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ChapterThirteen
For the rest of the afternoon, Adam reviewed footage, worked on the script, and made the rounds through the library to figure out tonight’s shoot. Although he didn’t talk to Bee, he was constantly aware of her proximity to him.
Despite his determination to stay focused, his subconscious couldn’t ignore her. If he was in the mezzanine, he knew where she was on the lower floor; if he was in the conference room, he sensed her at the circulation desk; if he was in one of the alcoves, he heard her speaking to her coworkers in the fiction stacks.
He relived their parking lot kiss and wondered how he could convince her to participate in another “experiment.”
At four, she led an after-school storytime for first and second graders. The children’s section was crammed into a tiny, windowless area at the back of the house, and Bee sat on the floor with five kids clustered around her.
Telling himself he was scouting a possible shoot location, Adam hovered among the picture-book shelves. He listened to her telling the kids a story about a giraffe who loved to dance. The sound of her voice—warm, delighted, dipping and swaying along with the rhythm of the story—filled him with pleasure.
He didn’t even have a name for what he felt when he was near her, which he told himself was for the best. He’d spent much of his life examining things down to the minute detail, from all angles, and picking them apart. This time, for once, it was a relief just to leave something alone.
As Bee and the kids talked about their favorite characters in the book, Adam scanned the titles on the picture-book shelves. He pulled one out and looked at the cover of a boy in a white wolf costume leading a parade of huge monsters.
Sitting on the floor, he read the book and studied the pictures that grew bigger and bigger until the scenes were almost bursting past the edges of the pages.
He reached the end of the book, then flipped back to the beginning and started it again. He liked that Max “made mischief,” the same term John Marcus had used about Halloween revelers.
He read it a third time. It was pure fantasy of course, even including phenomena like hypnosis, but he appreciated the creativity and the artistic talent.
His eyes returned several times to one line in particular—when Max “wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.” For the boy, that was back home, where his mother had his still-hot dinner waiting for him.
“Hey, boss, what’re you doing down here?” Harry peered around the corner of the bookshelves. “We’re staging Clyde’s positions if you want to check them out.”
“Yeah.” Adam pushed the book back onto the shelf and got to his feet. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
With a salute, Harry headed back to the main room. Reminding himself of his vow to get his head back in the game, Adam left the children’s section.
Still holding a stack of picture books, Bee had stopped beside a cluster of tables populated by the library assistant Peter and six high school kids squinting at their laptops.
As Adam passed, Bee caught his eye and smiled. His pulse skyrocketed.
“Are you busy right now?” she asked.
“No,” he lied.
“Would you mind hanging out here for a few minutes?” She glanced at the clock. “I have to get these books put away. The teacher who runs the study group is late, and Peter could use an extra hand to help the kids with math and English. Lorena texted that she’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”
“Sure.”
“Perfect, thank you. Peter tutors until closing. Text me if you need anything.” Bee quickly introduced him to the kids and hurried off.
“What’re you all working on?” Adam pulled up a chair and sat next to Peter.
“Geometry.”
“Shakespeare.”
“Pre-calc.”
“Physics.”
Every word was said with an accompanying groan or eye roll.
“I’m probably not much help with Shakespeare, but I’ve got the other subjects covered.” Adam glanced at the laptop screens. “What’s your homework?”
“I can’t even access the course outline.” One of the kids stabbed the enter key on his keyboard. “The Wi-Fi here totally sucks.”
