Page 57 of Winter Break

His “oh” was almost drowned out by the sound of the door opening at the back of the store. Dalton moved away from me and stood wide-eyed, a soft smile playing on his face.

I straightened myself, giving up and untucking the store-branded shirt I was wearing, yanking it down to cover myself as much as possible.

“Is that you, Casey?”

“Yeah, Milo and I are here to take the night shift. Has it been busy? Oh.”

I stood in the doorway, attempting to block Dalton, who was still standing on the other side of the room.

“Welcome home, Dalton. You here looking for hours? It’s been crazy with the bookstore. We could use you.”

Milo had walked past and into the storefront itself, calling out, “Why is the door locked? People are knocking, should I open it?”

Casey raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged. I opened my mouth, but she simply walked away.

“Yeah, Milo. Let them in. We’re here now.”

I stood stupidly in the doorframe of the office that was mine alone since Anita had left. Dalton came up behind me and grasped my hand, placing a kiss behind my ear as he squeezed my fingers.

“To be continued,” he whispered, holding onto my hand as he walked around me and toward the shop. He turned at the curtain, pulling my wrist to his lips with a gentle kiss before dropping it.

He adjusted himself with a mischievous smile, then flicked the curtain with a flourish.

“Put me in, coach.” He smiled at Casey, giving her a hug before introducing himself to Milo.

“Do you go to Breakwater High?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you have Preston, I mean Mr. Moore, in middle school? I’m dying to know what kind of teacher he is.”

Milo, who’d barely spoken a word to me in the months since Casey had hired him, spent the afternoon sharing stories of middle school plays and chorus concerts with Dalton.

“I’m still in chorus. I saw him at the tree lighting last month.”

“Oh yeah.” Dalton looked my way. “How did that go this year?”

I didn’t get the chance to answer because Milo did so for me. I shared an amused smile with Dalton.

A petite frazzled man in wire-rimmed glasses flitted into the store, waving his phone and asking about a young adult novel. I took him around the bookstore and ended up over there until closing. As soon as I could get away, I popped back through the curtain to the toy store. Casey was counting cash at the register, and Milo was waving from the curtain on his way out, but at first glance I didn’t see Dalton. Casey smiled at me without stopping her count, and I could only hope she didn’t notice the disappointment on my face.

“I’ll lock up,” I muttered, and she nodded, her eyes on the bills in her hands.

I jumped when I heard, “I was totally gonna do that,” from behind me. He was slumped in the big comfy chair, one leg draped over the armrest.

“I forgot how exhausting this place could be. And we weren’t even that busy!” he said, not moving.

“Done!” Casey said. “Pretty good day over here today, boss. A little better anyway.”

“Last-minute shoppers, I guess. Glad to hear it,” I said sincerely.

“Okay,” Casey enthused. “I’ve been dying to ask you two, but we were so busy. That guy you helped earlier?” Casey pulled up a photo on her phone. It was a professional head shot. The man in it was menacing the camera, wasn’t wearing glasses, and had been shot in evocative smoke and shadows, but it did look somewhat like the harried dad whose middle school daughter had great, if unique, taste in young adult fantasy.

“Wait! Are you saying the author Edwynn Rossen was in my bookstore today? The guy who writes all those crazy, creepy thrillers?”

Casey didn’t answer except to shove her phone closer to my face, where I was fairly sure I was looking at a picture of the nice if stressed-out dad who’d just wanted to get the right book for his daughter.

“Okay, boss. I’m heading next door to make sure closing went well. Unless you need anything else here?”