Page 58 of A New Chapter

“I know. Thanks. So, tell me what happened at the store while I was gone.”

Emma half-listened as Kelly related stories about some of their regular customers, including Mrs. Simmons, who had finally broken down and bought the Fifty Shades series. Kelly said that it had been hard for her to keep a straight face when she rang up the purchase. She went on to say that Brett had done an excellent job of leading story time on Saturday, and the kids (especially the girls) seemed to love him.

“Oh, and Mike asked about you yesterday,” she added as an afterthought.

“Really?” Emma was surprised given their last interaction.

“I felt kind of sorry for the guy. He really has a thing for you.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that you were in Chicago at a book convention and that you’d be back on Monday. He asked about Zack, and I said that you two were just friends. If I would have known that you two hooked up, I would have discouraged Mike.”

Great, now I have to let Mike down again. “Being single is a lot harder than it looks,” Emma said, exasperated.

“Welcome to my world,” Kelly said, shaking her head.

“Sorry, Kell. I was so busy talking about myself that I forgot to ask you about….”

“Collin.”

“Yes, the poet. How’s that going?”

“We’re through. It turned out that he wasn’t so sensitive after all.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Emma rested her chin in her palm and gave Kelly her full attention.

“The good news is that I met Luke, and we have a date next weekend.”

“I can’t keep up with you, Kelly. Did you meet him here?”

“Yep, in the history section. He’s a history teacher at Clarkston Junior High School, and he wanted to read up on World War II.”

“So that makes him…”

“Worldly. I like a man with a global world view. Someone who thinks beyond himself.”

Emma had to laugh, but then, to soften the blow, she gave her friend a hug.

“What was that for?” Kelly asked even though she had hugged Emma back just as tight.

“Just because I love you. Your eternal optimism never ceases to amaze me.”

Emma let Kelly’s romantic outlook infuse her while she drove home. She unpacked, put on her favorite country music CD, and made herself a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. She puttered around the house for a while and congratulated herself for not checking her phone every other minute. It made perfect sense that Zack would want to spend some time with Gracie since he had been gone all weekend. Emma immersed herself in her James Patterson novel until she decided that it was a reasonable time to call.

Zack answered on the first ring, but he sounded a little frazzled. “Hey, Em.”

“Hey, am I interrupting something?”

“No. I just saved Gracie from having a meltdown when she couldn’t find her favorite doll. I used my superpower for finding lost toys and just finished tucking her in.”

“You really are Superman, then,” Emma said and giggled at her reference to his boxers.

“Something like that,” he replied, chuckling.

Emma thought she heard the rustling of covers, like he was getting into bed. “Whatcha doing right now?”

“Climbing into bed.”