Page 12 of Honey Bee Library
“Okay,” I said as I made an effort to hide my disappointment. I turned to leave, but then stopped. I hadn’t held or kissed my son today. So I turned back around and crossed the space between us. I reached over and took him from her, nuzzling his neck and planting kisses on his cheeks after blowing a few raspberries.
“Bye bye, baby,” I said as I pulled back to see his wide, gummy smile. He was drooling and giggling.
“Tell Mommy good luck,” Abigail said as she held out her hands to take Samuel from me.
I gave him one last kiss and then handed him over. “Love you, stinker,” I said as I pressed my hands on each cheek and kissed his forehead.
Abigail held Samuel up in front of her face. “Good luck, Mommy,” she said in a baby voice.
I studied him for a moment before I turned and headed out of the room. As I walked through the kitchen, I grabbed my lunch that I’d packed last night from the fridge. When I got outside and tipped my face toward the sun, I decided to walk the two miles to the library instead of driving.
The morning air was crisp, and the breeze sent shivers across my skin. I welcomed the temperature. It helped wake me up and prepared me for the day. Plus, it guaranteed that I wasn’t going to show up at the library a sweaty mess.
I ran my finger along the bottom seam of my purse as I waited at the crosswalk that led to the library. Once it was safe, I hurried across. The library was quiet when I walked in. The lights were on, but according to the sign in the window, there were still ten minutes until it was officially open.
I stood just inside the front doors, wondering what I was supposed to do. Isabelle and I hadn’t talked about the plan for Monday morning, and the last thing I wanted to do was overstep.
“Hello?” I asked as I leaned over to peer down one of the book aisles. Nothing. It didn’t even sound like anyone was here.
Just as I opened my mouth to speak again, I was stopped short by the shrill sound of a text notification. I startled and grabbed my bag like that would silence the noise. Luckily, I’d slipped my phone into the front pocket of my purse, so I was able to retrieve it quickly. I swiped my screen on and glanced down.
Abigail: Just checking to make sure you got to the library. I saw that your car was still in the driveway when I left. Send me a thumbs-up so I know you’re safe!
I knew what she was actually saying. She was checking up on me because she thought I was a liability. I’d made a mistake once, and my sister was never going to let me live it down. No matter how responsible I was now, she was always going to see the broken sister who needed her help.
I was trapped in her cave of good intentions, and I feared I was never going to get out.
I sent a quick thumbs-up emoji before slipping my phone back into my purse. Needing something to focus on other than my sister and her worries, I turned my attention back to finding my new boss.
“Isabelle?” I called as I looked to the left.
“Sabrina?” Isabelle’s voice was faint, and relief filled my chest.
“Yeah! I’m here,” I said as I started walking in the direction her voice had come from.
“Coming,” she said. A few seconds later, she appeared in the doorway of a small office in the back left corner of the library. Her platinum-blonde hair was pulled up into a bun, and she had a pair of black, square-shaped glasses perched on her nose. She looked like a true librarian with her navy-blue pencil skirt and white shirt with a patterned cardigan over it. “I’m so sorry, I got distracted answering my emails.” Her smile widened. “I’m so glad you’re here. Are you excited to start?”
I nodded. “Absolutely.” I was excited to start my life again, and this job was my first step in making that a reality.
“I think my plan is to hang with you for the first half of the day. I’ll show you the book catalogue, how to process check-outs and returns, and the library card system. Tomorrow and Wednesday we’ll go over shelving the books while practicing what we talked about today. Does that sound good?”
I nodded. “Sounds wonderful.”
She smiled. “Perfect.” She took a step forward and then waved for me to join her. “Follow me.”
4
WILLOW
The airin the diner was tense as I tried to move on from the events of this morning. Everything had taken place in such a short amount of time, and I was struggling to process my feelings about what had happened. It didn’t help that the source of all of my confusion was currently occupying the same space as me.
Shivers raced across my skin when he accidentally bumped into me as I was attempting to enter the kitchen and he was trying to leave. My body betrayed me again when his arm brushed mine as I sat the Anderson family in the dining room. One touch from him, and I was instantly transported back to his bedroom, staring at him as he leaned against the doorframe of his bathroom with shaving cream on his face while my son snuggled on his bed watching TV.
There was a level of intimacy in that scene that made my heart ache. A feeling of family that I’d resigned myself to accept wasn’t going to happen for Jasper and me.
And then the memory of his extremely muscular, tanned, and tattooed chest would wiggle its way to the forefront of that memory, overpowering everything. It rooted itself in my mind, causing parts of my body that I thought were dead and buried to roar to life.
My inability to control my thoughts around the man who had taken half the diner from me left me with one conclusion: staying at Cole’s place had been a mistake.
