Page 18 of 10 Things I Hate About Zombies

Zoey climbed out, directing Alice to follow. The cattle dog cheerfully shook, shedding all over like a dandelion in a stiff breeze.

‘I hope you don’t mind some white dog hair as an accessory,’ said Nick, with a grimace. ‘She’s practically a porcupine, just launching her fur at people.’

‘At people, huh?’ said Zoey.

Nick grinned. ‘At pretty girls who own smoothie shops.’

Zoey coughed. This flushed-cheeks business was becoming a chronic condition. ‘I didn’t know there were so many smoothie shops around,’ she managed, as she unlocked the back gate.

There was a small patio back here, with some rickety outdoor seating around a firepit, soft string lights and an explosion of lavender that lent a soft perfume to the place. The patio wasn’t open to the public: Zoey would read here when the weather permitted, and Terriffany would work on her assignments with her friends. (In addition to her work at the smoothie shop, Terriffany was also the CMO of a beaded pen company she’d cofounded with two of her high-achieving classmates. They did a roaring trade at the craft markets, and had even started putting in appearances at the First Thursday art walks.)

Nick hoisted the fridge onto the dolly and rolled it across the courtyard, then ran back to grab the mushrooms that were the actual reason he was here.

Yep, the mushrooms. Just the mushrooms. There was definitely no other reason he might be here right now. He definitely wasn’t interested in Zoey. And even if he were, it wasn’t like she was going to return said interest. That way lay heartbreak. And the annoyance that was having to change all the passwords on your streaming accounts.

Was he wearing cologne? Or did he just naturally smell that good?

‘The storeroom’s back here.’ Unlocking the back door, she showed him the back area of the shop, which was cramped with fridges, the dehydrator and the spare ice maker.

‘Wow, this place is organised,’ said Nick, marvelling at the neatly labelled shelves and the orderly containers of herbs and spices.

‘I’m a whiz with a label maker,’ admitted Zoey. ‘Being ridiculously organised is how I keep from falling totally apart.’

‘Fair,’ said Nick. ‘How do you do your bookshelves?’

‘By colour.’

As if.

She took the bag of mushrooms from him, trying not to gasp as their fingers brushed. Stowing the bag of mushrooms in the fridge that was actually working – she’d pop them in the dehydrator later – she turned back to him, taking in his raised eyebrow.

‘Fine. Alphabetical by author. Except for non-fiction and the large-format ones. And Frog and Toad. They have their own bookshelf.’

All right, so she was testing her Frog and Toad theory. It was just a little test. Nothing would come of it, most likely.

Nick inhaled nervously. ‘You’re going to hate my place. My shelves are chaos. But I do have a Frog and Toad T-shirt.’

Zoey gasped. She’d never heard a more romantic sentence spoken. ‘You don’t.’

‘I’ll wear it next time.’

Next time. Was Zoey correct in thinking that this was perhaps not just a polite business transaction where mushrooms were exchanged for money?

She could feel her eyes twinkling. Dammit. ‘Do you pair it with a cardigan?’

‘In true Frog and Toad style.’

She hesitated. ‘So, thanks for the mushrooms. And for helping with the fridge. Um …’

His dark eyes were boring into hers, although he was keeping a polite distance, as much as she didn’t particularly want him to. If she were a different type of business owner, she’d grab his shirt and shove him down on top of the ice maker and have her way with him. But there were shop-wide security cameras sending everything to the cloud (which Terriffany checked for analytics purposes). And the presence of all the mushrooms. Ugh, all those spores.

‘How about,’ she started to suggest, even as her sense of self-preservation screamed, No, don’t do it! Think of the heartbreak! He will let you down! Remember the Trent Reznor lyric!

Shut up, Trent Reznor.

‘How about I make us a smoothie – a proper adult one – and then maybe we can hit the town?’

Nick’s grin was infectious. ‘Hit the town? If only my grandma were around to join us. We could kick up our heels. Cut a rug. Trip the light fantastic.’