Read Trouble When You Walked In (Contemporary Romance) for Free Online

“It’s hard when your best friend is married and has two little boys. And the single people in Kettle Knob my age are either busy working parents or into extreme sports ranging from skiing to hang-gliding to bar-hopping marathons on a Saturday night. I’m just so … boring.”
    “Honey, we live in a small town. You have to make do. Get creative.”
    Cissie finished off her merlot. Her head was buzzing a little.
    “And you’re not boring,” Nana said. “Lord, child. You’re the opposite. Just remember this isn’t a practice run. Sometimes I think I’m in one long dress rehearsal and I’ll get to live all over again and do things right the next time.”
    But there was no next time, was there?
    There was only now.
    Cissie stood. “I’m going to do something about the library. I just don’t know what yet.” But she wasn’t going to budge on her belief that the library should stay. She was going to be like those mountains.
    “In my day,” Nana said, “people did splashy things.”
    “Says the woman who was at Woodstock.”
    “Letters to the editor are a start. But you never know if a paper will publish it or when. And if they do, they can edit the fire right out of it. I suspect Edwina will sit on yours. She’s a big fan of anything Boone Braddock does. So is the whole town, for that matter. And that includes me, you know.”
    “You can’t approve of this.”
    “My gut tells me no. But I can’t discount Boone. He’s no dummy. He might have his reasons. You sure you listened?”
    “Of course I did.” Cissie’s blood started to boil. “I can’t win against him. He’s too popular.”
    Nana didn’t deny it.
    “I need to do something besides a letter. I need to make news. Not react to it.”
    “Bingo,” said Nana. “That might go against the grain. Rogers folks tend to sit back and record events—and then file them away. Not me, though. I never had patience for that.”
    “You’re a bad influence.” Cissie grabbed her cigar and took a puff. “And I love it.” She coughed.
    A brown leaf scuttled across the porch, and old Dexter jumped off Nana’s lap to chase it.
    “What are you going to do?” Nana arched a thin gray brow.
    Cissie stared at her, and an idea bloomed. “Something I think you’ll like.”

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
    Cissie was busy rearranging the pencils in her ceramic cup to angle out like flower stems on the old maple desk that faced the entrance of the library. And for the millionth time since fourth grade, she swore she’d stop daydreaming about Boone Braddock bringing her real flowers—pink Gerbera daisies—and leaning over the desk and kissing her in the bargain.
    Especially since he was now Evil Incarnate, the man about to ruin the library and her own romantic future if this legend were to be taken seriously.
    Of course, she didn’t. But still, she hated to be the one who ended the streak. It had lasted a century, apparently, although who was keeping track?
    “No one,” she said out loud. “None, nada, zip.”
    It was just a silly story that had gathered momentum over the years.
    Silver-haired Mrs. Hattlebury, who—let’s face it—was one of Cissie’s dearest friends even though she was forty years older, walked in on a whoosh of cool mountain air and a flurry of orange and red autumn leaves, which she beat back with her shopping bag. “Has he come over the threshold yet, dear?” Her sharp eyes sparkled. “Your soul mate?”
    So much for none, nada, zip .
    Cissie made one last tweak to her pencil arrangement and forced herself to smile. “No,” she said lightly, “Prince Charming hasn’t arrived today, but if he did, he’d be after a vixen like you .” Mrs. Hattlebury loved to be teased about her past as a bad-girl extra in several Elvis Presley movies.
    But the older woman was not to be deterred. “I got your flyer. What terrible news. You might not have much time left for your intrepid lover to show. I’m so distressed on your behalf.”
    “I’m