Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,103

took stole a large chunk of her feet, but won her back a little bit of her self-respect. Bridal shoes were made for dancing, not walking along the sidewalk of a small town. At least she managed to get out of that awful dress Jeremy's mother bullied her into buying. Jeremy. God, she didn't even want to begin to think about her fiancé —ex-fiancé— right now. She'd driven five hours from Dallas to get away from him and his family. And hers, to be honest.

She didn't know where she meant to go when she left the church, but Unknown, Texas was as good a place as any. She'd pointed the car south and kept going until she couldn't stand to be in the car— a car her fiancé insisted she buy because it "sent the right message"— anymore. She was done with the rules and the veiled comments telling her how she "should" act given the position she was "lucky" to have. She had to escape from the unsettling turn her life had taken and the sleepy little town appealed to her. It looked so…Mayberry/Stars Hollow-ish. Every red brick storefront on the square stood neatly at attention, cheerful little signs beckoning patrons in. Most of the doors stood open in deference to the May sunshine and customers trickled in and out.

She made it to the opposite corner of the square from the bakery she'd started at before the screaming of her feet became too much. Why hadn't she thought to pack a change of shoes? When she left the bridal suite, all she’d thought about was grabbing the clothes she wore to the church and getting the hell out of there before they could stop her.

As she crossed the street, she spotted a bookstore. Unlike most of the shops, the door was shut, but the lights were on and she could see an older man sitting at the counter. Unable to go on, Cady pushed open the door. Near the front of the store her eyes settled on what looked like heaven to her. An overstuffed, flowery armchair. It was a little stained and well-worn, but at that moment she didn't care. She just wanted to get off her feet. She collapsed into the chair, sighing in relief.

"You gonna buy something?" A gruff voice startled her out of her reverie. She looked over at the man behind the counter. He looked to be in his mid-sixties. He had a shock of snow-white hair on his head. A dark plaid shirt stretched across his barrel chested torso. A wild looking white beard sat even with the collar of his shirt. The sour expression on his face was definitely not meant to welcome a potential customer.

"I might." Cady knew how to handle grumpy old men. Academia was full of them. The university she worked at was run by men even more crotchety than this one.

The man glowered at her. "Not right to come in and sit in a man's chair unless you're going to buy something."

"Well, once my feet stop screaming and crying, I might browse your selection." Cady rubbed her foot, trying to massage away the knife-like stabs of pain. "I left home pretty quickly and I can't go too long without a good book on hand."

He eyed her suspiciously, coming around to lean against the front of the counter. "You got one of those fancy new e-reader things?"

"The university I worked for bought one for me to save money on paper, but I still prefer a good old-fashioned book." Cady took in the ambiance of the store. Dark wooden shelves lined every wall and stood in neat rows in the most of the open space of the store. Faded navy carpet showed the familiar paths customers strode in search of a new adventure. It was everything you would expect a small town bookshop to be, but it lacked the welcoming spirit she felt from the rest of the town. But then, so did the owner. "You have a lovely store."

"Been in the family for over a century." Pride glimmered in his dark blue eyes. "Not that many people bother with books these days."

Cady raised her eyebrows. "Well, I'm certainly glad I found it when I did. So are my feet."

"Never understood why women wore those damn fool stilts. A man likes a woman he can look down at, not up." The man made a harrumphing sound, crossing his arms across his broad chest. "Where'd you come from, anyway? Too young