Page 7 of A Valentine's Day Gift
“Cool!” Nico exclaimed. “I’m gonna have her sign my free book.”
Vinny smiled. “That would be great. We’re just hitting the tail end of her show though. They might be out of the free books.”
“Hit the gas!” Nico exclaimed.
“Yeah, make her fly!” Vince hollered.
He sped up a little, almost as eager as his kids for reasons he didn’t want to think too much about.
They made it with twenty minutes to spare. The boys ran ahead of him to the library entrance. It was an old brick building with a generic boxy addition tacked on the back sometime in the sixties. He stepped inside the front entrance, the old historic part of the library, scanning the foyer, and spotted Allie to the right in a cozy room with a fireplace and several chairs for reading. Probably the fireplace had been needed back in the day for heat. Her blond head was bent over a book she was signing for a mom and her little girl. Her hair was down, straight past her shoulders, and she wore a light purple tank top with black straps that showed lots of creamy skin. She looked relaxed, smiling at the girl. She didn’t look like a mom at all. She looked like an artist.
She looked like a beautiful woman.
For a moment he just stood there, completely enthralled.
A shuffle to his left alerted him to Vince and Nico shoving each other. At ten and eight years old, they could really get into it, especially when they got bored. He grabbed a hold of Vince by the sleeve, separating them, and jerked his head for the other two to follow him into the room. Allie hadn’t noticed them yet, still talking to the young girl at her table, so he took a few minutes to look around. Instead of bookcases, the room was lined on opposite sides with magazine racks. Her artwork hung in frames above the magazines and on either side of the fireplace. Beautifully realistic forest scenes that drew you in.
“Here it is,” he whispered to the boys. “All of this is her work.”
“Where’s the free books?” Nico whispered.
He pointed to where Allie was now sitting at the table alone. She looked up, her face lighting up with a smile that made his heart kick up a notch. She jumped up and closed the distance between them. She wore a black skirt, her bare legs in chunky black sandals, her petite body shown to perfection in the snug-fitting clothes. A jolt of lust gripped him so unexpectedly he couldn’t breathe for a moment. Like he’d just been jolted back to life.
“You came!” she exclaimed, stopping in front of him. She lifted her hands to hug him, and he shifted a fraction closer, hoping she would. She gave him a quick squeeze and pulled away, smiling down at Angel. “You must be Angel. Your daddy called you every day when he was working on my art studio.”
“Hi,” Angel whispered.
Vinny smiled. “I told the boys to whisper in the library.” He gestured to his other two standing to the side, looking all around. “This is Vince.” Vince turned at his name. “And Nico.”
Allie smiled at them. “Very nice to meet you. I set aside three books just in case you stopped by.”
“You did all these yourself?” Vince asked, pointing at the framed artwork. “Or were the drawings already there and you painted them?”
Allie looked around, beaming and beautiful, even more full of life than when he’d met her a year ago. “I did the drawings and I painted them too.”
“Cool,” Vince said.
“Come on, I’ll get your books.” She walked back to her table, a bounce in her step. He watched her go for a moment, realized he was setting a bad example the way he was checking her out, and followed, his eyes glued to the back of her head. Her hair was golden in the sun streaming through the front window, streaks of various shades of blond.
Angel grabbed his hand, holding it tight as they walked. “I gotta pee.”
Vinny sighed. Every frigging time. He’d told him to pee at the deli, but he’d said he didn’t have to. “Can ya hold it?”
“It’s an emergency,” Angel whispered.
Vince and Nico were ahead of them, already at the table with Allie. They turned around, each of them staring at the books, looking embarrassed. Vince crossed to him and whispered, “Dad, these are baby books.”
“I don’t want mine,” Nico said, giving it to Angel.
“That’s rude,” Vinny hissed. “Gimme. I’ll hold them.” The boys handed them over. “Angel, I’ll get you your own book. Vince, take your brother to the bathroom.”
“It’s Nico’s turn,” Vince whined.
“You’re the oldest; that means you help the youngest.” Vinny put Angel’s hand in Vince’s. “Go!”
“Man!” Vince said. “All the work being the oldest, none of the fun.”
Angel bounced from foot to foot.
