Page 104 of Beautiful Place By the Sea

I lean over to kiss him. “Not even a little bit.”

Oliver’s eyes come to rest on mine as I pull away. “As much as I enjoy our banter, I don’t want to dance around the truth, because I feel it’s important that you hear it.” The earnest expression on his face might be the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

My heart starts pounding in my chest. “Oh?”

“I need you to know…” He inhales deeply, like he’s nervous. I’ve never seen him this nervous before.

I squeeze his hand. “It’s okay, Oliver.” I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.

“No,” he shakes his head. “I want you to know; I can’t not tell you anymore.” He tucks my hair behind my ear, so tenderly I think I might melt. “I…I love you, Ivy.”

Hearing those words from his lips sends warmth to every corner of my body; to places of my soul I didn’t even know existed. “I love you, too,” I reply without hesitation. At the release of the words I’d been holding against their will at the base of my throat, I feel my heart take a deep breath.

Oliver wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder. “To be honest, I think I’ve been in love with you since the moment you made me read Ella Enchanted.”

“Seriously? That was, like, the day after we met.”

He wrinkles his nose at me. “Yes, and?”

“I didn’t know I’d made such an impression,” I tease, running my fingers through his curls.

“Yeah, well,” he begins, “there was something incredibly attractive about your insistence that I read this book.” He shrugs. “I might have a thing for bossy women.”

“Hey, now!” I pretend to pout.

His hands play a gentle symphony on my back, lulling me back into complacency. “You yourself said giving book recommendations is the thrill of your life.”

“This is true,” I allow.

“So I don’t see the problem,” he grins. “Besides, you were right about Ella. So I knew immediately that I needed to ingratiate myself to you as much as possible.”

I quirk an eyebrow. “For my book recommendations?”

He nods, then starts kissing my neck in an exceptionally distracting way. “Exactly. For your book recommendations.”

“You know, you didn’t need to fall in love with me to get those.”

“Too late,” he grins. “You’re the best book I’ve ever read.”

thirty

Icould never be a criminal. It occurs to me all at once as I sit in a shaky, sweaty, anxious mess on Monday, waiting for my interview to start. I have no poker face whatsoever, and even if I could somehow develop one, the rest of my body immediately betrays me whenever I try to do anything I feel even vaguely guilty about.

And I’m feeling guilty today. Incredibly so. Because I’m interviewing for the job in Springfield, which by all accounts is perfect for me, and I haven’t told Maisie. Or Oliver.

I’ve wanted to bring it up with both of them countless times, and I think, at least superficially, they would both understand. Maisie would, certainly. Oliver, I suspect, would pretend he did, but he might crumble internally the minute I mentioned it. And seeing that heartbreak on his face is something I’m not sure I could handle.

I’ve moved Laurel’s laptop to the living room, positioning myself in front of the fireplace, which is hugged on each side by a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Simon’s left some of his personal collection here for renters to enjoy, and I’ve added the books I brought and purchased this summer to flesh things out a bit. My muddled feelings about whether I should be doing this aside, it seems like being surrounded by books is the right move for an interview with a library.

Brianna signs on to the meeting precisely on time, wearing a broad smile. “Good morning, Ivy,” she greets me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. The pleasure is mine.” I try to covertly box breathe to ease the queasy feeling swirling through my stomach.

Brianna’s pen is poised above a stack of papers on her desk. “Can you tell me a bit about yourself?”

I run through my experience: my Master of Library Science, working at the Brookline community library as a page. My job at Farnsworth. And, hesitantly, I mention that I’ve spent the summer picking up shifts at Shoreline.

Brianna seems most interested in the last bit. “Oh, really? How do you like that?”