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Crap. Now I need to Google this guy…
I’m mid-search on a guy I suppose could pass for a distant relative of my Aquaman, but still not enough to sway me. I could see myself talking to this guy. Of course, I’ll say something stupid and that’ll be the end of that, but get under him? No thank you.
His build, his face, his…hands…just don’t look right for me.
A gentle throat clearing in front of me catches me off guard, and I yelp, dropping my phone.
Noah stands on the other side of the counter. His expression blank as he meets my eyes. “You alright?” he asks, cooly, glancing at my phone, which is thankfully dimmed to black now.
“No—yep, I’m good. Just…talking to Pepper. Ready?”
“Are you?” he asks, which makes sense since he’s picking me up at work.
It’s Friday and my fourth full day at the library after the weekend catastrophe with my feet. But I’m walking much better now and only feel the slightest pain when standing too long. Today is also the first day I’m back in my purple boots. I dolled up a bit with a soft white blouse and my velvet purple mini-skirt.
I guess it’s true what they say, when you look good, you feel good. And after my heart crumbled to pieces with the likelihood of my project never coming to fruition, I could use some feel-good time.
Noah has been here at six on the dot every day, and I’ve given up fighting him to chauffeur me around.
“Yes.” I stand.
Noah points behind me. “Are we taking those?”
I glance behind me, remembering the clear container with my name on it. This morning, after the interns stocked the shelves with brand-new books, Em sent me another case of used children's books ready for recycling.
Maybe if there was a bigger section, you wouldn’t need to toss these…
I’m usually super excited for a box this size to add to my town distribution collection. But when she dropped them off, all I heard were her unspoken condescending words. “Here, for your…other weird little project that seems to keep you going.”
Em never minded my taking the old books. She just wondered what my obsession was with kids reading that I’d be willing to volunteer personal time for it.
Well, I question her being dead inside, but you don’t hear me complaining.
I shake my head. “No. I’ll just keep them there and tell people that they’re free when they come in. They can dig around themselves.”
Noah frowns at my response, and I know the look well. There's a question behind it. One I'm not about to answer. Noah's never made fun of my hobby—not to my face, at least—but if given the opportunity, I'm sure he'd voice exactly how dumb and time-wasteful he thinks it is.
So, I don't give him the chance.
“Come on. We’re closing soon.” I lift my tote bag in a scurry at the wrong end, and the contents fall to the floor, scattering around my desk.
Shit.
Noah comes around to help. “Do I make you nervous or something?”
“Shut up and pass me my vitamins.” The little green bottle went rolling down the wooden floor along with something else.
I toss everything back into my canvas bag and search the surrounding area for anything I missed.
“What’s this?” Noah asks, making me turn.
My eyes close in on the neon purple tube between his fingers, that’s about the size of his index finger.
My heart pounds in my chest and it would be just like Noah to actually hear it.
“What’s what?” I swallow hard and take the moment I bought myself to suck in a sharp breath.
He takes a step toward me as if I need to see it better. “This.”
