Crate Expectations

She’s been spinning the same record for years. Maybe it’s time to change the tune.

For Nova James, life is vinyl records, rare sneaker drops, and a very organized system for avoiding the things she isn't ready to deal with yet. As a pint-sized force of nature, she has an eye for vintage treasures and a best friend in Deion who has an even sharper one. He spots the finds she walks past twice. He shows up before she asks and stays even when she doesn't need him to. He is the calm that steadies her whirlwind mind, the person who has always seen exactly what she missed… in a crate… in a room… in herself.

While Nova's head is buried in vinyl, she is completely oblivious to the fact that Deion has been harboring a not-so-secret crush on her for years. Sweet, patient, quietly confident, and endlessly loyal, he is the perfect cinnamon roll of a man and the safe place she never thought to look for. But when he finally starts to move on, Nova's world skips a beat.

Something is off, and she can't quite figure out why. And if she wants to stop losing him by degrees, she will have to stop hiding behind her system, face what has been in her heart all along, and finally get out of her own way.