I tossed the book back onto the counter in disgust.

“I don’t know why I bother,” I complained, a slight whine in my tone. It was no use. The stories I once loved to escape into had banned me from entering, and I was left trapped in my own reality.

It didn’t matter which book I tried, my heart just wasn’t in it since last week, when Micah had walked away. He wouldn’t answer my calls, and true to his word, Holly had stopped coming to the store. Even Austin was missing her.

“Just give him time, love,” Maxwell gently counseled. His usual snark was gone, and in its place was a grandfatherly concern. “If you two are meant to be, just give him time.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means, you working yourself up into a tizzy isn’t going to solve the problem. Take a deep breath and show a little faith.” For a ghost who often liked to tease, Maxwell’s advice was actually sound.

Pity I wasn’t done wallowing in my sorrows.

“I guess this is it. I’m officially dubbing myself the Cat Lady of Havenwood Falls. I can be eccentric and kooky and die a spinster.” The defeatist tone in my voice was pathetic. Glancing to the side at Maxwell, I murmured more. “I just really liked him.” I let out another frustrated huff.

“Well, I can always go talk to him. Perhaps rough him up and make him see the error of his ways.” My friend cracked his knuckles menacingly. I knew that he was trying to cheer me up, but a part of me knew, if given a chance, Maxwell would’ve been kicking down Micah’s door, demanding answers.

I started giggling. “How would he take you seriously if you took a swing and your fist went right through him? I’m grateful for the sentiment, but I think it’s best I just do what he says and leave him alone.”

I’d gone through our brief argument over and over in my head—viewing it from different perspectives. There was no ignoring the fact he felt betrayed. He’d warned me from the beginning that he didn’t have the luxury of letting people close to him and Holly.

“Perhaps, given time . . .” I muttered out loud, staring out across the town square. I could scarcely believe that life was moving on as if nothing was amiss, and meanwhile, my world had been tossed upside down.

Who’d have thought I’d have fallen so quickly for him?

The door jangled as Austin stepped through. He cautiously approached the front counter where I’d been sitting.

“How is it going today?” He eyed me curiously, as if he was an empath too, and was assessing the situation.

He was another person who was worried.

“I’m not falling to pieces, if that’s what you’re wondering,” I retorted with a slight snort. “Relationships end all the time, Austin. Life goes on. It’s no big deal.” That last part was a lie. It was a big deal, but I wasn’t going to give in to the constant temptation of climbing back into bed and forgetting the world for a while. “Besides, we have work to do.”

That elicited a loud groan from Austin.

“Then what about my heart?” He staggered forward with his hand over his chest like he was wounded. “I miss Holly and her million questions about everything.”

“Again, you’re a senior and she’s only fourteen years old,” I reminded him, sounding like a broken record. Not that it mattered either. Holly was homeschooled, and for all I knew, Micah was planning on leaving Havenwood Falls completely. He had suggested that the last time I saw him, but an insistent feeling inside me whispered to be prepared.

“I know,” he blustered, rolling his eyes. “I’m no cradle robber. All I’m saying is she was a great study partner. It’s a shame she couldn’t keep coming in. I went out to her house the other day, but Micah said she was resting.”

At the sound of his name, my insides started whirling about like butterflies. “You did?”

A jumble of questions flickered through my mind. I just couldn’t give them voice as the words stumbled before reaching my lips.

Behind Austin, Maxwell’s ghostly form reappeared, and he threw me a saddened look. He heard the hope I still felt.

Austin’s school messenger bag dropped behind the counter with a heavy thud. “I think it’s safe to say you’re not the only one moping about.”

I slapped his shoulder. “Who’s moping?”

Maxwell mouthed the word at the same time Austin answered, “You.”

“Well then,” I replied, standing up from the counter stool and straightening myself out. “Consider this an intervention.” I snatched up one of the flyers Eloise had asked to put in the store. “No more hiding away. I’m going to the psychic fair coming up, and who knows, maybe I’ll get my fortune read—figure out why I’m so disastrous in love.”

My declaration made the sadness in Maxwell’s eyes deepen before he faded away.

“That’s the spirit,” Austin cheered, a smile returning to his face. “Who knows, maybe Holly will be there, and we can at least convince Micah to let her come back to the bookstore. We were developing a pretty close friendship.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I warned him not to get his hopes up. If there was one thing I knew, it was that Micah was unflinching when it came to Holly. He never did share why he was so overly protective, but to me, it didn’t really matter.

He wasn’t the only stubborn one.

While my mouth said that it was time to move on and there were plenty of guys out there, my heart screamed something different.

He couldn’t simply walk in and out of my life like that without some kind of explanation.

It was time to corner him and demand one.