I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. “Derek, I possibly have access to a specific book they were looking for. If I can find it, we can get to whatever it is they want before they do. They obviously want it bad or they wouldn’t have tried to rob a bank.”
“Those men are in lock up. Whoever this is looking at locks is someone entirely different.”
“Exactly! Which means that there are at least a few different people looking for whatever this is. If I can get my hands on the book, maybe we can find whatever it is they want before they do.”
“Claire, do you hear yourself? You’re a librarian. You’re not a detective. Just stay out of this.”
“Don’t you at least want their phone number?” I asked in confusion. “You could track them or something.”
“I want you to leave it alone. Don’t get involved and don’t try and figure this out on your own. Am I clear?”
I couldn’t believe that he didn’t even want the number of the people that were after whatever was in that box. And worse than that, he was ordering me to stay out of it as if I was some kind of idiot that couldn’t take care of myself.
“Crystal clear. You’re absolutely right. I’m just a librarian. I’ll keep my nose out of it.”
“Claire, that’s not-”
“No, you’re right. I have to go. I have books to shelve.”
I hung up before he could say anything else and picked up the books the men had left behind. After putting them away, I picked up the piece of paper and started to research the book. I contacted a few collectors and antique book stores, hoping that I would have some luck. No one had access to the book, but a few knew which one I was talking about. They promised to let me know if they found the book. By the time I finished, it was an hour after the library closed and I was tired, sweaty, and hungry.
Lucy had sent me a message asking me to take care of the chickens tonight, so I dragged my ass home and changed into my work clothes. I made sure all the chickens were fed and watered and after seeing that they were all in the coop, I shut it up tight or the night. In the morning, I would have to bring out a few more bags of feed and clean out the coop, seeing as I hadn’t done it earlier this week like I should have. The grass also needed to be cut and there were weeds growing like crazy in the vegetable garden. It looked like I would be getting an early start tomorrow so that I could tackle all the projects that needed to be taken care of.
After I dragged my ass upstairs and showered off, I plopped down on the bed and plugged in my phone to charge for the night. I noticed that I had a few text messages from Derek, apologizing for being so harsh with me earlier and a voice mail from him. Again, he apologized and asked me to call him, but I was too tired. Or maybe I was just too pissy at the moment. I didn’t feel like talking to him and I didn’t want to listen to his apologies right now. My bed was calling my name, so I put the phone down and was asleep within minutes.
✯✯✯✯✯
Almost a week later, I was out in my vegetable garden, still weeding those damn weeds. When the crops came in, we would take them down to the farmer’s market in town and sell them for additional income. It wasn’t a ton extra, but it helped offset the costs of running the farm. Lucy usually handled gathering the eggs and delivering them to the grocery store in the mornings, which was fine by me because I much preferred to work in the garden than deal with people.
Dad walked out to meet me with a cup of coffee. I didn’t really have time to stop right now, but I also didn’t want to miss out on these moments with him.
“You work too hard, Claire bear. Why don’t you take a break?”
I took the cup of coffee from him and leaned against a nearby fence. “I just want to get some weeding done. I’ve been neglecting my chores around here.”
“Lucy says you have a man friend.”
“A man friend?” I said with a grin. “Is that what people call it?”
“Claire, I don’t want you to feel that you have to be here taking care of the farm all the time. I know that it’s a lot to deal with and I’m not as helpful as I should be.”
“I want to help out around here.”
“I understand that, but you shouldn’t have to give up so much of your life because of my dreams.”
“I’m not giving up anything. I like to do this stuff.”
“I know, but you have a full time job at the library, and-” He ran his hand over his greying beard and sighed like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Claire, you and Lucy both know that I’m…I’m losing myself. The doctors say it’s only going to get worse. I think it’s time we start looking into other arrangements.”
“No. Absolutely not. I’m not going to just ship you off to some home for other people to care for you.”
“You don’t have a choice. I won’t do this to either of you anymore. You’re both too young to be dealing with this kind of burden. It’s not fair that you both put your lives on hold for me. You never went to college for anything you really wanted, and it’s taken Lucy much longer than it should have to get her teaching degree. She should have been teaching for a few years now.”
“Daddy, you know she wanted to get her masters.”
“I know, but it wouldn’t have taken her so long if it weren’t for me. I want us to sit down this weekend and really look at our options.”
“But-”
“Don’t argue with me, Claire. I’ve thought about this a lot and I want to make this move before I’m too far gone. The one thing I don’t ever want is to be a burden to you and your sister.”
“Daddy, you could never be a burden.”
He pulled me in for a hug and kissed the side of my head. “I appreciate that, but we both know it isn’t true. Now, I want you to bring this fella around to meet me. I need to make sure he’s good enough for my girl.”
“He is Daddy.”
“Still, I want to see for myself.”
I grinned up at my dad, happy that for the moment he was himself and able to play the protective dad card. Soon, I wouldn’t have these moments any more. He would be beyond my reach and the man I knew would cease to exist.
✯✯✯✯✯
I was in the middle of a gripping thriller, sitting at a table in the library. The heroine was just about to enter the house where the killer awaited her. I sucked down some more of my Diet Coke and flipped the page, completely entranced in the book. Don’t go in there. It was silly, really. The characters couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t change whatever happened in the book, but as I read on, I begged the woman not to be so stupid as to enter a house where her lights weren’t working. She did anyway.
Lenora flipped the light switch several times and nothing happened. Walking into the room further, she stopped suddenly when she heard the floor creak off to her left. She knew this house well. Knew that there was one floor board that always creaked when you walked on it. She spun around and squinted into the darkness, not seeing a thing. She walked slowly over to the hallway where the creaky board was located, trying her best not to make any noise. If someone was still in the house, she would…
Well, she wasn’t sure what she would do. She didn’t have a weapon of any kind and no real way to defend herself, but she just couldn’t bring herself to leave. In her mind, she could hear the terrorizing music that would be playing in a horror film right now. She knew she should leave. It was the only sensible thing to do, but she didn’t turn around.
“Don’t go in there,” I whispered.
Lenora finally reached the hallway, but she didn’t see anyone. There were four bedrooms down the hallway and each one had the door slightly open. She’d have to look in each one if she wanted to be sure there was no one there. Creeping down to the first door, she gently nudged the door open and peeked inside. The moonlight shining in cast an eerie glow around the room. The closet door was open slightly and she knew she wouldn’t be able to move on unless she checked in the closet.
Taking a deep breath Lenora walked over to the
closet and quickly flung the door open, jumping in a kind of karate stance as if that would be intimidating. There was nothing in there but Dad’s old clothes. She shut the door tight and walked out of the room, glancing both ways down the hall before continuing. She stepped out and crept down to the next door on the right side. Quickly looking around the corner, she saw that this room was empty also. She had just taken a step toward the closet when she heard another creak from the hallway. She quickly ran toward the door, stepped into the hallway when-“
I screamed as a hand landed hard on my shoulder. Flinging my closed fist back, I heard the satisfying crunch of my fist hitting bone followed by a groan. I stood quickly and spun around only to be shocked to see Derek holding his nose and groaning while blood dripped between his fingers.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry.” I headed for him, but he backed up, obviously not wanting me near him. “I can’t believe I did that. I was in the middle of this really exciting book and the woman was just about to find out who was in her house. Oh my gosh, it was so scary because she walked into her house and all the lights were out and she still went to see who was there. I mean, who does that? Why wouldn’t she just call the police? Well, obviously because then it wouldn’t be a very good thriller, but still. It was so scary and then you came up behind me and put your hand on my shoulder and it just totally freaked me out.”
I blew out a breath and saw that Derek was staring at me through a bloody hand. I cringed and pointed toward the bathroom. “I’ll just grab you some paper towels.”
I hurried off the bathroom and grabbed a couple of paper towels and then went back for a few more. Then I thought that maybe they should be wet, so I went back and got a few more. By the time I got back to Derek, I had a whole armful of paper towels, both wet and dry. I set them down on the table in front of him and took a step back.
“Um, here are the paper towels. I wasn’t sure if you wanted them wet or dry. I’m sure to soak up the blood you need dry, but then I thought that you wouldn’t be able to really clean up the blood unless you had wet paper towels. So, I got you both. Wet and dry.” I cleared my throat as he continued to stare at me. I started to get even more uncomfortable as the seconds ticked on and I played with my shirt. Still, he continued to stare at me. “Would you just say something already,” I shouted.
He picked up the dry paper towels and tilted back his head, squeezing the paper towels around his nose. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he smirked at me. “So, you hit me because of a scary book?”
I narrowed my eyes at him and threw my hands on my hips. “It was a really scary book and I was just about to find out who the killer was. You shouldn’t have snuck up on me.”
“So, you’re saying I deserved this?”
“Well, yeah, kind of. Why didn’t you just say hello or be a normal person and come around and sit on the other side of the table?”
“I actually have been here for about fifteen minutes trying to get your attention. I was saying your name and I did stand in front of you for about five minutes. I’m not sure sitting across from you would have been a good idea. I might have gotten a book to the face.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but I had nothing. I was kind of embarrassed now that he had been trying to get my attention for so long and I hadn’t noticed he was there. How many times had that happened with other people?
“Is your face alright?” I finally went with. There was really nothing else to say.
“My face is fine. I don’t think you broke my nose. I think you just hit me the right way.”
I cringed and bit my lip. “I really am sorry. I never would have hit you if I had known it was you. I thought that…”
He grinned at me. “Say it.”
“I thought you were a serial killer,” I muttered. He burst out laughing and then cringed when he started bleeding again. Shoving some more paper towels at him, I grabbed my book and stomped off to the circulation desk at the back of the library. He followed behind me and I looked at the clock, seeing that it was past time to close up for the night. I shut down my computer and made sure that everything was all set for the morning. Derek was standing by the desk waiting for me by the time I had finished. His nose had stopped bleeding and most of the blood had been wiped from his face.
“Are you coming home with me tonight?”
“Um, I think I’m going to head home for the night. Dad isn’t doing too good and-”
“Look, Claire, I get that I pissed you off, but you don’t have to lie to me about it and use your dad as an excuse.”
“I’m not. I have been avoiding you, but I’m not lying to you right now. My dad is getting worse every day and now he wants to talk this weekend about his options. He doesn’t want to be a burden anymore to Lucy and me, which he’s not, but-”
I stopped talking because I was on the verge of breaking down in tears. Derek walked over to me and wrapped me up in his arms. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to feel his arms around me and needed his comfort until right this minute. I fisted his shirt and pulled him in tight to me as I cried. He rubbed my back and let me cry until my tears were all dried up. When I pulled back, he wiped the tears from my cheeks and the look on his face melted my heart. No matter what he had said last week, this man truly cared about me. I could see it on his face. Even if this thing didn’t last between us, I was grateful that he was here for me right now.
“You go ahead and go home. I’ll see you tomorrow. How about I stop by in the morning before you go to work?”
“Actually, would you mind saying hello to my dad? Lucy mentioned that I was seeing someone and he wants to meet you before…before he can’t remember you anymore.”
“Sure. I’ll be there by eight.”
“Thank you.”
He smiled at me and kissed me gently. “I’m beginning to think there’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for you.”
CHAPTER TEN
Derek
AFTER I GOT home tonight, I realized that every fucking word I said to her was true. I really would do anything for her. If it made her happy to have me meet her dad before he got too bad, I’d be over there every day getting to know him just to see her smile. I knew that he meant everything to her, and if they did put him in a home soon, I knew she was going to need a lot of support. It was going to kill her to take him somewhere else and then stay on the farm without him. Maybe she would consider moving in with me so she wouldn’t be so lonely.
“Crap.” I really was screwed if I was considering asking her to move in with me just so she wouldn’t be alone. I started looking around my house and tried to imagine what it would be like to have her here in my space. I didn’t really have a lot of stuff. Most of my things were just pieces of crap I had picked up along the way the last few years. Not a whole lot meant anything to me, but the idea of her moving her things in here, in my house, that brought a huge ass grin to my face. I pulled out my phone and dialed Pappy’s number.
“Yo, Irish, I’m about to sink into some pussy. This better be good.”
“I need your help over the next few weeks with moving.”
“Moving what?”
“Claire’s things. I’m going to ask her to move in with me.”
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds and then some rustling and I heard him talking to another person. “Baby, we’re going to have to pick this up later. Irish has lost his goddamn mind and I have to go sort him out.”
I grinned and agreed when he said he was on his way over to talk some sense into me. I pulled out some beer and was just bringing it into the living room when Pappy walked through the door.
“Okay, what the fuck are you talking about?”
I handed him a beer and explained. “Claire told me that she’s sitting down with her dad this weekend to discuss his options. She doesn’t want him to go, but he’s insisting on it. I don’t want her to be alone, so I’m going to ask her to move in with me.”
“You’re fucking crazy. If you don’t
want her to be alone, get her a fucking puppy.”
“A puppy? Seriously? I think I love her.”
“Well, stop thinking. That shit will get you in trouble. Look, I get that you like this chick, but look at what women are doing to the men at Reed Security. They’re tearing the balls off the men that work there. Don’t fall down that rabbit hole, man.”
“I’d happily hand over my balls to Claire. She’s fucking awesome. Just tonight, she punched me in the face because she was reading a book.”
“What? Do you have a concussion or something? Because you’re not making any sense.”
“I snuck up on her when she was reading a thriller. She was so into it that she didn’t hear me. I scared her and she punched me. It was so fucking awesome.”
“You said that,” he retorted.
“Look, I get that this is still pretty new between us, but I never thought I would meet a woman that made me feel so alive, and not because she’s a good lay, but because she’s cute and smart. She’s this amazing person that is so awkward, but so adorable at the same time. And when she gets lost in her books, the look on her face is so…”
“Cute?”
“Exactly! She’s just so fucking cute.”
“And adorable.”
“Yes! I’m telling you. I don’t need any more time. I just know and Sinner was right. When you know, you know. And I’m telling you, I can just tell with this woman. She’s just so…so…”
“Amazing?” he said dryly.
I nodded, not able to come up with any other words to describe her. Pappy groaned and chugged his beer. “You’re so fucked. Yeah, I’ll be here whenever you need me, but if her sister needs someplace to stay, don’t think that I’m letting her stay with me. We may fuck, but I’m not on a suicide train like you.”
“She can stay here for all I care,” I said, not even caring that I was now opening my home to basically anyone in her family. “Hell, I’d probably move her dad in with me if it made her happy.”
Irish: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 5) Page 13