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“I suppose,” she says. She purses her lips as if contemplating it.
I lean my forehead against hers. “I know.”
She grins and I press a quick kiss to her red-stained lips. “Come on, let’s go celebrate your accomplishment.”
She blushes but puts her arm through mine. “We’ll meet you all over there,” I say to Bastian and Mr. and Mrs. Potter as I open the front door and escort my girlfriend to our car. “You three behave,” I add as we walk past Ames, Isaac, and Felipe who are all sitting by the front door in hopes they will get to go for a car ride.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, I ponder just how far we’ve both come in just a few short months. While still completely humble, Isa has become a badass boss. She has four full-time employees now and still keeps four part-time employees and two volunteers. She just received her second grant and is working on an after-school reading program for children. She amazes me every day.
I drive us ten minutes to the library and park in Isa’s reserved spot. It is still odd to have this be my normal. A loving girlfriend, me driving a car, and us opening a new library together. I couldn’t have predicted this life if I had all the time in the world.
“You ready?” I ask.
“Yes. Let’s do this,” she says as she opens her car door. I hurry around to help her out, and then we head inside. Her staff are all there and we are quickly put to work helping with last-minute preparations.
Guests begin to arrive, and at exactly seven o’clock on the dot, Isa takes a microphone and stands on the landing of the giant staircase in the front foyer which has now become the information desk and checkout area.
“Good evening, Storyview Falls,” she starts. A few people reply with “good evening” or nods.
“I can’t tell you how very excited and pleased I am to be the first person to welcome you to the first new Storyview Falls Library in nearly one hundred years; ninety-seven to be exact.” A few people laugh. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell the story of how we got here. About three months ago, I was trying to talk a certain local man into sharing his very special book collection with us so that I might qualify for a match on a grant I desperately wanted to get for our library…well, to be fair, we desperately needed it. I was sure he wasn’t going to oblige because I had sent ten emails with no more than a form response. So, one night, I picked up my dog from the groomer and I drove out to his estate and knocked on the door. And then I waited, and I waited some more, and eventually, my dog grew tired of waiting and took off toward this man’s office.” A few more people laugh. “And when I went running after him, I had no idea I would end up in Adam Wellington’s office. I also had no idea that the snow flurries outside had turned into a full-on snowstorm that would strand me and my dog at this estate for nearly four days. And I’m still not completely sure how it happened, but somewhere between that first encounter and our winter book festival, I talked Mr. Wellington into giving me those books.” She pauses and looks down at me. I smile up at her with pride. “Those books are now on permanent display in our exhibit hall, and I hope you all have a chance to view them tonight. Thanks to that grant, the donation of this new building, and a second grant, we are thriving, and we largely owe that to Mr. Adam Wellington. Let’s give him a big round of applause,” she urges as she claps her hands and everyone else joins in. I bow my head a little, but I keep my eyes on hers. She grins down at me. “I’m so thrilled to announce that just yesterday, I was able to confirm a new program for our little library. We will have a reading specialist joining our team next month and our goal is to provide an after-school reading program this coming fall.” Everyone claps. “But tonight is really about celebrating how far we’ve come, so let’s take time this evening to enjoy this amazing new space. Explore it, read, sit, and stay for a while…oh, and just for tonight we’ll break some library rules and eat and dance, we have a band and a great caterer, thanks, Elisha, for providing the food for this evening. Enjoy your evening, and if you are able, we’d love to accept donations at our donation table. Thank you!”
Isa turns off the microphone and the band starts playing by a dance floor we cleared next to the largest of the meeting rooms to the right of the main hall.
“How was that?” she asks me as I take her in my arms.
“Perfect. You are perfect,” I state, pulling her against me.
“Shall we dance?” she suggests. She pauses as we make our way across the room.
“Oh, one second, my parents made it,” she says as she leads me over to them. We all say hello and small talk for a few minutes. Several other patrons pull Isa into conversations and an hour goes by before I manage to lead Isa to the dance floor.
“You are a popular librarian,” I state as I begin to move us around the wooden floor.
She shrugs. “I suppose I am. Jealous?” she asks, raising her eyebrow.
“Nope,” I reply and lean in to whisper in her ear. “Because they only get a few minutes of your time. And I’m going to get you all night, naked in my bed.”
I watch as the pink creeps up her neck.
“Adam,” she hisses.
“Yes?” I reply.
She looks up at me and smirks. “You are such a beast.”
I lean down and press a quick kiss to her lips before pulling back to match her smirk. “And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
EPILOGUE
Isa
Three months later…
“How big is your property? I feel like we’ve been riding Apollo and Cleo for three days,” I ask.
Adam glances over at me. “Almost there,” he states. “And for the record, it’s only been thirty minutes. This trail is tricky.”
“More like two hours and thirty minutes,” I huff.
