Page 34 of Always Be My Pumpkin

16

‘You handled the situation well at the meeting Friday night.’ Gertrude looks up from her screen when I join her at the desk Tuesday morning.

My jaw nearly hits the floor and I’m about to mutter thanks when she continues.

‘The Roche boy, I mean.’ She takes off her glasses and wipes them vigorously with her cloth. ‘The cheek of him. Trying to take over our meeting. I never understood why you chose him instead of the Anderson boy. When you two always seemed so close.’

I count to five and do my best to come up with a balanced response. She did start by saying something positive, and there’s no point reminding her that I didn’t choose Jamie over Flynn. You can’t choose someone who lives halfway across the world, and who’s never shown any interest in dating you, even laughed when the idea was suggested. But at least I know now he didn’t mean that the way it seemed.

‘Flynn and I are just friends.’ I keep my tone light. ‘And Jamie and I have had our differences recently, but things were good between us once.’

‘Hmph.’ Gertrude sniffs. ‘That boy’s always been too full of himself.’

My whole body stiffens. She’s right. Jamie is full of himself. But he was there for me when I was going through the hardest year of my life. It was Jamie, along with Sarah, that picked up the pieces after Flynn left. So, even though I’m angry and upset over Olivia, I still feel I owe it to him to defend him, despite everything.

‘He is confident.’ I shrug. ‘But why shouldn’t he be? He’s good-looking, has a good job, and he always goes after what he wants.’ I toss up my hands, not sure if I’m going for carefree or indignant as I huff, ‘And he’s always planning something new, always looking for the next adventure.’

‘Sounds exhausting, if you ask me.’

I can’t win with this woman.

‘Anyway, Jamie and I are history, and my focus now is the library and our festival events.’ I amble over to the trolley to clear our returns before we open, but Gertrude throws me another curveball.

‘Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with, for the festival.’

I swing around in surprise. There’s not a hint of sarcasm in her voice, even though I’m supposed to be assisting her and not the other way around. I feel like an autumn leaf whirling through Oakwood Forest with no clue where I’ll end up, but I decide to go with the flow.

‘That would be great, thanks. I’ll have a look through my notes. I think we’re okay for most of the library activities.’ I smile. ‘And did you say your book club is reading Dracula?’

‘Yes, they’re loving it.’ She turns and gazes fondly at the copies of Bram Stoker’s masterpiece claiming pride of place on the shelf behind. Then she frowns. ‘I had hoped the teenagers would choose it for their Halloween read. I even got extra copies. But no, apparently not.’ She narrows her eyes accusingly. ‘Ella tells me you agree with her about that silly vampire fluff.’

She means Twilight of course. I grip the handles of my returns trolley and try not to scowl. ‘I think it’s a beautiful love story.’

‘Pah.’ Gertrude huffs. ‘To think they could have been introduced to a classic.’

‘I think a few of them have read Dracula, but they wanted to pair their book choice with a movie, and most of them voted for Twilight.’

I throw her a bone. ‘But they’re going to watch Wolfwalkers first. It’s Irish and it was nominated for an Oscar.’

Gertrude lifts her chin slightly.

‘Followed with Samhain-themed ghost stories. And then Twilight. They’ll have popcorn and toast marshmallows and hopefully still be able to sleep afterwards.’

‘Well, at least they’ll be watching an Irish film, that’s something.’ She sighs. ‘I’ll pull some classic Celtic folk tales for their storytelling.’

I almost tell her Pat has that sorted, he’s been telling old Irish ghost stories every Halloween for as long as I’ve known him, but Gertrude already knows that.

‘That’d be great, thanks.’ I wheel the trolley past the desk and over towards the travel section, then I turn back. ‘There is something else you could help with.’

‘Yes?’

‘We need someone to judge the stingy jacks competition.’

Her eyes flash with interest and I go on. ‘You and Finbarr would be perfect.’ I pause for a few seconds, wondering if I should tell her the reason. ‘We’re using Pat’s pumpkins and Barty’s turnips.’ I try not to grimace. ‘And somebody needs to keep an eye on Moll and Barty, in case they upset anyone, or start throwing turnips. They’re still complaining that pumpkins are foreign, even though Pat grew the ones we’re using himself.’

Gertrude chuckles and my shoulders loosen. ‘You leave it with me. And I’m sure Finbarr will be glad to help. He loves a good stingy jack.’

It’s great to hear her laugh and it feels like she’s starting to forgive me for leaving Oakwood when the library door swishes open and I see Jamie heading straight for me, with a bouquet of red roses and a determined look on his face. Feck.