Finding Jessie: A Mystery Romance Read Free Page A

those stories of an utter yawn fest will put you out like a light.”
    “I do get insomnia sometimes. I’d call you for that cure.” She briefly touched his arm and his heart skipped a beat. “Then tell me about your book inventory and personal collection.”
    She was a woman after his own heart. Perhaps she wouldn’t cringe when she found out that he lived in an old house with ten thousand books and almost no room to move. Where other women failed to find him interesting for more than an hour, maybe Jessie was his last chance—he clung to hope that he would someday find true love. With a rabid book lover.
    She’s almost too young, you know, not that it matters much to her, said a tiny voice in his ear.
    He almost said shhh aloud to the invisible angel on his right shoulder.
    Sam looked at Jessie for a moment, suddenly uneasy. “I feel pretty silly standing out here on the sidewalk talking for so long. We’re in the village fishbowl, so to speak, here on Main Street.”
    “So, where should we go to sit and talk?”
    Jessie just moved things to the next level , said the angel on his shoulder.
    He looked down the street. It was awkward for him to ask her out on a real date, even though she was clearly leading him down a primrose path to that very thing. He was usually shy with women and this one was young and pretty, very much out of his league. Mostly, if a woman was interested in him, she did the talking and he did the listening until one of them would find a chance to politely withdraw.
    “I’ve never been in that one, but there’s a little coffee shop down the street,” he suggested. “It got good reviews in the newspaper.”
    “Perfect!” she said.
    He had a feeling that any place he’d suggested would have been deemed perfect at that moment. She looked up at him with stars in her eyes. What the heck?
    “Would you like to go there and have a cup of coffee or tea?” He paused, not used to such rapt attention from women. “We could talk books, our favorite subject. Or about something else if you prefer…” He left that option hanging like a lobster trap full of chicken necks.
    Her turquoise-blue eyes widened with interest. “That sounds wonderful. But let’s make it lunch instead. I’m starved.” She measured him with her eyes to see his reaction at her bold upgrade of their spontaneous date. “It’s only fair that I pay for your lunch after the debacle I caused,” she offered.
    He started to shake his head and she interrupted the gesture with a hand to his sleeve. A warm tingle ran up his arm when she touched him. And spread.
    Mercy.
    “Please allow me to pay, Sam. After all, you paid for the book.”
    “All right. Tit for tat,” he agreed. “I can’t remember if I’ve ever turned down a free lunch with a smart, bookish woman.”
    She held up the two ruined halves of The Princess and the Goblin . “I don’t know how smart I am. Greedy and impulsive is more like it, but thank you for the compliment.”
    He clucked his tongue over the damage to the lovely old book. “Please put that away in your handbag. I can’t bear to look at it like that. After you buy my lunch—I’ll get the tip—perhaps you can swing by my house so I can mend the spine for you.”
    “Really?”
    “Sure.” He scrutinized the book carefully. “I know it won’t be worth as much with a spine repair, but it might be easier to read if it weren’t in two pieces. Alas, with a spine repair, I can’t give it to little Cindy as a gift. So, you may keep it.”
    “That’s kind of you. I’ll take you up on that repair offer, too.” Her eyes twinkled. “I don’t think I’ll ever sell this book. I would like to keep it as a memento.”
    He chuckled. “Of what?”
    “Of how we met,” she said.
    Oh my! Something’s starting here, blurted the angel in his ear.
    A quickening went through him as if he was a young man. He wondered how old she was. There was not one line on that classic New England face. And not a