Page 71 of The Bookbinder's Guide to Love

“I’ll leave that for you to decide. The couple who owned the estate were Enid and Larry. So I don’t think it was them.”

She closed the cover, holding the book to her chest and looking over at him. “Maybe Enid had a lover? Kind of cheeky if that was the case for her to put it in their library.”

“Indeed,” he said, putting the car in gear and heading out of the estate. “Or maybe she left it there for him to find to make him jealous.”

“Intriguing. What if B was Enid’s first husband who tragically died young?” she suggested.

He loved this game they were playing, and both of them continued making up scenarios until they reached the outskirts of Birch Lake.

“What if they were both book lovers who were searching through boxes and Larry found it and gave it to Enid as a romantic gesture?” she said.

He looked at her. That was the reason why he’d wanted her to have it. A reason that made him so tense he could barely concentrate on driving, so he slowed the vehicle. “That would be...”

“What? Sappy? We’ve never talked about this, but are you one of those people who is cynical about love?”

He shrugged. He wasn’t sure if he was sad or relieved she hadn’t jumped to the conclusion that he’d given the book to her for that very reason.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever really thought about it,” he said. “I guess if it was the right person, it wouldn’t be sappy. You?”

She leaned back against her seat and opened the book, running her finger again over the faded ink.

Oh, she was a romantic.

He saw it in the way she dressed, in the way she moved through life, the way she took care with each of her journals, trying to bring joy and happiness into the lives of others.

She sighed.

“What?” he asked as he pulled into his parking space behind her shop.

“I want to believe this was a romantic gesture, but life has shown me it was probably more complicated than that. I’ve never really experienced anything like that. But it doesn’t mean love doesn’t exist.”

He got out and walked around to open her door, but she’d already hopped down and was waiting for him. He wanted to do something big and romantic for her. Something more than finding this book. Something she’d know was romance from the moment she saw it.

Which made his back tighter and more tense. He had never been one to let his guard down and trust a woman. But with Sera it seemed the most natural thing in the world. She made him a better man, made him want to finally leave the past behind and start being present with her.

“I think with the right person it exists,” he said.

She gave him that soft smile, the same one she’d worn earlier when she’d mentioned he was cute.

“Am I being cute again?”

“So cute,” she said.

He leaned in to kiss her, but the back door opened and Liberty came out. “Thank God you’re back. I need to talk to you.”

Wes stepped back and Sera cupped his butt and leaned up to bite the lobe of his ear. “We can continue this tonight.”

“We definitely will,” he said. He watched her head into the shop ahead of him with Liberty, who was pale as a ghost. Her hands were shaking.

He’d never seen the redhead like this before. He hoped everything was okay, but when they entered Sera’s back room, he saw Poppy was waiting on the couch.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes. It’s a personal thing,” Poppy said, but the look on her face told him that it was bad news.

“I’ll let Greer know they can take a break and to stay out of the back room so you can have your privacy.”

As soon as they were alone, Liberty collapsed on the sofa next to Poppy, and Sera sat down next to her.