AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m good, thank you. I wanted to come over to tell you Seth is doing great in school. He asked me to send his thanks again the next time I saw you.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear he’s doing well. He’s a good kid.”
“I think so, but I’m probably a little biased.” She laughs. “All right, I’ll leave you two alone. I just wanted to say hi and pass along his message.”
“It was nice seeing you, Callie. Tell Seth hello for me.”
“I will. It was nice seeing you too, Brenden.” Smiling, she turns her attention to Lizzy. “You’ve got a great guy here.”
Lizzy’s eyes widen as she coughs, nearly choking on her drink, but she doesn’t say anything to correct Callie’s assumption before she steps away.
“Sorry about that. Where were we?” I ask, hoping in vain to sidestep our entire interaction with Callie.
“How do you know her son?” She gestures in Callie’s direction with her head, and I sigh.
“From the high school where I work.”
“I didn’t realize you worked at the high school. Are you a teacher?”
“No,” I reply, tone flat.
I know sharing yourself is part of getting to know someone and building relationships, but I’m not ready to share certain parts of myself yet.
“All right,” she says with a slight chuckle, raising her eyebrows. “Are you going to tell me what exactly it is you do?”
“I’m the librarian,” I lie, my poker face in place.
She tilts her head to the side, narrowing her eyes as she studies me. “I can never tell when you’re bullshitting me. You’re too good at it, like you honestly believe whatever you are saying even when it’s a lie. It’s a little concerning.” She continues to study me as she squirms in her chair, and I fight to contain my laughter. “Are you really the school librarian?”
“Maybe. Something wrong with that?”
“No,” she sulks, drawing out the word. “I just can’t figure out how a school librarian could have helped her son so much. The woman clearly had a lot of admiration for you.”
“I’ll have you know librarians are society’s unsung heroes. My librarian was an amazing woman. She not only helped me find my love of reading, but her kindness helped me hold on to my faith in humanity. She played a role in my desire to work with kids in the first place. I wanted to be the bright light in someone’s day like she’d been in mine.” My answer is a lot more revealing and honest than I originally intended. Something about Lizzy brings out the sides of me I try to keep hidden from the world.
She remains silent for a moment, regarding me with uncertainty in her eyes, and I resist the urge to fidget by gripping my drink and swallowing a mouthful. “Are you really a librarian?” she asks.
“No.” I smirk, then laugh when she frowns in aggravation. “That sure sounded good though, didn’t it?”
“It’s scary how good you are at that.” She shakes her head and lets out a sigh. “Will you tell me what it is you actually do?”
“Nope.”
