Page 30 of If I Didn’t Have You

From the massive grin on her face, she was enjoying teasing me a little too much. “So, painting is out for me.”

“But dirty books⁠—”

“I think I might go make some dinner.”

I headed for the door, but she jumped up and quickly dashed ahead of me, blocking my exit. “Come on, Mom. You can’t be that much of a prude. Just let me take you to the bookshop with me. I’m sure we’ll find something to…give you inspiration.”

When she widened her eyes knowingly at me, I knew I could never look at her the same way again. My daughter was…well, she was everything I was when I was younger. Only, there was no way I’d ever have said those words to my own mother. She’d have had a heart attack.

“We are not talking about this any longer.”

Her gaze narrowed on me, and no matter how hard I tried to keep my eyes on her, I gave in and looked down.

“Fine, I’ll agree to stop nagging you about this if you agree to go to Cassidy’s store with me.”

“For what purpose?”

“Well, you’re trying to change things, right?”

I sighed, already knowing where she was going with this.

“How can you discover the new you without trying something different?”

I was stuck. If I didn’t want to hear about her fantasies, I had no choice but to go along with her. It was only one day in a shop. It couldn’t be that bad. Besides, she was right. I was all about trying new things right now.

“Fine. I’ll go with you as long as you agree to buy whatever books I want.”

“Deal.” She shoved her hand out, locking mine in a firm grip, shaking it hard. “I am so going to enjoy this.”

I rolled my eyes as we walked out, but my confidence in my plan quickly wavered as we walked through the shop doors of Once Upon A Bookseller only twenty minutes later.

I was immediately bombarded by commentary from all around. It was like senior citizens day at the bookshop, only these old ladies were not getting cookbooks and sewing magazines.

“Cassidy, dear. Did you get that new Why Choose book I was telling you about?” Mrs. Abernathy called across the store.

I glanced around, looking for Cassidy, but not seeing her. Maybe she wasn’t actually there. Maybe this was all in Mrs. Abernathy’s head.

Krista leaned in, keeping her voice low. “A Why Choose is a romance novel where the heroine has multiple men to choose from, but decides she wants them all.”

My eyebrows shot up at her explanation, but I tried to keep the shocked look off my face. This was a new age. My old Harlequin romances were a thing of the past, apparently.

Just then, Cassidy popped up from behind the counter, her hair a frazzled mess as she held her hand up in the air with what I was guessing was Mrs. Abernathy’s book. “Right here! I almost couldn’t find it,” she said, rushing around the counter.

Mrs. Buttersworth stopped her on the way. “Um…dear, I was looking for a uh…well, I was watching this show the other night, and I just couldn’t help but notice how handsome the men were.”

She flushed bright red as she tried to spit out the words.

“He was a Highlander,” she hissed.

“Highlanders, pirates, and regency romance is all on the second to last shelf on the left over there.”

My eyes quickly followed the direction, and it took everything in me not to rush over there and see what all the fuss was about. After all, I didn’t want word to spread around town that I was getting my rocks off in the bookstore.

Well, buying dirty books. Not that I would actually get off in a bookstore.

I fanned myself, trying to flush the heat from my cheeks. “Is it hot in here?”

Krista chuckled, pulling my hand over to the first row of shelves. “This is your typical, everyday romance. Modern day, normal guys. All that stuff.”