Page 56 of The Bodyguard's Fall

Severely flustered, I fled, fully aware of his low chuckle as I left.

Emma Harper had always been pretty, but she seemed almost glowing now. Radiant. She had left Autumn Ridge for college but had the opportunity to work at the town library and came running back. I couldn’t blame her. If I wasn’t already doing my dream job as a screenwriter, working as a librarian would be the next best thing.

“What’s your favorite part of your job?” I asked, jotting a few notes down in my notebook.

“When people ask me for recommendations, and I talk their ear off about my favorites,” Emma said, smiling. “But most of the time, I’m in the children’s department, re-shelving books and doing story time, which I also love.”

“Dang. Are you hiring?” I joked. “I’d probably be full of inspiration for writing if I worked here.”

Emma nodded toward Tate, who stood outside, casually leaning against the window. “You’d think you’d have all the inspiration you needed right there.”

I blinked. Something clicked in my brain at her words, like the final turn of a lock setting into place. Why couldn’t I use Tate for inspiration?

“That’s true,” I said lightly, my mind whirling as I fingered a well-loved copy of The Emerald Isle, the first book in Miles Taylor’s Landfall series, lying on the circular desk.

“I didn’t know you two were dating.”

“Well, the Ednas just found out, so it should be on the news by tonight.”

She laughed, tucking a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear.

“Are you dating anyone?” I pressed, wondering what boyfriend options were like as a librarian in a small town. In my screenplay, my male main character will basically fall into the librarian’s lap, but in real life, I doubted the place was bustling with men.

“Nope.”

Her voice sounded preoccupied. Enough so that I looked up from my notes to see her watching the window. Tate stood talking to someone outside. My stomach clenched until I took in Tate’s friendly demeanor, him using his hands to gesture at something both men laughed at. I squinted at the man.

“Is that Carson Price?”

She cleared her throat and went back to cleaning the desk. “Yeah. He’s buying out Mr. Vance’s practice. He’s the new dentist in town.”

I whistled as I remembered Carson. He’d broken a lot of hearts in his day, played well in nearly every sport, and was as charismatic as they came. He looked like he was still all of those things, but now he was the town dentist.

Growing up was wild.

“Well, maybe it’s time I get my teeth checked. He’d be much more pleasant to look at than crabby old Mr. Vance.”

She laughed, glancing out the window once more. I began to thank her for her time before she stopped me. “Wait. You can’t leave without voting.”

“Voting? For what?”

“The mayor,” she whispered, her eyes big and all-knowing, like she was letting me in on some great joke.

“Isn’t he already elected?”

She laughed and pulled me over to a bulletin board she had half-covered with flyers. She yanked a paper off the board and handed it to me.

“First, you need this. This has all the fall festival events mapped out as well as everything else happening in October. If you’re still in town, I’m putting on a Witches Night Out the week before Halloween, and I’d love some friends there.”

“That sounds fun,” I said as I scanned the rest of the flyer. “They’re doing a trail ride to the maple farm?”

Emma peered closer to see what I was looking at. “Yeah. I think Horseshoe Holler is putting that on. It’s new. They’re doing some trial runs right now before it ramps up for the fall festival and tourist season.”

“It includes a tour of the maple farm,” I mumbled, reading over the quick selling points, getting more excited as I did.

“This is what I wanted to show you.” She motioned to another board, this one pink and covered in hearts that read, Who’s the Mayor Dating?

“What’s this?”