Page 1 of Next Time We'll Fall

Chapter 1

JUNIPER

“Do you have any romance books where the heroine falls in love with a woman named Cassia, who is from Iowa City, and the hero is a firefighter?” Eagerness drips from the lady in front of me as she awaits my answer.

She’s decked out in anI Love Coconut BeachT-shirt and has a large pineapple-shaped cocktail glass in her hand, which tells me two things: she’s a tourist, and she has money. I know both of these are facts because locals don’t wear Coconut Beach apparel and we don’t buy thirty-dollar specialty drinks from Cocktails & Chaos.

“That’s very specific.”

“I love firefighters and would love to read a book about a hot one rescuing a woman named Cassia.” The tourist stares at me in expectant anticipation, like she actually expects that I’ll magically produce a book that fits her wants.

I’m a people pleaser, but even I can’t make miracles occur.

“Let me guess … your name is Cassia?”

“How did you know?”

Her jaw drops like she’s truly shocked. Like she thinks I could be the female David Copperfield or the third member of Penn & Teller. Which I wouldn’t mind, as long as I didn’t have to interact with any tigers or be sawed in half. I’ve seen enough murder mysteries to know, sometimes, those stunts go wrong.

“Juniper there is psychic,” my best friend, Mia, teases as she looks up from the box of murder mysteries she’s unpacking to scan and then place on shelves.

How apropos, I think to myself, but I don’t say anything out loud. I don’t want Cassia wondering why I was thinking of murder mysteries. This random customer is not interested in my lateral thinking.

“You’re psychic?” she asks with incredulity and awe.

I stare at Cassia blankly. I really hope my face doesn’t convey how much of a dumbass I think she is. She looks far too old to me to be this gullible. But maybe I can sell her a thimble of sand for $1,000 and say it came from Narnia. If I wasn’t inherently a good person, I would. Especially since we really need the money.

“I’m not. Just a good guess,” I say, hoping she will close her mouth before a fly can buzz into it and then I burst into singing “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” I don’t think she’d appreciate that. “I don’t know that we have any books that fit that description exactly, but here at Salty Pages, we have plenty of other romance books to choose from.”

I hope she does choose one—or even ten. God knows we need the income.

“It’s our specialty,” Mia chimes in again and waves her arms around. Her plethora of bangles clink against each other, but it’s the diamond ring on her finger that catches my eye.

I’ve never seen a diamond that big before, but her fiancé, Luke, could afford it. Just like he could afford to save our business, but I have too much pride to accept his money. It’s not like he’smysoon-to-be fiancé.

“This is such a cute setup.”

Cassia looks around, and I observe our bookmobile through her eyes. It is cute here—in our converted mint VW van filled with shelves of books and the stands that adorn the front with Coconut Beach postcards, stickers, and posters. The Salty Pages Mobile Bookstore decal is starting to peel, due to the constant direct sun and salty breeze from the ocean that is only a hundred or so feet away from where we stand. But I like to think it’s part of the charm.

This place is my life, almost quite literally now that I’m practically running the store alone. Mia is gallivanting across the country and world every other week with the love of her life. I’m not jealous or anything, but it does leave me in somewhat of a bind.

Do not panic, Juniper. No worried thoughts are allowed on sunny days.

I smile to myself at the thoughts. It’s almost always a sunny day on Coconut Beach—which is nice in theory, but in actuality, it can be quite annoying. Summers are too hot and humid, fall just doesn’t really exist, and winter has an existential crisis, where it wants to be cold and cozy, but it just isn’t.

“Thanks.” I’m about to ask her opinion on if we should change the color of the van when Cassia starts turning red. “Are you ok?—”

“Oh my days,” she whispers under her breath. “I’m in love.”

“Sorry, what?” I blink at her in confusion.

Maybe my first impression of her was correct. Maybe she’s crazy.

“Do not turn around, but the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen in my life is approaching. Forget the romance book. I want him.”

“Ooh.” It takes everything in me to not immediately spin around and check out the handsome stranger. I bet it must be asurfer in town, riding the waves before he heads to some sort of surf competition. “He’s that cute, huh?”

“He’s cuter than cute.” She starts fanning her face. “Oh my, he’s looking right at me and staring. What if this is love at first sight?”