Page 9 of Love in the Stacks
I smile. “Of course you do. Anyway, Herb is worried the project might be a bit controversial and I guess he wants me to keep things reined in.”
“That’s a tough spot.” He whistles. “Who’s the colleague?”
I feel my face and neck turn warm when I answer. “Nicole Delaney. She’s fairly new. Purple hair?”
Dr. Parker studies me. “Mmhmm. I know the girl. She’s about your age, isn’t she?”
“Uhh, give or take.”
“Single?”
“I mean, that’s not really relevant,” I sputter. The warmth goes all the way up to my ears and down to my chest now.
“No? Alright then. I thought it might be relevant seeing how you’re red as a lobster right now.”
I sigh, giving in. “I might be hoping it becomes relevant. Hoping, but not expecting.” I try to smile, but it feels more like a grimace.
“Uh huh.” Dr. Parker is quiet for a few minutes. Then he asks, “Would you like to know what I think?”
“Definitely,” I answer.
“For the project, focus on supporting her ideas and her vision. Make sure she knows you want to help, not take over.”
“That makes sense.”
“And as for the girl, take advantage of the opportunity you have here to get to know her, and for her to get to know you. You’re a nice young man. Show her that.”
Now it’s my turn to sit quietly, absorbing Dr. Parker’s words.
“Oh,” he adds, “and if possible, introduce her to Joan. Dogs can tell what’s what about people. If Joan likes her, you can feel good about taking the next step.” He winks.
I laugh. “Duly noted. But, if she’s at my house meeting Joan, I’m guessing we’re already taking the next step.”
Chapter five
Adam
This time, Nicole is coming to me for our meeting. I fidget back and forth in my chair while I wait for her, watching the door but trying to make it look like I’m not watching the door. I’m twisted around in my chair, my face toward the wall when I hear her upbeat “Hi!” from the doorway. I spin back around, and my chair almost tips over. I place my hands on the desk to steady myself.
“Hi,” I echo. My eyes are drawn to her outfit—a black dress with red flowers on it. The top part molds to her back and chest, hugging her curves. At the waist, the skirt flares out with layers of ruffles down to her knees. My eyes travel lower, to her smooth calves and down to the flat red shoes she’s wearing that come to an uncomfortable-looking point at the toes. I notice some sort of mark or smudge on the bare skin on the top of her foot, but I snap my eyes back toher face quickly when I realize I’ve been ogling. She notices, based on the annoyed look on her face. Not a great start. I try to recover.
“Come in.” I gesture with my hand. “Your, uh, dress is nice.” I mentally slap my hand against my forehead. Way to be even creepier, Adam.
Nicole sits in the chair on the other side of my desk and crosses her legs. I force my eyes to stay on her face and not dip back down to her legs. She doesn’t look annoyed anymore, so I might have imagined it.
“Thank you,” she says. “It’s one of my favorites. And it has pockets.”
I wait for her to get us started. Like I told her last time we met, I consider this her project.
“Have you had a chance to look through the list of potential titles I sent you?”
“Yes,” I answer. “But honestly, they mean little to me. I looked up reviews for some of them, and they were solid for sure. I’m not a graphic novel or subject specialist.”
“I know. I had the other liaison librarians take a look too, and they all picked out their top ten. That helped me narrow it down to the fifty titles we’ll want to pilot. The list is pretty evenly divided between art, history, literature, and education.”
“Sounds great.”
“If I send you the list of fifty titles, can you look up pricing so we can include that in our proposal?”
