He nods sulkily and gives me a reproachful look through his sses. He hates being left out of the conversation, but he dutifully turns back to his homework.


    Karli follows me out to the register. “How could you, Skye?” she asks in a low voice. “You hated him more than I did!”


    “I know. I still do. I… remember the one-night stand I had?”


    “The unreal hotel guy?”


    “Yes. It was him. I didn’t know it then, of course. And then he walked in here and I was so angry… and then it somehow turned into more.” I run a hand through my hair. “I barely understand it myself, Karli.”


    Her mouth is a tight line. “So that’s why he agreed to the two-month deal. I thought he was just a bull and you’d waved a red g.”


    “Yes, well, that too. He’spetitive.”


    “How could you not have told me something like this? Our business rtionship with Porter Development concerns me too. It’s my livelihood, Skye!”


    “You’re right. I’m sorry. I wanted to, several times, but I was afraid of what you’d say, or worse, what you’d think of me.”


    Her eyes soften, but it’s just a tad. “Rtionships areplicated. Emotions areplicated. You should have given me a chance to understand.”


    “I should’ve.” I lean against the counter, my heart pounding like I’ve been running sprints. “We’ve kept it very casual. He doesn’t have anything to leverage against us, Karli.”


    She puts a hand on my shoulder. “Skye, for Christ’s sake, of course he doesn’t. But what about you? What’s going to happen when this all ends? I don’t want you getting hurt!”


    I take a deep breath. “I don’t think I will. At least, not if we win.”


    It’s a half-hearted joke, and she smiles, but it’s probably for my sake. “I hope so, and I hope he’s been treating you right through all this. He was my enemy before, but then it was just business. If he hurts you, Skye… well, then it’s personal.”


    She looks so determined, and so fierce all of a sudden, that I get a lump in my throat. “Thank you, Karli.”


    She pulls me into a hug, far warmer than I deserve. “I’m still angry at you for not telling me,” she says. “But I’m still in your corner, as always. Tomorrow, when Timmy’s not here, I want you to tell me everything.”


    “I’ll tell you. I promise.”


    “Good.” She holds me at arm’s-length distance, a faint smile on her lips. “You’re living your own grand story at the moment, it seems.”


    A surprisedugh escapes me. “Yes. It’s awfully exciting. Perhaps too much. I’m barely holding it together.”


    “Well,” she says, “just make sure you write about it when it’s all over, okay? Remember what Eleanor used to say. It’s your mistakes that give you the best stories.”


    Despite Karli’s calm eptance, I feel guilty for the rest of the day and unable to fall asleep at night. Seeing Cole and I through someone else’s eyes-someone who isn’t ten years old and my nephew-made the whole thing feel less somehow. Almost cheap. A daring adventure in the dark can look very different when it’s brought out into the harsh light of day.


    I shake my head at myself. Focus on Between the Pages. That’s the whole point of this thing, anyway. To see this ce torn down would tear me apart, and besides, Cole and I have no future. We’d never discussed it, but it was clear in the way both of us spoke. With five days until the deadline for delivering our financial reports to Porter Development, our time’s numbered and the clock is ticking.


    And our final meeting with Chloe is here. It’s thest time we’ll be able to go over the financials before the deadline, thest time we’ll be able to course-correct.


    “She’ll be here at five,” Karli says for the third time, rearranging the loyalty card disy on the register. “She said she’d bring her calctions with her.”


    “Awesome,” I say, sorting through the register.


    She taps her fingers against the counter. “How can you be so calm?”


    “Because I know we’ve managed to be profitable.”


    “You know it?”


    “Yes.” I give her my most confident smile. “You and I have both seen the numbers go up. How many more customers have we had in thest week than usual?”


    “Well, a lot. Your flyers helped, and the book signing event. And the Instagram page. Oh Skye, we should have started with these changes ages ago!”


    The thought had struck me, too. “Yes. But it’s never toote to learn,” I say. “They’ll see that we’ve turned it around.”


    Karli’s smile is grateful, even if it’s tinged with the same fear I’m concealing. “You’re right. We just have to breathe in and breathe out,” she says. “There’s nothing more we can do today.”


    “Easy as that.” I look around the bookstore, at the artful crown molding around the built-in bookcases, at the beautiful wooden beams. Eleanor had added detail after detail over the decades, changing a newer building into something that looked centuries old.ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    There are markings with my height in the storage room. Eleanor had insisted on it, once I became a regr, when she was the one who helped me with my English homework.


    I keep my smile in ce for Karli, for the customers, but inside I’m just as afraid. For two months, this moment has been my guiding star, and the possibility of failure feels like an ice-cold hand around my heart.


    When Chloe finally sweeps into the bookstore, it’s with a professional smile and another expensive bag on her arm. Karli gives me a single nod, and I nod back. Here we go.


    We take a seat around the table in the reading room. Chloe’s manner is measured, professional, as she opens up herptop. Nothing in her behavior hints at either sess or failure. A good sign, I tell myself.


    “First things first, here is your monthly ounting report.” She pushes a sheet with colorful graphics our way. “Your sales are up, which is very impressive, especially in this financial climate.”


    I nod, looking over the numbers. Nausea sweeps through me at the thought, but I ask it regardless. “So? Has it been enough?”


    Chloe sighs in defeat, and somewhere inside of me, something cracks. It might be my heart. “I’ve tried,” she says. “I really have. But no, it hasn’t been. It’s not enough to push you into the green as a business.”


    “You’ve got to be kidding.”


    Chloe gives me a sad smile. “I’m so sorry, Skye. Truly. I’ve run the numbers every which way, but there’s no way I can spin it so you look profitable.”


    Karli opens and closes her mouth, no sound emerging.


    “But we’ve had more customers,” I say faintly. “We’ve both seen therge uptick. We’ve sold for more than previous months, you just said so.”


    “You have, yes. But not enough. I’m sorry, but there’s therge inventory and the high fixed costs. You’re just barely breaking even. This ce hasn’t been truly profitable for months, and it’s a hard thing to turn around in such a short period of time.”


    “How? We’ve done everything!”


    Chloe turns herptop around for us to see. And there, clear as day, are the numbers in using red. Two months’ worth ofbined ounts.


    “On a deal like this, they’re going to check my bookkeeping, so I can’t fudge either.”


    Karli clears her throat. “We’d never ask you to.”


    I would. Staring down at the wooden table, my gaze snags on a small act of vandalism. Someone had carved the word hope into the old wood. Someone who hadn’t yet learned how pointless that emotion was.