Fearless, Abby Brooks [leveled readers .txt] 📗

the counter. “Hey there! Take a look around. Let me know if I can get you anything.”

Amelia peered into the display case, then wandered over to a wall of jellybeans. “I’m thinking we’ll probably go with one of everything.”

“Solid choice.” The brunette laughed. “You guys visiting?”

“I am,” chirped my friend. “But Evie here is moving in.”

“New blood! I’m sure you’ve caught the entire town’s attention by now.”

“You better believe it.” Amelia glanced up from a box of chocolates. “Especially after they find out she’s moved into the vacant house on Sugar Maple Hill.”

The woman frowned. “Sugar Maple Hill? That house…”

And here we go…

“I know, I know,” I said. “That house is haunted.”

“No. I mean, maybe? How would I know? I was gonna say that house is next door to my brother’s.” With a smile, the woman behind the counter extended a hand. “Isabelle Prescott, at your service, though everyone calls me Izzy. I’m not serious enough to be Isabelle.”

“What do you know?” Amelia huffed her surprise. “Now that you mention it, the resemblance is striking.”

I nodded my agreement. The brown curls. The commanding eyes. The strong cheekbones and full lips. There was no denying the Prescotts came from good genes. Though, where Alex exuded intensity, Izzy screamed fun.

She bobbed her head and leaned on the counter. “I take that to mean you already met my brother.”

“And his dog.” Laughing, I explained the surprise introduction that morning.

“And that was after we almost ran them over last night.” Amelia described the near miss, gesturing wildly. “I keep telling Evie the universe is sending sign after sign…after sign her way, but she insists on taking the hard road. I feel like these two are destined to be together.”

I rolled my eyes as she gestured to me. “Right,” I muttered. “Because that’s how the world works. The first person you almost kill when visiting a new place is your soulmate.”

Izzy chuckled. “While I can’t wait to hear how you almost squashed my brother, I feel it’s my duty to inform you that he isn’t the relationship kind of guy. He officially married his job, and no one has been able to break them up. So if signs are coming your way, it has nothing to do with him.”

I was so glad to hear someone speaking sense, I almost leaned over the counter and hugged her. “I keep trying to tell Amelia here that I’m not exactly relationship ready either, no matter what she thinks fate’s telling me. I’m pretty sure there’s a limit on how many major life events one person should endure at a time. Losing my job and moving to a new town are more than enough at the moment, thank you.”

Maybe that was an overshare, and I would have apologized, but Amelia spoke before me.

“And I keep telling her that if she doesn’t learn the lessons the universe sets out for her, she’ll keep getting smacked in the face with them.”

The bells over the door chimed and in stepped none other than Alexander Prescott. Amelia elbowed me and whispered, “See?” at the same time he bellowed, “Izzy Prescott! I require genius nuggets!”

When his eyes met mine, he stopped short. The door clicked shut behind him as he cocked his head. “I swear you’re following me.”

“Except you keep showing up where I am, not the other way around.”

He started to concede the point, then thought better of it. “Not last night. I’m sure I was on that road first.”

“You got me there,” I said as Amelia dug her elbow into my side for no apparent reason. At least she stopped handing me imaginary phones.

Izzy came out from around the counter and hugged her brother. “Aren’t you supposed to be writing?”

“Hence the need for genius nuggets.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and bobbed his head, the pink neon sign behind him dancing in his wayward curls. With his air of masculinity, Alex Prescott did not look like he belonged in Sweet Stuff, though he moved behind the counter like he owned the place. “You good, little sister? You need anything before I disappear into the world inside my head?”

“You don’t have to check on me every day, you know. I’m not mom,” Izzy said to her brother, then turned to me. “Alex swears copious amounts of jellybeans are the only reason he’s ever finished a book.”

“Only because it’s true.” He leaned on the counter. “Hit me with a variety. The situation is dire.”

As Izzy bagged up an obscene amount of jellybeans, Alex turned his attention to me. “I hear you’re making waves around Wildrose. You two are the only thing anyone wants to talk about.”

“I’m sure that’ll fade. I never hold people’s attention very long.”

Amelia smacked my arm. “Be nice to you.”

Alex’s gaze skated across my face. “Yeah. Be nice to you. You have my attention.”

The bag of candy in Izzy’s hands hit the floor with a thwack and she giggled as she bent to pick it up. “Sorry. Ignore me. I’m just not comfortable hearing my brother flirt. Like, at all.”

Alex smirked. “Very funny, but I’m not flirting.”

“You have my attention,” Izzy intoned, leaning on the counter and hitting me with exaggerated bedroom eyes.

Amelia nodded her agreement. “She’s not wrong.”

His attention bobbed between the two women. “Oh, she’s wrong.” He took the bag of jellybeans from his sister and popped one into his mouth. “See, I’m considering offering our friend Evie McAllister here a job. I’d be an idiot to flirt with a potential employee.”

“A job?” Izzy, Amelia, and I said in unison, then burst out giggling when Alex blinked back in surprise.

“Since when were you even considering hiring someone?” Izzy asked.

“Since the entire town started whispering Evie’s name today. I followed the wave of ‘there’s someone living in that haunted house,’ and the more I thought about it, the more I realized she might be exactly what I need. Someone to read through my drafts. Critiques. Edits before I send things to my editor. We could hang out in