Page 25 of Heidi Lucy Loses Her Mind
“You too, gents,” Mel says to Soren and Calvin. “We’ll take care of everything here, don’t you worry.”
Calvin trudges toward the door, sulking. As soon as he’s left, Gemma turns to me, putting her hands on her hips.
“You need to go upstairs and run a bubble bath,” she says. She eyes me critically. “You look like you’re about to lose it. Mel?”
Mel nods, her gaze sympathetic on me. “I’ll get the ice cream. What flavor?”
“Rocky Road,” Soren says as he gathers his things. “Häagen-Dazs.”
Mel blinks at him and then looks at me. “Is that right?”
“Yes,” I say, and my eyes inexplicably well with tears.
This is stupid. I shouldn’t be crying. I don’t need to cry.
Why am I crying?
I just have really great friends, and someone died right in front of me, and I can’t remember anything that happened yesterday.
Also—I look down—I’m still wearing mismatched shoes, like an idiot. Why didn’t I change them as soon as Soren pointed them out?
“I can’t,” I say, sniffing desperately so that no snot leaks out of my runny nose. I don’t want Soren to see me like that. It’s not cute. I angle my body away from him and go on, “I need to get everything sorted here.”
“I’ll close,” Gemma says firmly. “I’ll put something on the record player and get things figured out, and it will take me two minutes. You go upstairs. Now.” She points toward the back corner of the bookshop, where the stairs are located. “Go.”
More tears cloud my eyes. “But—”
I break off, jumping as I feel Soren’s hands settle on my shoulders from behind. Don’t ask me how I know it’s him; I just do.
“Come on,” he says, his voice low in my ear. “Let’s go, honey.”
My eyes flare wider, and I jerk my head to the side to look at Gemma and Mel.
Honey?Gemma mouths, her eyebrows raised, and Mel looks like she’s about to cackle with glee.
Soren gives me a gentle nudge, and I stumble forward, walking mechanically past the front entrance, through the bookshelves, and to the back stairs, his hands still urging me forward while my brain moves decidedly in circles.
Honey?
He called mehoney, right? Everyone heard that?
“Hey,” I say, stopping abruptly in my tracks as I’m about to climb the steps. I turn around and face Soren, who looks surprised by my sudden motion.
“Yeah,” he says. His hands are hovering awkwardly over my shoulders, no longer touching me, but he doesn’t seem embarrassed. He just waits for me to speak, his eyes expectant.
“What did you call me?” I say, and my voice sounds unnaturally loud in the tiny, enclosed space of the stairwell. I soften my voice so I don’t feel like I’m yelling. “Just now?”
Soren blinks at me, and for the briefest second, I swear I see a flash of surprise. But it vanishes as quickly as it appeared, and then he says, “What do you mean?”
I study his face closely, thrown into exaggerated shadow by the yellow light directly overhead. His expression is unruffled, though.
“Honey,” I say, swallowing. “You called mehoney.”
He cocks one brow at me. “Did I?” he says.
“Yes.” My voice is surer now. “You did. I heard you.”
“Hmm.” He takes one slow step closer. “I don’t call my friendshoney. Do you?”
