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Holton
I staredafter Lyric for too long; I knew that. Just like I knew the way I’d looked at her while she was in front of me was lost on absolutely no one. But I couldn’t seem to help it.
“What alovelyyoung woman,” my mother said, the inflection in those words obvious to everyone. “Don’t you think so, Holton?”
Oh, for Christ’s sake. I was never going to live this down.Never.
“Oh, I think he’s well aware of just howlovelyLyric is,” my sister added, never one to miss a chance to give me shit. “You see the way he was looking at her, Mom? Someone’s got a crush,” she sing-songed, dragging the last word out.
I finally pulled my gaze from where Lyric had disappeared, looking at Alexis with a flat, emotionless stare. “How old are you?”
Her smile was so big, it nearly split her face in half. “Old enough to know when you’ve got the hots for someone. And right now, that someone is the town’s new librarian.” She waggled her eyebrows and stressed, “She’s really pretty. Bet she’s got men all over town playing sexy librarian scenarios in their heads.”
Just the thought of men thinking of Lyric that way had me seeing red. I carefully pulled a breath in through my nose and counted to ten before letting it out, hoping to get that unreasonable anger under control. “I hate you,” I muttered at Alexis. It never failed that, when the two of us got together, we easily slipped back into teenage immaturity.
Our mother shot her a scolding look. “Oh, Lex. Don’t be so crass. But she was quite beautiful. You should ask her out.” She lifted her brows, a knowing expression on her face as she added, “You know, a woman like that won’t stay single for long. You’d do well to remember that.”
Fuck my life.
ChapterThirteen
LYRIC
You knowthose days where nothing seems to go right and it feels like everyone is out to get you? Yeah, I was having one of those days.
It started first thing in the morning when I rolled over, feeling more awake than I usually did when I needed to get up and get ready for work, only to discover that a power surge in the middle of the night had knocked out my alarm clock. I was already twenty minutes late by the time I discovered I’d overslept, meaning I’d have to cut my hair care process in order to make it to the library on time. For a naturally curly girl, skipping hair care was a nightmare. Even if I tied it up in a wet bun—which I had to do—by the end of the day, the little fine baby hairs all over my head would frizz out, making me look like a deranged chia pet.
It only got worse from there when my coffee maker crapped out on me mid-stream. Less than four ounces of coffee, and no time to stop somewhere for a cup on my way to work.
If I thought it couldn’t have gone any further down that particular hill, I was very wrong. An hour before story hour was set to start, Mr. Hasslebeck had called to tell me he’d come down with the flu and couldn’t make it in. While adults might have found his costumes a bit eccentric, it became very clear the kids loved them; they all but started a revolt when one of the other volunteers tried to step in and read the story.
Hair pulling, crying, and temper tantrums abounded. I half expected the tiny terrorists to try to light the building on fire. It had gotten so bad I’d canceled story hour out of fear for my volunteers’ safety.
Shame-faced parents carted their kids out, apologizing profusely for not being able to keep them under control.
I’d hoped that would be the worst of it. I mean, honestly, was there much lower you could go after a mutiny by a bunch of toddlers and preschoolers? I didn’t think so.
Then I met Janine Gates. The worst woman on the face of the planet. At least in my opinion.
I’d been busier than usual, working to inventory all the donated books we’d gotten the week prior at the county fair when she came up to the front desk, face pinched in an unhappy scowl, arms crossed over her chest, exuding an air of hostility and superiority.
I swallowed down the niggling annoyance that came with being interrupted and pasted a smile on my face. “Hi. Can I help you?”
She hiked her chin up in order to look even farther down her nose at me. “Yes, you can,” she stated superiorly as she dropped a stack of books down on the counter in front of me. I recognized every single one of them, and while I hadn’t read them all, they were extremely popular with the romance-loving community. “I’d like you to explain why you think it’s appropriate to have books like these in a family friendly public library.”
A coal of anger sparked deep in my belly, the heat of it spreading through my limbs, but I did my best to tamp it down, determined to remain professional. I loved most aspects of my job, being surrounded by books was my happy place, literature filled me with joy. I loved escaping into the world of books and providing that very same relief for other people. Sure, there were bureaucratic aspects of the job that were annoying, but this had to be my least favorite part of the job. I couldn’t stand these judgmental, self-righteous, closed-minded people who thought they knew what was best for everyone and turned their noses up at anyone they felt unworthy.
As much as I wanted to curl my lip and bare my teeth, I gave her a small, bland smile.
“I’m sorry you’re unhappy with the selection provided here, but I can assure you, every book has been approved by the town council.
She tapped the tips of her fingers against the offending books in question. “These books are filled with...pornography,” she hissed, like just saying the word was a grave sin.
“If you gave a problem with any of the books here, you’re welcome not to read them.”
“An innocent child could come in here, pick up any one of these books, and be exposed to things they have no business knowing about.”
I dropped my hands to my sides so she couldn’t see my fists clench tightly. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but everything here is above board. If you’re this bothered by the books we keep shelved, you’re welcome to take it up with the town council at the next meeting. Until then, I’m not going to pull any books because of one person’s issue with them.”
