“What? I’m early.”
She shook her head. “I need someone to save me from the real-life romance stories that are surrounding me right now.”
I looked to Emma and raised a brow. She simply smiled serenely. Emma didn’t get worked up about much.
“Aidan and Grace were here, and Gabby made a comment about too much PDA, though Aidan was just a bit handsy…”
“When isn’t he? Though if I was Grace, I’d soak that in. The man is gorg,” Gabby muttered. “And then there is your goliath.”
I shook my head at the blatant jealousy from Gabby. Our boss, Grace, had the marriage you’d think you could only find in a work of fiction. And Max was our colleague Emma’s fiancé. I’d met him several times over the past few months since I moved here. He seemed great, and we’d tried to make plans to get together for a drink, but his schedule had been crazy at Highland Woods, the state park outside town. He was working on a few new programs this year and had been buried in getting them off the ground.
“Max was here?” I asked.
“Is here.” A deep voice came from the back. A few seconds later, Max appeared with a coffee mug that he handed Emma, who he proceeded to kiss, much to Gabby’s dismay.
“See what I’m talking about?” She shook her head, but her grin belied her actual happiness that our friend and colleague had such a great guy.
Pulling back, Max looked my way. “Hey, Nate, what’s your schedule look like this week? Drinks at Homestead?”
The library wasn’t open very late, so my schedule was wide open with a whole lot of nothingness. “Open, you?”
“Thursday? Jake is smoking wings for a special at the brewery. He and Sully both said they’d be up to hang out too.”
I wanted to laugh at how happy plans to meet up with some guys made me. Hell, I felt like a kid at a new school, grateful that I might have a friend.
“Thursday’s great.”
“Six sound good?”
“Yep.”
Max gave Emma a kiss and headed out the door with a wave.
“I see how it is. You’re ditching us in favor of hanging with the guys.” Gabby picked up some books off the desk to reshelve.
“Gabs,” Emma said, “be nice.”
“Meeeeooooowwwww?”
I glanced down to see Gabby’s cat, Aslan, wind her way through my legs.
“See, Aslan agrees, Emma. Not being mean.” Gabby loaded up the cart and wheeled over toward the young adult section.
“It’s fine, Nate.” Emma placed a hand on my shoulder. “Max has been looking forward to hanging out with you. And while Gabby enjoys teasing, we’re all happy you’re here and making yourself at home.”
“Thanks, Emma.” Between Emma and Grace, I really felt like I had two sisters looking out for me. Gabby would be the friend in class who got me in trouble for laughing behind the teacher’s back, and to be honest, I needed them all. I realized that the heaviness that had weighed me down the night before had lessened. I did have people around me and was gaining even more. I just needed to remember that starting over took time.
I squeezed by Emma to sink down behind the desk and checked the computer, looking for requests we needed to fill for our patrons or the library loan system. I lost myself for a bit, scanning the screen, making lists, calling out to Gabby to grab books and straighten up the space. Before I knew it, over an hour had passed and the smell of coffee pervaded the space.
I pushed back from the desk, ready to turn and head toward the kitchen, when a patron by the window caught my eye.
Elle.
We had a smaller farm table set up as a workspace in the front room. Part of it was pushed against the window to allow for as much room as possible around it. People sat there to work, chat about books, and read. Today Elle sat, staring out the window, seemingly lost in thought.
It was ridiculous how happy I was at the sight of this woman I hadn’t spoken to for more than ten minutes in my life, but there it was.
I moved over to her, but she was so zoned out she didn’t register that I was there, so I cleared my throat.
