Page 36 of Summer Reading

Shorts and a T-shirt and my beat-up bucket hat. No. A sunflower-print sundress with Converse high-tops. No. Jeans and a button-down shirt tied at the waist over a hot pink tank top. No. No. No.

It was Monday morning, and I was having a fashion crisis of epic proportions. What was I supposed to wear to see Ben this morning? I had to set the right tone. It couldn’t be too flirty but also not so casual that I looked like I’d climbed out of the hamper. Mascara and lip gloss and a messy bun were a for sure, but what clothes to wear? I looked at the mountain of discarded outfits on my bed. Nothing spoke to me.

“Sam, come on!” Tyler cried from downstairs. “We’re going to be late.”

“You mean we’re going to be less early than everyone else,” I said.

“Whatever,” he said. “Can we gonow, please.”

I was standing in my underwear. At least that outfit was a definite no.

“All right, all right, I’m coming!” I grabbed the firstthing on the bed. A flirty swing dress with a muted tie-dye pattern in swirls of dusty pink and sage green. Cute but casual. It would have to do. I slipped on my beige Tory Burch sandals, grabbed my shoulder bag, and hurried downstairs.

Tyler was waiting by the door, looking impatient. “What happened to the shorts you were wearing at breakfast?”

“I changed,” I said.

“Why?” he asked. Yes, he of the baggy shorts andMinecraftT-shirt was questioning my fashion choices.

“Because I’m hoping to see hot librarian guy and kiss him again” did not seem like a good answer, so I said, “Just felt like it.”

“Oh.” He shoved his earbuds in and ignored me for the rest of the ride.

I rode the brake through the neighborhood, avoiding a pack of kids on bikes, two moms with jogging strollers, and a tourist who was walking down the middle of the road, chatting on his phone. I thought about honking at him. In Boston, he’d already be a speed bump, but I took a deep breath, reminded myself I was not in the city, and tried to tap into my Vineyard Zen.

The road to the library was mercifully clear, and we made great time. I’d had two days to think about the kiss Ben had planted on me, and I was desperate to find Em and ask her advice. I’d hoped to catch up overthe weekend, but she had family commitments and Tyler and I had chores like laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. Adulting blows, FYI. Tyler also badgered me to help him with his dance moves, and despite the hamstring I’d pulled while teaching him, I have to admit he was getting pretty decent.

It was good that I’d had two days of not seeing Ben. It clarified a few things for me. I knew I liked him—a lot. But whatever this attraction was between us, it was definitely not long-haul type of stuff. We were ships passing in the night, which I found ironic given how we’d met on a ferry.

He was the interim library director, so he was only here temporarily, and I was on island just until I figured out my life, which I hoped would not take longer than the summer season. I couldn’t get all turned around because of a relationship and lose my career in the mix, but that didn’t mean a no-strings-attached summer fling was off the table, or so I told myself every time I thought about that brain melter of a kiss we’d shared.

I parked in the lot, and Tyler shot out of the car. Amazingly enough, he’d let me pack his lunch today. It was a very unadventurous turkey and Swiss on white bread, but he’d let me go crazy and add some mustard. I’d also tucked in fruit salad and some homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was a start.

“See you later, Sam,” he said. He jogged to thebuilding. I wasn’t sure if it was his need to arrive first or his desire to leave me behind. Most likely a bit of both.

I found Em on the second floor. She was seated at the reference desk. Today she was wearing a navy blue dress with a fit-and-flare skirt and the same white cardigan. She was reading a book and didn’t see me walking toward her. I saw her take a sticky note and mark the page. Her face looked pale and tight with tension. As I watched, she reached up and rubbed the side of her neck as if trying to check her glands. I wondered if she was feeling all right.

“Hey, Em,” I said.

She glanced up and dropped her hand. She slammed the book shut and put it on the book truck behind her.

“How was your weekend with the fam?” I asked.

She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Good. Great. Fine. How was yours?”

“Solid. I worked recipes for the next happy hour, taught Tyler some new dance moves, and we went paddleboarding at Inkwell, although I had to threaten to throw Tyler’s computer into the ocean to get him to come with me.”

“Sounds fun,” she said. “Not the threats, the paddleboarding.”

She seemed distracted, and I wondered if she’d heard about the kiss between Ben and me. We’d beenon the front porch, where anyone could have seen us. Darn it, I wanted to be the one to tell her I’d bagged the hot librarian guy. I went for it anyway.

“Ben kissed me,” I said.

“What?!” she cried. Her eyes went wide behind her glasses, and she beamed at me. “How was it?” She raised her hands in a “stop” gesture. “No, don’t tell me.Gah. I won’t be able to look at him in the staff meeting.”

I laughed. “I would never kiss and tell.”

“Really?” She looked at me with a pointed stare.

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