Page 32 of Railed

I fought not to groan at the fact that we might be here all night. Thankfully, Emma was too distracted to catch my disappointment, and told the librarian, "Actually, there might be something you can do. I'm trying to find something—anything really, grasping at straws over here—that proves the railways should be considered a historical landmark—"

"Which would lend them historical protection and stop the motorway initiative in its tracks. That's brilliant!" the librarian added.

Emma nodded enthusiastically. "If I can pull it off. So far, I haven't found anything useful. Any recommendations?"

The librarian looked thoughtfully at the books in front of us. After a moment, she pulled a title from my pile, asking Emma, "Have you read this one yet?"

"Not yet," she replied, taking it from the librarian's hands and opening it to the table of contents. "What are we looking for?"

"If I'm remembering right, you'll want the section on the flood of ‘94."

Emma ran her finger down the index, found what she was looking for, and quickly flipped to the page. Her eyes lit up when she saw the headline.

"This might work!" she said. "Thank you!"

"Thank me if it works out. If not, we'll keep trying," the librarian said. "Us locals have to stick together. Stick it to the man."

Emma laughed, but her attention was mostly focused on the book, so the librarian excused herself to make the rest of her rounds.

A few minutes later, she looked up at me with a grin. "We've got it."

"It'll work?"

"Absolutely. Miles and the rest of Big Car-ma are going down."

I grinned at the look on Emma’s face. "You look like you'll eat him alive. It shouldn't turn me on, but engines, it's hot."

"We'll destroy them. I just need to take some copies of this, and then we can go home."

"To celebrate."

"Definitely," she said with a smile that was colored by her blush.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rosie

The door burst open to an excited Emma, with Gauge following closely behind.

"Found something good?" I asked.

"Of course she did, she's a genius," Gauge answered, making a delicious blush spread across Emma's face.

"I knew you could do it," Jamie told her from the kitchen where they were already pouring champagne for us.

"You guys had more faith in me than I did," she admitted.

"We were so confident, Jamie's already pouring the victory champagne for our little celebration," I told her.

She smiled at that, bouncing over to the kitchen to help Jamie. Gauge came over to me and I asked quietly, "Will it work?"

I knew Gauge well enough to know he'd be acting this excited just to keep Emma's spirits up even if he wasn't as hopeful.

He nodded. "I think so. The odds are pretty good, anyway."

"Good enough for me," I replied quietly before raising my voice. "Jamie, why don't you take off your shirt and get over here?"

I knew Emma was a little nervous. I figured that if I focused on Jamie, it would help her calm down.