Page 49 of Unexpected You

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I put my sunglasses down outside the bookshop.

“I wish we would have thought about this ahead of time and you could have worn a wig and a better disguise. I’d dress you up as a tourist. Can you do any accents?” Cadence asked, fully into this little scheme.

I opened my bag and pulled out a scarf that I used to cover my hair and tuck it away. That and the sunglasses were as good as it was going to get.

I did get recognized every now and then in the city, and going to a bookshop was the place most likely for it to happen.

“How do I look?” I asked.

“Mysterious,” Cadence said, adjusting the scarf a little, her fingers brushing along my forehead to secure any stray hairs. Her fingers were gentle and warm, and I found myself leaning closer to her without even knowing why.

She was shorter than me by about five inches. If I leaned forward, my lips would meet her freckled forehead.

Stepping back, I put space between us again.

“Let’s go. If this goes south, I’m blaming you,” I said.

“Fair enough.” She nodded and held the door open for me.

I entered reluctantly, expecting someone to immediately call me out. This was a risk in the era of everyone having a camera in their phone, but my heart was pounding in a way it hadn’t in a while.

“Excuse me,” Cadence said in an overly loud voice as I slunk further into the little bookshop, “do you have any of those Elizabeth Roth books?”

I refused to look at her.

“Did you mean Eloise Roth?” the bookseller asked. “We have many of her books, including some that are signed.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. Eloise. That’s who I meant. Are her books any good?” Her voice was still too loud, and I was regretting going along with this. Why had I agreed to go along with this? She was going to get us banned.

“They’re some of our most popular titles,” the bookseller said. Very diplomatic.

I pretended to browse the shelves while my ears were glued on the interaction between Cadence and the bookseller.

Cadence wouldn’t stop being completely over the top and I could tell she was enjoying herself. She could have had a career on the stage with the way she was carrying on.

“What do you think?” she said, and I realized she was talking to me. “Have you read any of these books?”

Her eyes were bright, and it hit me how stunning she was like I’d been struck by lightning. I never had, obviously, but I imagined it was like this. Hot and intense and tingly and hazardous to my health.

“No, I can’t say that I have,” I said, pitching my voice lower, as if anyone would recognize my voice.

The bookseller looked back and forth between us, but I didn’t see a flicker of recognition.

“If I were to start, which one should I start with?” I asked the bookseller, stepping closer. This was a little reckless, but it felt good.

The bookseller put on a bright smile and held up the first book in my latest series. “This is a good one to start with.”

“Hmm,” I said, taking the book and pretending to read the blurb on the back even though I already knew what it said.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, putting the book back. The longer I fooled around in here, the more likely it was that I’d be recognized. And I also needed to get some work done today. This little detour had already taken too long.

“Thank you for your time,” I told the bookseller as I edged toward the door. Cadence had been pretending to look at more of the books, but she followed me.

“Have a nice day,” the bookseller called just as we walked through the door. I didn’t take a deep breath until we had made it down the street and I collapsed on a bench, unable to stop laughing.

“That was ridiculous,” I said through laughs that I couldn’t control. Cadence sat next to me, also laughing. I pulled the scarf off and looked at her giggling face and that only made me laugh harder. It hadn’t been that funny, but it didn’t matter.