Well Played (Well Met #2)(17)

I could figure that out later. But for now, when I ordered my turkey and Brie panini from the deli, I also ordered a Reuben for Emily. The deli was just down the street from the bookstore, and I could use a little girl time.

Sure enough, when I got to Read It & Weep with my bags full of sandwiches and chips, Emily was behind the counter frowning at something on her laptop. The bell over the door chimed as I opened it, and she looked up, startled, her frown melting into a smile.

“Is there a Reuben in there?”

“Of course there is.” I handed her one of the bags and she handed me a bottle of water before we settled into one of the tables at the back of the bookstore, where Emily and Chris, the owner, had carved out a little café area. Emily made a mean vanilla latte and Chris’s lemon squares were to die for, so the space was put to good use.

“What brings you by?” Emily unwrapped her sandwich with all the glee of a kid on Christmas morning; she really did love a good Reuben.

I opened my mouth to answer her but took a bite of my own sandwich instead, stalling for time. “What, I can’t just bring you a sandwich for no reason?” My voice was light, breezy. Typical—chickening out again. “Maybe I like the company.”

“Hmm.” She narrowed her eyes at me as she chewed but didn’t press further. Her eyes lit up and she reached for her bag. “You know, I was going to email you tonight. I found a couple really cool ideas for a cake that I think would—”

“Mom and I are going to join your book club.” It was rude, I knew. So rude to interrupt Emily. But wedding talk made me think of Faire, which made me think of that email last night from Dex. And as much as I wanted to spill everything, part of me wanted to keep this new side of him all to myself. So what better than a new topic entirely, pulled directly out of my ass?

“Book club?” Emily shook her head. “But you just joined a book club.”

“Yes, and that book is already depressing the hell out of me. You promised more fun books, right?”

“Well, yeah . . .” But Emily still looked skeptical. “Are you quitting April’s book club then? I think she was excited that you were joining up.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I can read two whole books in a month, you know.” How much of an airhead did she think I was?

But Emily’s expression softened, and she tsked at me. “Of course you can. I didn’t mean that. And your mom wants to join up too?”

I shrugged. “She said she did.”

“Cool. I’ll add you to the list when I go back up front. I’m sending out an email blast later this week with next month’s book selection. Third Thursday of the month, is that okay?”

“Perfect.” I had nothing going on, and Mom never went out at night so she should be free.

“Excellent.” She went back to her beloved sandwich. “We’ll need the people, so I’m glad you two are coming. Chris’ll be heading back to Florida soon with nary a care in the world.”

“I heard that.” Chris, the store’s owner and our ersatz Queen Elizabeth at Faire, appeared from the back room, but she didn’t look particularly annoyed. She looked at the two of us with an indulgent smile. Part of her was probably still Queen, and we her benevolent subjects.

“You know what I mean.” Emily turned in her chair to watch Chris get her own lunch out of the café fridge. “It’s not like we have a million people in book club. Once your daughter goes back to school, and then you leave for Florida, there’s a noticeable drop in membership.”

“There’s plenty to keep you busy.” Chris approached our little table, and we scooted over to make room. “The writing group still meets twice a month, and you have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t get too rowdy. Not to mention your Shakespeare reading night with the high school kids. You still doing that?”

Emily considered the question while she nibbled on her sandwich. “Probably. I should pick a play and see if the kids want to do it again.”

“Oh, right,” I said. “I forgot you did that.” Emily was an unabashed Shakespeare nerd, and she’d started a read-along of some of his works that had been well attended by the junior and senior high school students who volunteered at Faire. Most of the kids, in fact, were in Simon’s advanced placement English class. Simon and Emily really were ridiculously perfect for each other.

“Like I said. Plenty to keep you busy.” Chris took the lid off her Tupperware and started fluffing through her salad with a fork. For all that Chris owned the bookstore, and had for years, she seemed perfectly happy to leave the running of it to Emily these days. And why not? Em was really good at it. And Chris had more important things to worry about.

“How’s your mom doing? Any better?” I didn’t know a lot about strokes, but I knew they could be tricky to recover from.

But Chris’s smile was unconcerned. “She’s fine. As well as can be expected, anyway. Not any better, not any worse. But I think it helps for me to be with her.” She shrugged. “Better that than assisted living.”

I didn’t have anything helpful to say, so I just nodded and popped the last of my sandwich into my mouth.

But Emily’s mind was still on the store as she turned back to me. “Okay. So with you and your mom joining book club, maybe you can help me brainstorm titles, since Chris is off to Florida in October.”