Page 226 of Safe With You

She was sitting a few rows ahead of us now, turned just enough in her chair that I could see the smile she was trying to hide.

I closed my eyes.

Of course.

When I opened them again, she was facing forward.

I made a mental note to never tell Ellis this happened.

Something told me his sister would beat me to it.

The next reader started, and Mila finally turned her attention back toward the stage.

For a while, I did the same.

The words coming through the microphone filled the bookstore while people laughed when they were supposed to laugh and went quiet when something hit a little deeper.

Mila sat beside me.

Jacob sat beside her.

Naomi moved between the signup table and the back of the room whenever someone needed something.

And Ellis stayed behind his camera.

At some point, he ended up near us.

He didn’t say anything when he stopped beside my chair. His hand rested briefly against my shoulder as he leaned down to look at something Mila was showing him, then he straightened and moved away again.

Small.

Easy.

The kind of touch I probably wouldn’t think twice about from anyone else.

From him, I felt it long after his hand was gone.

I looked toward the stage again.

Then toward the people filling my bookstore.

Then, despite myself, back toward Ellis.

The first Open Mic Night gave me more than I expected.

Looking around that night, I was starting to realize just how much.

By the time our last reader stepped away from the microphone, the clock behind the register was creeping toward nine.

Applause filled the bookstore one more time before conversation slowly took its place. People stood and stretched, chairs scraped against the floor, and the quiet order we started with disappeared almost immediately.

I made my way toward the front as people began filing out.

“Thank you for coming.”

“We’ll be back.”

“You better.”