The Cinnamon Bun Book Store: TikTok Made Me Buy It (Dream Harbor, Book 2)

Noah was reading the latest fantasy novel Hazel had recommended when his phone buzzed on his bed.

Hazel.

Hazel, the woman he’d been sort of avoiding but thinking about constantly for the past week. He’d wanted to see her, of course. He’d nearly wandered into the bookstore a half dozen times last week, but the way things ended the other night, he thought maybe Hazel wanted a little space between them. Maybe a little distance, a little breather was a good thing.

But now with her name flashing on his screen, Noah realized what a complete idiot he had been and how happy he was to see her message. And how he didn’t want any distance between them at all, like not even an inch.

Another clue! You in?

Hell, yes!

Maybe he should have played it cooler? Waited more than half a second to respond? He didn’t care. He wasn’t cool around Hazel.

All he got back was a smiley face so he assumed she was busy at work. Not that that made it any easier to wait to hear more from her.

He flipped his book back open and lost himself in the pages. These epic fantasy novels seemed to be the antidote to his normally fidgety behavior. When he was in the story, everything else faded away. If you had told him a year ago that he would regularly be tearing through five-hundred-page books, he never would have believed it. But he loved these things. What had started out as a flimsy excuse to see Hazel had turned into something real.

If nothing else, his little infatuation with her had given him a new hobby, a way to quiet his mind and calm his body. It was nice, laying here on a rainy day in his sweats, totally absorbed in another world. If school had been like this he definitely would have finished.

But you probably can’t learn calculus from a werewolf.

He’d made it through a few chapters before his phone rang. He was expecting the call, but still his heart lurched at the idea that it might be Hazel.

It wasn’t, but it was his two, second favorite people to talk to.

‘Uncle Noah!’

‘Hello, ladies.’ He propped himself up on his new pile of pillows. His nieces’ faces were crowded around the screen. ‘You’re looking fancy this morning.’ Cece was wearing a tiara in her dark hair, bright pink lipstick slashed across her mouth. Ivy on the other hand, was in full zombie mode, face powdered an eerie white, complete with fake blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

‘We’re testing out some Halloween costumes,’ Cece informed him, straightening her crown. ‘I think Ivy’s is too scary.’

‘Halloween is supposed to be scary! Right, Uncle Noah?’

‘I think you could go either way with it.’ He didn’t bother to point out that Halloween was still a month and a half away. He knew that Halloween was serious business for these two and the costume process started early. He also knew these costumes were likely to make an appearance at every holiday following Halloween.

Ivy frowned and he had to bite down on his smile at the grumpy little zombie.

‘Are you coming to visit soon?’ The girls were jostling the phone between them, and for a moment he was looking at nothing but his sister’s ceiling, but Cece’s question came through loud and clear.

‘Yeah! Are you coming for Halloween?’ Ivy’s face filled the screen again, her blue eyes big and imploring.

Christ. How was he supposed to say no to those little faces?

‘Girls, you know Uncle Noah is very busy.’ His sister’s voice came from somewhere in the background. They were at Rachel’s this weekend. He knew his sisters took turns babysitting on Sundays so they could each get a break.

The way Ivy nodded, like of course he wouldn’t come visit and she had already come to terms with it, nearly killed him.

‘Maybe Thanksgiving, though.’ The words were out before he could stop them.

‘Really?!’ Cece squealed. ‘Did you hear that, Mama? Uncle Noah’s going to come for Thanksgiving and you can tell him all about the baby in your belly!’

Noah winced. There was no taking it back now.

‘All right, let me talk to your uncle, please.’ Again the screen was filled with snatches of Rachel’s home, of his sister’s life that he rarely saw because of his own stubbornness.

‘Hey, Rach.’ She was frowning. Off to a good start.

‘Please don’t get their hopes up, Noah.’

‘Jesus. Give me a chance to actually let you down before you get mad at me.’

She blew out a long sigh, her eyes to the ceiling like she was looking for strength up there. ‘Look, Noah. There are two little girls here who love you, and, frankly, I’m too sick from this pregnancy to sugar-coat things for you right now.’

‘Congrats by the way.’

‘Thanks.’ She pinched the bridge of her nose like she did when she had a headache coming on. ‘We were going to tell you soon, there’s just been a few complications so we didn’t want to jump the gun . . .’

‘Complications?’ Noah’s heart dropped into his stomach.

‘Yeah, we weren’t sure at first if it would … if we would…’ She waved her hand in front of the screen, brushing away her worry, but suddenly the dark circles under her eyes were obvious, the furrow between her brow deeper. ‘Everything’s better now. Just hoping I don’t have to go on bedrest.’

‘Bedrest?’ he croaked. ‘Jesus, Rach.’

She gave him a weak smile and Noah’s heart broke. His strong, seemingly invincible sister was hurting and here he was only thinking about his own bullshit.

‘Just come home for the holidays, okay? I don’t know what story you’ve been telling yourself about everyone being mad at you or disappointed or whatever. All any of us care about is you.’

First his nieces’ little faces and now this?

‘It’s not a story, Rach. You know how Dad felt about me dropping out. And then leaving the business…’ All his excuses seemed so feeble now in the face of his sister’s stress.

‘Yeah. He wanted what was best for you! But you need to let it go. He has. And the business is just fine, thank you very much.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that.’ He knew his sisters did an amazing job with the business, but he also knew his parents were upset with his decision, that for years they’d imagined all their children working together on what they’d built. And he’d ruined that.

Noah had talked to his parents since he left, but there was always an undercurrent of disappointment, of them waiting for him to get his shit together. But maybe he was wrong? Maybe they just wanted him to be … okay.

‘Just think about it, Noah. I don’t want your new niece or nephew to only know you as a face on a screen, okay?’

He nodded, the sudden emotion at the thought of having a new little person in his life clogging his throat.

‘And if you want to bring a guest for Thanksgiving … we can make room.’

‘What guest would I bring?’

Rachel tried to look innocent but she’d always been a terrible liar. ‘The girls mentioned you’d had a sleepover the last time they called you. Sorry about that, by the way.’

Noah shrugged. ‘It’s okay.’

‘Anyway, if that sleepover person is serious, feel free to bring them.’

‘It’s not serious.’

Rachel arched a dark eyebrow. His sisters both ended up with dark hair. He was the only one who got the ginger hair from their father’s family. ‘And why not?’

He huffed. ‘I don’t do serious, Rach.’

Somehow she still had the uncanny older sister ability to sniff out his bullshit. ‘You could, though. You could make it serious with this person.’

‘Woman.’

‘With this woman. What does she think?’

What did she think? He thought he knew, but in his current state he wasn’t feeling super confident about anything.

He shrugged. ‘She’s just looking for some casual fun, like me.’

Rachel frowned again, a deep crease forming between her brows. ‘Casual can turn into serious. You know me and Patrick started out as a one-night stand.’

‘I didn’t need to know that.’

‘Well, I wasn’t going to get into the details!’

Noah laughed and it felt good. It felt good to be chatting with his sister again. Maybe he really would go to Thanksgiving with his family. Maybe he wouldn’t spend the whole time thinking about all the ways he’d screwed up over the years.

Maybe he would bring Hazel.

‘I’ll think about it. About bringing a guest, I mean.’

Rachel smiled. ‘Great. That makes this emotional, pregnant lady really happy.’

The next words left his mouth before he could think about them. ‘Maybe I should come home sooner…’

Rachel’s eyes widened. ‘Sooner?’

‘Yeah, I mean, I have a few more weeks of tours booked, but then maybe I should come home and help out for a bit … you know, until you’re feeling better.’

The relieved smile that lit up his sister’s face sealed the deal. He needed to go home.

‘Noah, that would be … wonderful.’

‘I can’t do most of what you do.’

‘Oh, I know that,’ she said with a laugh. ‘But we have plenty of ways we could put you to work. With Patrick still on deployment, having you here would be a huge help.’ She wiped a tear with the back of her hand, shaking her head. ‘Sorry. Pregnancy emotions.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Noah was on an emotional roller coaster of his own. What had he just agreed to?

Shrieks from the background caught Rachel’s attention.

‘Yikes, sounds like you should go.’

Her eyes rolled heavenward again. ‘Mom will be here soon to take over, but wish me luck in the meantime.’

‘Good luck. Talk to you soon.’

Rachel gave him one more watery smile before a crash had her scrambling off the phone to go investigate.

Noah leaned back into his pillows again. Rachel’s words swam around in his head. What story was he telling himself? That his family didn’t want him around because he hadn’t met their expectations?

No, the story he was telling was that he didn’t want to go home until he proved to himself and everyone else that his choice was the right one, that leaving school and home and the family business was the right thing to do.

He wanted to be successful when he walked in that door.

But maybe that was all bullshit, too. Maybe he just needed to go home to the family that loved him. Maybe they loved him even if all he ever had was an old boat and some crazy ideas. Maybe Hazel could too…

And now his family needed him. He couldn’t shake the look of stress and fear on his sister’s face when she talked about the pregnancy. He’d never once seen her look like that, not even when he’d managed to get himself stuck too high in the apple tree in their yard while she was babysitting, or when that freak, coastal blizzard knocked out all the power to their freezers jeopardizing hundreds of pounds of frozen seafood, or when Kristen announced that Ivy’s father wouldn’t be sticking around.

Rachel didn’t get scared. Except now she was. And if Noah could do anything to fix that, he sure as hell had to try. He just didn’t know what any of it would mean for him and Hazel.

It was a lot to take in. A lot to process all at once.

So he made the healthy choice and grabbed his book, comforted in the fact that at least he didn’t have dormant magic powers or the tendency to turn into a wolf.

He’d read just one more chapter and then deal with his own shit…