The Bookworm's Guide to Dating

stretched my leg out to the side. I’d been sitting cross-legged on the hard, wooden floor of the bookstore for the last twenty minutes. Our new outdoor chalkboard sign had arrived, and Holley had printed out a bunch of ideas from Pinterest with the demand that the board was identical on both sides.
I’d only done one, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever feel my ass again.
The chalkboard was now covered in dust and big, block letters that said, “books that way,” with an arrow that, when the sign was outside, would point to the bookstore, and another that would point toward the mountain trails in the other direction accompanied by, “that way, bears. wouldn’t risk it.”
I chuckled to myself as I got up to stretch my legs. It was super cute, and I hoped it would make the tourists laugh so they’d come inside and give me their money.
No, really.
I did.
I flipped the board around and bent forward to stretch out my tight back muscles. I felt as though I’d been stapled to a wooden board for hours.
I was too old for this.
“Not the first thing you expect to see in a bookstore.”
I jolted at the sound of Josh’s voice, straightening back up so quickly I think I pulled something. “You’re not treading your building site dirt all over my store.”
He held up his hands. “Even if I had come from work, I think you’ve got the dust covered.”
A glance at the floor confirmed the truth. There was chalk dust everywhere.
“Oops.”
“What are you doing? Drawing a hopscotch on the floor?”
“No, don’t be stupid. I’m doing the new outdoor sign. Look.” I turned it so he could read the side I’d already done.
A laugh burst out of him. “Well, at least nobody can accuse you of not being factually accurate.”
I clicked my tongue and tapped my temple. “What do you need?” I asked, grabbing the dustpan and brush from behind the register.
“Uh, Grandma said she wanted that new book.”
“Oh, well, that narrows it down.”
“Don’t be snarky.”
“I’m always snarky,” I replied. “Do you know who wrote it?”
He stared at me.
“Damn it, Josh. Do you know how many new books we get in every single week? We got twenty-five this week alone.”
“Shit. Okay. Hold on.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, then held it out in front of him. “This is going one of two ways.”
I grinned and tipped the chalk dust into the little trashcan.
“Hello? Joshua? Is that you?”
“Yes, Grandma. Move the phone from your ear, and you’ll see me. Yep, there you go.”
“Ooh, hello, handsome boy!”
I grinned, wiggling my eyebrows. Handsome boy, indeed.
Josh’s grandma was the most wholesome, sweetest lady I’d ever met in my life—a stark contrast to the majority of the residents at the retirement community.
“Hey, Grandma,” he said, acting like his cheeks weren’t tinged with pink. “I’m at the bookstore.”
“Let me guess; you forgot the book and one of those lovely girls can’t help you.”
Aw.
See? The sweetest.
Josh rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I forgot. Can you talk to Kinsley?”
“No. I can’t see her.”
“I haven’t handed her the phone yet, Grandma.”
“Ooh, that explains it, dear. Get on with it, then.”
I choked back another laugh.
Honestly, Vicki Carter was an absolute delight.
I took the phone from Josh and angled it so she could see me. “Hi, Mrs. Carter!”
“Kinsley! Hello, darling girl!” She was wearing her trademark pink lipstick that made her blue eyes pop, and her light eyelashes were caked in a thick dark brown mascara that seemed as though it’d been present for the past twenty years. “How are you?”
“I’m well, thank you. How are you?”
“Alive,” she chortled. “Now, darling, I want the new Amelia Cooper. Do you have it?”
I grinned. I was not surprised at all—I did have it, and in fact, Saylor had set it aside yesterday morning for her. “Yes, ma’am. Saylor set it aside yesterday for you.”
“Are you kidding?” Josh asked. “You went through all that and you already know?”
“Of course I know,” I said, looking over the phone at him. “Your grandma has been reading Amelia Cooper forever, and she’s been getting her new books set aside since before I worked here. Do you really think I’d forget?”
Vicki cackled. “You’re good girls. How much do I owe you?”
“Same as usual,” I replied.
“Joshua, pay them seventeen dollars.”
“Seventeen dollars for a book?” Josh all but gasped. “Good God, Grandma!”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain with me, child. That’s a hardback you’re cussing about.”
I looked pointedly at him. “One never takes the Lord’s name in vain over a hardback.”
“Is this town just full of bookworms?”
“Yes,” both Vicki and I answered at the same time.
Josh muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
“Kinsley, he’ll pay you and bring me my book. I’m going to take a nap ready to stay up all night reading,” Vicki said.
With that, she hung up.
Goodbye to her, too.
“So rude,” Josh murmured as he put his phone in his back pocket. “Seventeen dollars for a book and she doesn’t even say goodbye.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “When I’m her age, I expect I’ll be exactly the same.”
“That’s not terrifying at all.”
After shooting him a look that told him he should shut up, I told him to wait there while I fetched the book.
I grabbed Under the Setting Sun by Amelia Cooper from the ‘reserved’ section of the shelf in the storeroom and flipped it to read the back as I walked back through the store. It was the twelfth and final book in the series, and even though it sounded delightful, I wasn’t sure I had the time to dedicate to twelve books right now.
But we all knew I was going to buy book one later anyway, so it was a moot point.
“Are you…reading it?”
I jerked up and met Josh’s green-gray eyes. “Just the back.”
“So you’re reading it.”
“If the book isn’t open, I’m not reading it.” I slipped behind the register and lay the book on the white tissue paper we used to pack all orders. There was nothing worse than getting