Page 25 of Library or Lattes?

“I’ll ask my pop, you don’t need to—”

“It’s fine. It won’t take long, I’ve already asked the woman at the desk.”

“Her name is Jo. Is this like … a good deed you’re doing to make up for being so rude?” It came out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“Excuse me?” He stopped and pushed his glasses up his nose, waiting for an explanation, even though it was pretty obvious. To me anyway.

“You were rude. About the town, and you were rude to Jo too …” My words trailed off as his expression changed. A smirk.

“Oh, that’s what this is. Of course. Small-town America, where everyone knows each other and people don’t pay for things in real money, just favors and baked goods …”

“And what’s wrong with that?” I demanded. I kept Mrs. Burrows’s banana cream pie payments to myself.

“It’s not real life,” Theo told me. “And no, it wasn’t because I was rude, even though I don’t think I was rude. Rude is more like throwing yourself into someone’s arms when they’re not expecting it and making them pull a muscle in their back.”

“That was actually your fault …”

“And rude is trying to trip someone in the street when they’re just planning to fix a window. Or maybe those are just the rules where I’m from.” With that he started walking again. Faster this time.

I caught up with him. “I didn’t throw myself into your arms. I fell, because you tried to murder me by knocking me off a ladder. And I wouldn’t be going to the library unless I absolutely needed to, so don’t act like I’m following you. And I’m glad you’re fixing the window beside my seat. I can’t wait to get hours of work done there …”

And then I walked even faster than him, all the way to the library, grabbing a book at random for something to read before I sat down at our desk. It was thankfully more than big enough for two, so I didn’t have to sit too close to him, or give him the satisfaction of finding another desk.

I tried to steady my breathing before he got there. He strode smoothly around the corner, carrying his tools, his clothes all dark and proper like some kind of European fashion model.

That was when I stared down at the book I’d grabbed when I walked in. Oh God … In too much of a rush, I’d picked up a romance on my way through. I opened to a random page, hiding the cover, and blushed at the graphic detail. But I kept on reading.

From the corner of my eye I could see Theo take off his coat, hanging it carefully on the back of a chair. Then he pulled off his black sweater to reveal a bright white T-shirt.

I’d thought he was skinny, but he was lean. It was clear that the muscles that strained as he worked on the window were seriously used to manual labor.

I looked back down and blushed again. In the book, the protagonist and one of the love interests were getting it on in a hospital closet.

“Enjoying your book?” Theo asked. Was he mocking me?

“Yeah, it’s really interesting, I’m learning a lot,” I said. I looked back at the page, trying to keep my face straight, and breathed a sigh of relief when he turned back to the window.

I took my chance to get up, to go to the actual nonfiction section, and to subtly trade this book for something about, I don’t know, politics. But just as I got up, I knocked the novel and it landed cover up on the floor.

And there he was, already bending down to pick it up.

“Playing Doctor?” he said with a smirk as he handed the book to me. I was basically turning purple now.

I pressed the book cover to my chest. “It’s about the health care system of many different countries,” I explained. “A comparison, that is.”

“Oh, really?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Yes. Really. I’m just going to …” I picked up my bag, pointed to the door, and started to walk toward it. I’d tried. But I couldn’t, just couldn’t, be here with him.

“Are you going to that festival thing next week?” Theo called from behind me.

Well, that was a surprise. I turned and said, “Yeah, everyone goes. Why?”

He shrugged, then put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the edge of the table. “No reason.” He nodded at the book I was clutching. “Enjoy your reading, Willa.”

I couldn’t flick my hair properly anymore, not now that it was short and under my hat. But I tried my best, and I stormed out of the library, past a confused-looking Jo and into the wind. And even the wind irritated me, because it reminded me of the smirking, condescending, said-my-name-in-a-really-cute-way jackass I’d had the misfortune of meeting.

I looked at the copy of Playing Doctor, which I hadn’t officially checked out, hid it in my schoolbag, and tried not to give Theo any headspace for the whole walk home.