Page 31 of Railed

"Well, Gauge said you've been focusing your efforts on the locals. But what if we get the tourists excited about the trains?"

"Like, play up their history on the island?" I asked, thinking through the idea.

There was some precedent for that, with many of the buildings on the island being protected by the historical preservation committee. If I could find evidence of their importance, it might be enough to work.

"I meant local tours, but whatever works."

"And we could do theme nights!" Jamie added with enough excitement that I had to laugh.

"What kind of themes?"

"Seasonal themes, holiday themes. We could even do a historical themed tour if you think that would work."

I mulled over the thought for a moment. "If we did tours, I could tie it into my job. I could get paid to play conductor."

"I'd let you be my conductor any day," Jamie teased, making me laugh.

"But more importantly," I continued, "if I'm able to find a historical significance to the rails, the town hall would have to put a stop to the demolition. Rosie, you’re brilliant!"

She shrugged. "That's not normally what people call me, but thank you."

"Don't let her take all the credit," Gauge argued. "It was mostly your idea."

"Anyone up for a trip to the library?" I asked, looking around.

"I'll stay, I'm just the idea woman," Rosie replied with a wink. I laughed at that and wasn't surprised in the slightest when Jamie agreed, saying "I'll stay too. Someone's got to keep her company. Besides, I'd be a distraction. We'll stay and let you actually get some work done."

"I'm going," Gauge said.

"Just don't go distracting our girl," Jamie demanded, making me flush a little, but I definitely didn't mind being called that.

"She'll find what we need and then we can come back here and all celebrate," Gauge beamed. I loved his confidence in me and loved the idea of a group celebration even more.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Gauge

It took all of my very limited self-control to let Emma peruse the library shelves unmolested, but I knew how important this was and was as eager as she was to get the hard part over with so we could get to celebrating.

We were browsing the local history section, and while she was looking at the book titles, I couldn't stop watching her.

I knew I wasn't being helpful, but at least I wasn't hindering her process, so I counted it as a win.

She eventually pulled out a few books and handed them to me. I grabbed them and waited while she continued to pile more into my arms. When I couldn't see her over the stack I was holding, she finally said, "Okay, that's probably good enough."

"You think?" I asked, raising an amused eyebrow at her. "How long do you plan to be here?"

"As long as it takes."

I would have been worried if I wasn't sure the librarian would kick us out at some point.

A few hours in and my eyes were swimming from all the reading I'd done. I hadn't found anything helpful and was grateful when the librarian started to make her rounds, knowing we'd be kicked out and could stop reading for tonight.

Except when the librarian got to us, she saw Emma and smiled. "Long night?" she asked.

"It will be if I have anything to say about it,” Emma replied. “It's for the Save the Railways project."

The librarian nodded. "Stay as long as you like. You know you have my support, and please let me know if there's anything I can do to help."