that four-letter word away for later on, when we’re not making up after an argument—when we’ve been dating longer than a month. I’d probably sound like a lovesick teenager saying it now. It’s probably better to wait a little bit longer. I can’t stop thinking it, though. I think it as we

Um

But I stopped myself. Instead, I grabbed him and kissed him. I decided I didn’t want to come off like a lovesick schoolgirl, saying “I love you” to Max after just a month of being together. He’d probably freak out.

Um

If you don’t do something to change that about yourself, it’s going to cost you everything someday.”

Dude you run a bookstore, calm down

And when I realize what I’ve said, I lose all the air in my lungs. “Harsh” doesn’t begin to describe it.

I mean he was being a dick

“What you said to Max was hurtful, sure. But he said some terrible things to you too. Don’t give him a pass on that and then be so hard on yourself. It’s not fair.”

Clapping emoji

I reach up and rip off my beanie and tuck it in the back pocket of my jeans. Why the hell did I even bother to wear it? This is Phoenix, Arizona, in August. It’s hot as hell.

This guy sucks

I need to talk to her and figure out what the hell went wrong with us, so I don’t make that same mistake with my own family.

Lmao what? This makes no sense

about the house I bought a handful of years ago.

He bpught a house in portland on a bookstore salary?