Page 51 of Bookworm
“Do you or do you not have a futon instead of a couch?” Addy asked.
Silently, I pressed my lips together, smothering my laugh.
“That’s what I thought,” Addy said.
The elevator gave another dying ding and the doors clunked open on my floor. “Okay,” I laughed. “So bar hopping in Maple Grove it is.”
“Fine. You’ve got a deal,” Addy laughed.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost five o’clock… and Adam never came to the library like he said he would. Unease trickled down my spine. “I’ve got to go, I’ll text you tomorrow to firm up the details. Love you!”
After we hung up, I packed up my supplies and walked the halls toward Adam’s office. He should have finished classes a while ago, but maybe he had office hours he forgot to tell me about.
I found his room, the heavy dark wood door shut and gave a little knock.
Nothing. No answer. I peeked in his classroom. Again, empty.
I continued to explore the building, realizing that I’d been here a couple of weeks and pretty much never left the library. When I came upon the faculty dining room, I stopped short. I wassort offaculty. I had a temporary badge.
I opened the door, peeking inside the small but cozy dining room and had to admit, it was pretty impressive. There were a few counters of varying types of food to order from—a coffee place. A burger joint. Pizza. And a soup and salad place.
It was mostly quiet and as I scanned the room, Adam was still nowhere to be seen.
My heart stopped as my gaze landed on two people, all the way in the back corner. Jasmine.
Jasmine was sitting, picking at her salad, while a man ate across from her.
But not just any man…
Elijah Stone. Adam’s father.
Chapter Fifteen
Shock, panic, jealousy and despair are apparently great motivators. At least, they are for me.
In the two hours since I’d seen Jasmine and Elijah eating dinner together, I’d managed to go back to the rare books room and repair several more of the damaged books in my pile. If I kept up at that rate, I’d be back in London in a matter of a couple of weeks.
Numb, I walked the few blocks home, distracted by my phone buzzing in my purse.
Heart skipping, for the briefest moment, I thought maybe Adam was calling me. But it was Daphne’s name blinking on the screen.
“Hey,” I said, tucking the phone against my shoulder and tugging my keys free from my bag as well.
“Hey,” she said. “I just wanted to check in and make sure I didn’t screw things up for you this morning. Adam heard what you said, didn’t he?”
Was that really only a few hours ago? It felt like a week ago. “Yeah. Yeah he did.”
“Shit. Was he mad?”
“Well… he wasn’t exactlyhappythat I said he wasn’t enough to make me uproot my life and move here.”
“I’m sorry,” Daphne sighed. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to talk this morning.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I told her. “I’m the idiot who blabbed to you with him in the other room.”
“Yeah, thatwaspretty stupid.”
I shook my head, a smile teasing my lips. “Says the girl who thought the self-clean button on her oven turned it into a dishwasher.”
