Page 23 of Safe With You

“I’ve watched a lot of people stand exactly where you’re standing.”

She glanced down at the floor before looking back at me.

“What if nobody likes what I wrote?”

I smiled.

“Then they’ll clap anyway.”

She blinked.

“Really?”

“Really.”

I nodded toward the rows of chairs.

“This isn’t one of those places where people are waiting for you to mess up. They’re rooting for you before you ever touch the microphone.”

Some of the tension left her shoulders.

“You promise?”

“I do.”

She let out a slow breath.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

She smiled for real this time.

“Okay.”

I stepped aside, giving her room to walk past me.

As she headed toward the sign-in table, I caught myself smiling.

Moments like that never got old.

Books brought people through the door.

Community gave them a reason to come back.

“Luna?”

I turned toward the café.

Maya stood behind the counter holding up an empty sleeve of cups.

“Please tell me we have more of these.”

“Storage closet,” I answered, already walking toward her. “Top shelf. Behind the vanilla syrup.”

She disappeared before I even finished the sentence.

Good.