by Leigh Landry
She shut the door silently and locked it. When she turned around, she jumped at the sight of her mom, fully dressed, her arms crossed and leaning against the wall in the dark.
Natalie put a hand to her heart. “Jeez, Mom.”
“Had fun?”
“Tons.” For a moment, she considered telling her mom exactly how much fun she had, just to get her to go away. But knowing Mom, she’d pull up a chair and ask for details.
“You could have called, you know.”
Natalie leaned her guitar against the side of the couch. “Cadence was already asleep.”
“But I wasn’t.” Mom pushed away from the wall and grabbed her purse from the kitchen table.
“Sorry. I said you can always spend the night here.”
“I like my own bed, thank you very much.” She paused, her purse on her shoulder. “Speaking of beds, you were safe at least, I hope? Whoever it was?”
Her mom had known Natalie was bisexual for over ten years, and talking about it with her never felt any less awkward. Mostly because Mom made everything awkward with her impossibly blunt questions.
“Sheesh, I am not answering that.”
Mom frowned and crossed her arms again.
“Fine. Yes.” Although if Robin found out about tonight, Natalie wasn’t sure how long she’d be safe.
With an eyebrow raised in interest, Mom said, “Any prospects there?”
Natalie scoffed. “Right. With all my free time and energy?” She felt guilty enough asking her mom to watch her kid while she was at gigs. She couldn’t exactly ask for booty-call babysitting, too. And her ex was mostly reliable with their co-parenting arrangement, but his schedule was almost as erratic as hers. She shook her head. “No, Mom. I’m still solo for the foreseeable future.”
Her mom walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
Natalie shot a glance at her guitar bag. “I will be.” She still hadn’t read that note. Wasn’t planning on it, either.
Mom patted her shoulder and headed to the front door. “Again next week?”
“Yeah, next Friday. But Cadence will probably still be at Eddie’s. He has her next week. I’ll let you know for sure.”
“All right. Call if you need before then,” Mom said. “And check in once in a while so I know you’re alive, will ya?”
Natalie gave a thumbs-up. “Thanks, Mom. Sorry I was late.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just not make it a habit, okay?”
“Deal.” Natalie locked the door behind her mom and slid the dead bolt shut.
She stood in the dark for a second, taking in the silence. The walk back to her car had been nice. After a long night of loud music and peopling, the cold, quiet walk those few blocks back to the convention center had been just the thing she needed.
Except it also gave her time to think. And she didn’t like the thoughts she came up with. Screwing Shane had given her a nice distraction, but now she had to truly and fully face reality. Natalie was done with love and all the disappointments it brought.
She removed her boots and walked silently down the dark hallway toward the soft glow from the room on the right. Natalie stood in the doorway a second, debating whether or not to walk inside. To disturb this princess’s serene little universe where nothing could harm her. Walking through that portal felt like bringing the ugliness of the world inside with her.
But she’d made a promise—the same one Cadence always insisted on—and Natalie wasn’t going to break a promise to this little girl. Not ever.
She slipped into the twin bed beside Cadence and kissed her forehead. With a heavy little stutter-breath, Cadence opened her eyes slowly. A smile stretched on her face a moment later with the realization of who had woken her.
Natalie brushed the light blonde hair from her daughter’s face. “Hey, Sugar Plum.”
“Mommy,” she said sleepily.
“Just wanted to say goodnight.” Natalie kissed her forehead again. “Go back to sleep. Pancakes for breakfast?”
“Mmm. Yes.”
Cadence rolled over, and Natalie pulled the covers over her before she left the room.
In her own bedroom, Natalie unhooked her bra and replaced her jeans with pajama pants. She slipped into the soft, cool sheets of her own bed and exhaled for what felt like the first time all day.
She looked at her phone and found a missed text from Robin asking if she made it home okay. Natalie considered a snarky response, but decided on a one word answer: yes. Then she set the alarm on her phone so she wouldn’t oversleep pancake duty.
Her head hit the pillow, that soft, glorious pillow, and her thoughts immediately went to the envelope. And Camille. And wherever Camille was right now. Why she wasn’t coming back. And why the hell she didn’t tell Natalie any of it.
Natalie shut her eyes tight and replaced those thoughts with the image of Shane’s face and the sensation of his rough, strong hands on her skin. His muscular back beneath her fingers. His smile. His deep, shredded voice.
And his bookshelf.
She released a deep, satisfied sigh. He didn’t have to be anything but a fling. Despite her mother’s insistence, she didn’t need any prospects. Prospects came with heartbreak, and she’d had her fill of that for a lifetime. She just needed a little fun.
Within a couple of minutes, she felt her limbs grow heavy as she began to drift off to welcome, blissful sleep.
Chapter Three
By Monday morning, Shane was more grateful than he’d ever been to clock in at the music store, even though his boss asked him to start the day taking care of a delivery they’d just gotten in. Normally Shane wouldn’t be thrilled about starting his week unpacking, shelving, and reorganizing a bunch of heavy equipment, but it sounded like exactly what he needed to focus and get his mind off the weekend.
A long, lonely weekend and an unbelievably enticing guitar player.
Yup, a box cutter and a few guys to crack jokes with in the back of the store was exactly what he needed.
Except no one else was in the back. One guy had called in sick and the others must’ve been making deliveries. Damn.
Fine. Just him and his box cutter then.
Not much different from his weekend. His best friend was off on a mini tour, subbing in with a local band. Football season was over, so he couldn’t veg in front of the TV all day. And thanks to the ripple effect from the fallout with his brother, he hadn’t seen anyone else in his family for months. Not that he wanted to listen to them chime in on how he needed to forgive and forget and reach out. Screw that.
All he had to keep him company lately was the stray kitten he’d taken in. The one that apparently needed to eat every four-point-five seconds.
That was it. A cute but needy kitten. Not quite cute enough to keep his mind off Friday night. And a one-night stand wasn’t a thing he needed to spend time reminiscing about.
After an hour of matching up orders with shipping receipts and logging inventory and moving things around, Shane was down to the last box. When he opened it, he shook his head at the packing slip and the company’s logo.
A dragon’s head.
Well, he’d gone a whole hour without thinking about Natalie. That was something, he guessed. Somehow, though, he needed to get down to not thinking about her at all.
Good luck.
Shane hadn’t expected sex that night, but what he really hadn’t expected was to miss her the next day. And he shouldn’t have. He’d known her for…what? An hour? Five, if he counted the gig beforehand.
But she knew his favorite author now. His favorite books. And she’d given him a new series recommendation. That felt even more intimate than half the stuff they did against those bookshelves.
Shane shifted his focus back to the packing slip and contents of that box, because there was no point thinking about books or blondes. Especially not ones with obviously complicated backstories. He’d given up complicated a long time ago, and he sure as hell wasn’t looking for a
relationship right now.
He had one more gig with the band next Friday. He was going to be professional, do his job, and be glad for the bit of fun they had together. He’d take his quiet, semi-lonely life over complications and heartbreak any day.
But that didn’t mean he had to ignore a perfectly good book recommendation.
He took one last look at the dragon’s head on the packing slip, then cleaned up the trash around him and walked to the front of the store.
“All done?” asked Charles, the sales manager. He was a short, middle-aged, light-skinned black man who had more charm and ease with customers than Shane had ever seen before. He was inarguably the best boss Shane had ever had, and he also had an apparent skincare regimen that made all the women in the office insanely jealous.
“Yeah. Everything’s accounted for and shelved.” He handed Charles the packing slips.
“Good,” said Charles. “Oh hey, I forgot to ask this morning. How was Friday?”
“Friday?” Shane stuttered.
Charles eyed him curiously. “Yeah, the gig I got you. The ball?”
“Oh, that.” Shane scratched his arm. “Great. Thanks for hooking me up with that.”
He strategically held back his thanks for the rest of his hooking up.
“No problem. You were my first thought when they called asking if we could recommend someone.”
“Well, thanks. I appreciate it.” Shane had put out the word to his coworkers that he was taking on more gigs. Better than sitting at home alone, second guessing his choices with his family. Plus, he could always use the extra cash. “Doing the Cajun Field gig for them, too.”
“Oh yeah? Great.”
Shane glanced at that dragon head on the top packing slip in Charles’s hand, then looked up at the clock above the display of drum kits. “I’m gonna take my lunch a little early. That okay?”
“All right. It’s quiet here this morning. Got errands to run?”
“Yeah, I’ve gotta run to the library.”
“The library?”
Shane laughed. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“This better be a good story.”
“Oh, it is.”
“Happy ending?” Charles asked.
The bells on the door chimed as Shane pushed it open and sunshine streamed into the store. “Not a chance.”
* * * * *
Natalie rolled the shelving cart to the junior nonfiction section and glanced at the first book. Castles. She found the right shelf, tucked it in line, and moved on to the next book. The Loch Ness Monster.
She smiled at the cover. Nessie had been her favorite thing to read about as a kid. Cadence wasn’t quite there yet, but she felt bonded to whichever kid recently returned this stack of (probably overdue) Nessie books.
Monday mornings were Natalie’s favorite day at work. The children’s section was usually pretty quiet in the mornings, since most of the older kids were in school, and Mardi Gras break didn’t start until next week. The children’s department didn’t even have a story time scheduled on Mondays. That meant a nice, slow start to the week—just Natalie and the books, a handful of preschoolers and toddlers, and a few of their homeschooling patrons.
While she didn’t exactly enjoy dropping Cadence off at school on Monday mornings—she missed her little bug during the day—she was grateful for some time out of the house. It had been nice to finally have downtime after working the last couple weekends to make up for a few days she’d taken off when Cadence was sick with the flu. But her house was too damn quiet this past weekend and the air too full of questions. Even Cadence had been quiet, content to build elaborate Lego villages all weekend.
Maybe she’d get a dog. They make a lot of noise.
Natalie turned at the end of the aisle and headed toward the picture books, where a mom was reading to her toddler while she pushed a sleeping baby back and forth in a stroller. A purple streak against black caught Natalie’s eye, and she waved as Kelsey maneuvered through the low shelves to meet her.
“Hey,” Kelsey whispered.
Kelsey worked at a record store downtown, a few blocks from the library. She normally ate her lunch behind the counter, but if she wasn’t working alone, she would occasionally take a walk on her break to enjoy some sunshine and visit Natalie for a few minutes.
Natalie glanced up at the colorful clock on the wall. Wow. Almost lunchtime already. The day was flying by. Too quickly. The sooner her work day ended, the sooner she’d be back home to her quiet house and that damn unopened letter.
“Didn’t think I’d see you here today.”
“I wanted to take a walk. Enjoy the beautiful day.”
Natalie narrowed her eyes. “It’s thirty-five degrees and cloudy. And you’re a bad liar.”
“Am not.”
“The worst. You came to check on me. Which means you talked to Robin.”
Kelsey sighed. “Fine. I talked to Robin.”
“I’m fine.” Natalie shelved a couple of books, each with a pig and a chicken on their covers.
“Now who’s the liar?”
Natalie maneuvered to another shelf. Kelsey followed, while the mom with the two kids descended upon the newly shelved pig-and-chicken books.
“Did you read it?” Kelsey asked.
“No. Doesn’t matter what it says.”
Kelsey put her hands on her hips. “Like hell it doesn’t.”
Natalie had never told Kelsey how she really felt about Camille. She’d never even told any of them, except Camille, that she was bisexual. It just wasn’t any of their business as far as Natalie was concerned. But they all knew how close Natalie and Camille were, regardless of Natalie’s deeper feelings for her best friend.
“It doesn’t matter, because I can’t change her mind. She’s nearly as stubborn as I am. You know that.”
“Exactly. So since when do you not even try?”
Natalie leaned heavily on the cart. Kelsey was right. Camille was stubborn, but she was nothing compared to Natalie. Whatever Camille put in that letter wasn’t going to change Natalie’s mind. The only real question left was, why hadn’t Natalie already tracked down Camille and convinced her to come back? Or at least tried?
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain sound guy, would it?”
Natalie shook her head. “No, of course not.”
“You sure? Because Robin also mentioned she saw you drive off in his truck after the gig Saturday.”
Shit. “How pissed was she?”
“Eh, for Robin? Not much,” Kelsey said. “I think she’s cutting you some slack. You know, because of the other stuff.”
“I don’t need her damn pity.”
“Believe me, Robin doesn’t have any for you.” Kelsey looked over her shoulder to make sure the mom and her kid were distracted, then leaned close and whispered, “How was it?”
Natalie glanced at the mom too, then pushed her cart over to another set of shelves, buying herself some time to cool the flush she felt creeping up her neck. She whispered to Kelsey, “A-fucking-mazing.”
Kelsey stuck her tongue out, bit it, and scrunched her face in an approving grin. “Nice!”
“He’s fun. And tasty.”
“Good. You deserve fun and tasty.”
Natalie agreed. “What about you? How are you?”
“As long as I don’t have to watch him make out with his ex, I’ll be fine.” Kelsey shrugged. “I could use my own fun and tasty, though.”
Natalie grinned. “Mission accepted.”
“Maybe yours has a brother?”
“I wouldn’t know. This isn’t a thing.”
Kelsey raised her eyebrows and looked over Natalie’s shoulder. “You sure about that?”
Natalie turned and followed Kelsey’s gaze. “What the hell?”
“Do you tell all your fun and tasty-flings-that-aren’t-a-thing where you work?”
“No, and I didn’t tell this one either.”
“Ew. Want me to stick a
round?”
“No, I’ve got this.” Natalie pushed the cart back to the information desk and walked with Kelsey toward the exit. “Plenty of witnesses. And a security guard. He’s not super-useful, but he’s got a gun. Plus, I took this guy’s bat from his truck.”
“You what?”
Natalie winked at her friend. “Not an appropriate story for the children’s department.”
“Gotcha.” Kelsey gave her a devilish grin as she nodded toward Shane on her way out.
Natalie walked out into the library entryway to intercept Shane. She wasn’t sure if he had stalked her to find out where she worked or if this was just some weird coincidence. Either way, she wasn’t going to tiptoe around him at her job. And she was going to take the initiative to let him know she was in control in this place.
He turned and flinched in surprise when he saw her standing in the middle of the hall.
Good. She could rule out stalking.
But when a smile slowly spread through his facial hair and butterflies took residence in Natalie’s stomach, she began to wonder who was in control of what.
* * * * *
Shane put his hands up in defense when Natalie stood in his way a few feet from the book drop-off. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
She was in black slacks, a blue tank, and a light gray cardigan. A far cry from the sassy boots, low-slung jeans, and flirty plaid shirt tied up at her waist Saturday night. A different Natalie, for sure, but she still had a sexy librarian thing going on, especially with her hair pulled back in that smooth, tight ponytail.
He squinted at the ID badge hanging from her neck, dangling over her breasts.
“Children’s librarian?” He tried to hide his surprise, but his voice cracked anyway.
She frowned and glared at him. “Yes. And?”
He cleared his throat and recovered. “Then I guess you can’t help me find the book I was looking for.”
“Depends on your reading level. Or how much you like pictures.” She tilted her head. “Or if you have kids.”
He shook his head. “His Majesty’s Dragon.”
She stood frozen, staring at him. Shane wasn’t sure if he wanted to break the uncomfortable silence or watch her stunned for a little longer.