Page 86 of Bonfire and Bliss Bookstore

Rosie: Yeah, Mr. Mayor, what exactly do you have against our Ladies of Liberty? The finest women in town.

Rayna: Thank you, Rosie. But I am sorry to say you are not the winner.

Rosie: What!?!? We were a shoo-in! Did you not see the way Fletcher turned the white chocolate shavings into a mural of Daisy’s face?

Babs: Oh! So that’s the Farrah Fawcett cut you wanted, Tally? I can do that!

Tally: Yup! But clearly my version of Daisy was even better than yours, Rosie

Rayna: It might have been good, but you sent it after midnight. Which means your submission doesn’t count.

Rosie: LOL what were you doing that kept you up so late Tally?

Rosie: Hey Walker? Care to share how you kept our Darling girl so busy she was late in submitting for the contest?!

Rayna: Or maybe I can just announce the winner, and Babs can give that haircut to our OTHER Darling girl.

Penny: Wait, I didn’t even submit anything?

Rayna: Then I guess it’s a good thing that your boyfriend submitted something for the both of you. Congrats Penny and Monty! You’re our winners!

Eli: I just got a new phone! What did I miss?

Chapter 26

Monty

When I wake up on Sunday, I try not to be disappointed when my father asks me to help him do some work on his boat. After yesterday, all I want to do is find an excuse to see Penny again—surprise her at the farmers market with a cup of coffee, maybe stroll hand in hand as we peruse the local stalls.

I’d probably also have to kiss her again—a few times—considering the townspeople would be watching. I know it’s an excuse; no one was watching last night in the library when I did very boyfriend-like things to her. Still, it’s kind of fun being in on this secret with her. Fooling everyone else.

Though, it’s becoming crystal clear that the only fool is me. I’m falling for Penny Darling and it’s not a question of whether I can stop it anymore. Hell, it might have happened months ago when I saw her for the first time in years at the brewery. I certainly took a tumble when I found her in my bedroom, topless and wide-eyed, after arriving back in town. And there’s no doubt I was on my ass by the time I kissed her under the fall moon.

Fuck, how did I think we could possibly keep this platonic after I’d tasted her? After having craved those copper eyes for so long—searching for their color in every cup of coffee, every sunrise, in the dancing flames of a fire, and the evening sunset. How did I think I could do anything but claim her as mine after that first kiss?

Penny was right to question me last night about my belief in love. I just wish I had a better answer for her. I wish I could tell her that I do believe in love, I just know it doesn’t last.

But I don’t want to take the stars out of Penny’s eyes, to make her as cynical as me. Besides, every time I send my mother another chapter she tells me this is the book. The one that is going to catapult my career. I could be back in New York by spring if that’s true. Hope Harbor wasn’t supposed to be permanent and neither was my relationship with Penny. I’m a stand-in. I’ll help her figure out what she wants out of a relationship so that she never settles for anything less than she deserves.

That will have to be enough.

It’s late afternoon by the time we’re done waxing and polishing my father’s pride and joy. He cracks open a cider and hands it to me. “So how’s the book coming?”

I take a sip of the crisp apple drink and I’m transported back to the night at Rosie’s. To the night I almost kissed Penny that first time. I smile. “It’s good. Penny’s been helping me a bit and Mom seems to think I’m onto something.”

My father gives me one of his soft smiles and he takes a sip of his own drink. “Your mother could always spot true talent, so if she says you are, then I’m sure she’s right. Want to tell me about it?”

I clear my throat and force myself not to focus on his commentary on my mom. “Well, it’s about this woman who travels back in time to the 1920s. Her name is Willa and, when the book opens, she’s about to marry a man she’s not sure she trusts. But then she hits her head—and though she can’t remember how—when she wakes up, she’s not in present time. Instead, she’s naked and no longer in her bedroom, but with a bootlegger who looks suspiciously like her fiancé’s dad.”

My father’s brows rise. “Then what happens?”

“Well, once she figures out that she’s in the past—one hundred years back—she realizes that the man whose house she’s now staying in—the one who looks like her fiancé’s father—died in a fire in 1922. It was a suspected arson attack.

“But then Willa starts falling for this man. And so she tries to stop the fire from happening by figuring out who was responsible for it to begin with—though whatever she does in the past affects the future.”

“Ah, like Back to the Future.”

“But with romance and bootleggers and whiskey.”