Page 179 of As They Are
WREN
RWL Superfan Discussion Central
Jamie McCullough: Any predictions for how much longer it’ll take before Wren and Jude are back together? I’m getting bored.
Comments:
Neve Bullock: I’d bet on it being the finale. They’ll drag it out as long as possible to keep us watching.
Alicia Parrish: I don’t know, maybe Wrenry is an actual thing? I could see it.
Kerry Winsor: Wrenry?
Alicia Parrish: It’s a couple name. Their names combined. Everyone knows that.
Kerry Winsor: Well I hate to break it to you, but “Wrenry” is absolutely an actual thing. Far better than “Wrude” which is exactly how Jude has been since he came here. He doesn’t talk to any of us!
Jamie McCullough: You take that back! We are so not here for the Jude slander.
“Areyou really making a pregnant woman cover her eyes and walk?”
“I’m making sure you don’t fall,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “And don’t play the pregnancy card. You know you wanna see it before anyone else.”
She huffed out a sigh. “I do. Curse you.”
“All right,” I said, placing her right in the middle of the library. She was the first to see it mostly finished. A few of the books were around, though more were on the way. “Ready?”
“So fucking ready,” she said. “Move that bus!”
“We definitely don’t say that. Pretty sure it’s copyrighted.”
“I can say whatever I want. I’m not on camera.”
I laughed and gently pulled her hands away from her eyes. They went wide as she took in everything. The bottom level was full of color since the kids’ area was here. The tiles were different shades of every color, and the white walls were covered with murals.
“Holyshit,” she said. “This is ... It feels exactly like it did when I was a kid.”
“I wanted it to be magical. I didn’t change much, other than brightening it up.”
“How did you even do all of this?” she whispered as she walked.
“You saw most of it. A lot of long hours.” I looked around. “Hopefully it was worth it.”
“It absolutely was,” she said with a smile.
Mollie walked toward the tables set up for the kids to either read or play on. The puppet area that Henry and I had found wasplaced on a tiny stage, ready for anyone who wanted to put on a show.
She gasped. “Eric is gonna love this. And so will this one. We’ll be here all the time.”
I looked out at the space. Instead of seeing ghosts of the past, I saw what could be. Mollie would be hanging out with Eric while helping her daughter read. All of the faces I’d grown to know would filter through as they visited the new and improved heart of the town.
When I’d been working here, I only saw the work. Now I saw it all.
Pride filled my chest. I’d done this. I’d made it happen.
“You haven’t even seen the upstairs yet.”
“I bet it’s even better,” she said, linking her arm through mine. “There’s a second staircase back here, right? We can take that.”
