~ Lily ~
Hector is halfway across the bookstore before I realise he’s abandoned me.
One moment we’re standing together near the entrance, pretending we only came inside because the café next door is full. The next, he’s wandered into a row of shelves marked History, completely absorbed, leaving me holding two coffees and wondering whether this qualifies as being stood up in public.
I find him five minutes later reading the back of a book with the same concentration he gives an engine that refuses to start.
“So this was the emergency,” I murmur.
He glances over, completely unapologetic. “Give me another minute.”
“You’ve already had five.”
“I know,” he says, and goes straight back to the book.
I shake my head and wander away before he notices I’m smiling.
The store is larger than it
