Page 134 of Falling for Mr. October

“Our movie collection was always extremely dated growing up.”

“Speaking of dated…would you like to crash a book club full of old people tonight? Giovanni’s coming.”

He grins. “You know what? I’ve been waiting my whole life to get an invitation that good.”

Miles makes a big show of getting out of the back seat and holding the door open for Emily when she comes running down from her apartment over the bookstore.

“Miles,” Emily gasps, pausing. She looks at him the same way I did earlier, like she’s not entirely sure he’s real.

To be fair, I’ve talked about him enough that he’s probably almost a mythical being to her.

“I’m baaaack,” he says, making a crazy face like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

Damn. I really do need to help him update his movie references.

Emily rolls her eyes and looks down at the enormous hoodie she’s wearing. Sir Gala-Head is on it. Giovanni has so many of them at this point that he’s started giving them away. He’s also selling them on his website, presumably under pressure from Rhett.

Frowning, Emily smooths the front of her hoodie and slides past my brother into the car.

“Bianca must be glad to have you home,” she says in a cool, detached voice, reinforcing my suspicion that she doesn’t like him.

He slides in after her and shuts the door. “She’s glad for now. Give her time.”

“I’m medium glad,” Giovanni says from the front seat.

Miles flips him off, and suddenly I’m smiling so hard my face hurts. They’re all here. Giovanni, Miles, and Emily. Three of the people I care about most in the world gathered in one car.

My mind tries to skip to another car, on a different day, but I pull it back onto the right track. Miles is right. It’s time to leave the past behind.

The four of us make small talk on the way to The Rotten Apple, Emily remaining unusually quiet. When we get there, Giovanni carries in the box of refreshments he prepared, and the receptionist—not Judy tonight—waves us back to the rec room.

“We get two young men this week?” Luanne says, beaming at us as we walk in. She’s always loved Miles, and he stoops to wrap her in a hug.

“I had to come and see my best girl, especially now that you’re a movie star.”

She laughs and fluffs her hair, and after giving her a squeeze, he greets a few of the other residents he knows.

The book club is gathered on the couches with their yellow paperbacks out. About half of the members are wearing the shirts designed by Helen, who has the satisfied expression of a woman who’s raised a lot of money in very little time.

Thousands of the shirts she designed have already been sold on Giovanni’s website. They’ve outsold the Sir Gala-Head merch four to one.

“Two young men,” Helen echoes. “What a treat.”

Giovanni lifts his paperback of Yes, Chef. “But only one of them has read the book.”

Giovanni and I read it together, curled up in his bed, and sitting on the porch swing outside of the apple barn with warm cider. And, on one memorable occasion, I read it out loud while he knelt between my legs. I’ve never enjoyed a book so much, to be honest, although I barely remember what it was about.

“But I promise to still have lots of opinions about it,” Miles says with a grin, settling onto an ottoman in front of the crowded sectional couch.

Emily chooses a seat close to Luanne, while Giovanni and I sit on a loveseat together, his arms curled casually around me.

God, it feels good.

Maybe that’s what sets me on edge.

Because every good thing I’ve ever had has been taken from me, either slowly or in an instant.

Giovanni promised we’d work something out, but I’m still terrified that I’ll lose the one man my heart is set on keeping.