One Step Away (A Bedford Falls Novel Book 1)

by Sydney Bristow

  Alex felt her rapid heartbeat beating in time with his own. He reached up and brushed away the hair from her eyes and, lowering his hand, swept his fingertips down her cheek. Sliding his other arm around her waist, he pressed her tighter against him. He stepped forward so that her back tapped the wall behind her, then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

  Hearing her sigh as she kissed him made him realize that she felt his erection straining against her thigh. He clasped both her hands, drew them up over her head, and pinned them to the wall, letting his lips travel to her earlobe, lingering there for a moment before moving down to her neck.

  She threw her arms around his neck and rocked against him as barely audible sounds at the back of her throat claimed her. Then a few moments later, she pushed him back with a lustful expression. “You are in so much trouble.” Grinning with wicked delight, she ran back into his arms, running her fingers down his chest until she grasped his hand.

  Jarred by the double-whammy of getting pushed away, followed by her comment, Alex came to a halt. Just now, he realized that, while kissing Cassandra, he’d imagined that he was embracing Marisa.

  Of course, closing his eyes made that easier. But since the moment he stepped into her apartment, he hadn’t looked into Cassandra’s eyes once. He’d focused on her body, carrying out the fantasy he’d envisioned hundreds of times of taking Marisa and having his way with her.

  Hearing Cassandra’s words, which sounded like something Marisa might say, broke Alex’s self-indulgent illusion. He now met her gaze, disappointment lining his face at seeing someone other than his soul mate. Never before had he felt so rotten, so ashamed of himself.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, trying to pull him towards the living room. “Come on, I’m totally into this.”

  Alex looked elsewhere as he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  “Why not? It’s been amazing. What’s the matter?”

  If he said that he imagined someone else standing in her place, she would be humiliated, and since he thought that in other circumstances, they might have made a great couple, he didn’t want to hurt her. If he told her that he was in love with another woman, she would feel bad for not picking up on his feelings. It seemed that no matter how he might respond, Alex would in some way hurt Cassandra’s feelings. But having sex with her would be the ultimate insult, and he had no intention of letting things get that far, if that’s what Cassandra had in mind.

  “This doesn’t feel right for me,” he said.

  “It’s never felt more right.” She tugged his wrist.

  He didn’t budge. It seemed she wouldn’t accept no for an answer, so he had to be blunt. “I’m in love with someone. I can’t. I’m really sorry.”

  Confused, she released his hand. Her exhilarated expression transformed into one of seething anger. She pointed at the door. “Get out,” she said in a harsh tone. “Get your ass out. Now!”

  Feeling horrible for causing her such pain, Alex turned around, grasped the doorknob, and opened the door. From behind, he felt Cassandra push against his shoulder blades, shoving him through the doorway. He shot into the hallway.

  “Asshole.” The door slammed behind him.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Due to the unfortunate events with Cassandra over the weekend, Alex had a difficult time smiling during his first day as Library Director of the Vista Heights Public Library. It didn’t help that many of the staff members welcomed him with a heavy degree of wariness due to the long-standing tension between their library and the Bedford Falls Public Library. Their defensiveness told him that he would need to improve their library before he earned their respect and trust.

  He spent the day visiting each department and meeting each staff member, matching names and faces with their discussions and stories, so he would remember every person. He wanted each of them to know that everyone, no matter the position or pay scale, played an important part at the library and that he wouldn’t overlook their contributions.

  In the afternoon, he met with the department heads and got caught up to speed with Vista Heights’ procedures and initiatives, since he’d already memorized their policies ahead of time.

  By the end of the day, Alex realized that he faced a problem that would not go down smoothly with staff: he needed to cut expenditures, increase productivity, purchase newer technology, and engender more support from the community by offering better materials and programming for children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens. With so much work on the horizon, he didn’t know where to begin. But he knew he would need to make tough decisions that wouldn’t always please the staff. People often fought against change, because, it sometimes meant short-term discomfort for long-term benefits.

  Having put in over ten hours each day during that first week, he left work mentally drained and didn’t have enough energy to practice riding. By the time Friday morning rolled around, he couldn’t wait to get home and get a good night of sleep. That morning, he’d spent a few hours working with his administrative team to determine the direction of the library by examining their long-range plan. Afterwards, the sound of the ringing landline telephone beside his computer made him think twice before answering it.

  The extension registered an outside line. Anyone could have dialed his number: a board member, an old colleague, an upset patron. He didn’t want to pick it up but duty called. He lifted the receiver to his ear. “This is Alex Lawford, how can I help you?”

  “Hi, it’s Lance. How’s the first week been? Everything you’d hoped?”

  Hearing his old library director’s voice elevated Alex’s mood. “It’s been…exhausting.” Hearing Lance laugh on the other line made Alex do likewise. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

  “I expected that. I wish this was a social call but business intrudes. At our department head meeting this afternoon, our main topic was Vista Heights.”

  “Really?” Alex got a squirmy feeling in his stomach. “How so?”

  Lance’s line was silent for a few seconds. “I think it’s better if we meet. How does the rest of your afternoon look?”

  The squirmy sensation morphed into one of trepidation. “I’m free. What’s going on?”

  “Not something I’d care to discuss over the phone. Why don’t you stop by as soon as you can?”

  Panic made his breath come quick. “Already on my way. See you soon.” He hung up, shut down his computer, turned off the lights in his office, and told Greta Darling, his administrative assistant, that he needed to attend a meeting at Bedford Falls. Mention of his former employer garnered a questionable glance from the fifty-eight-year-old grandmother of thirteen, who looked nothing but kind and charming.

  But Alex had already discovered that her soothing appearance disguised an individual who spread malicious lies and instigated numerous issues due to her thirty years of service; she knew everything about everyone and didn’t hesitate to use that knowledge to bend others to her will. She made Esther Rollins, her gossipmonger counterpart at Bedford Falls, seem quaint by comparison.

  Alex had no doubt that Greta would send an email to everyone on staff but him, alerting them of his traitorous behavior. Never mind that since Bedford Falls and Vista Heights shared patrons, managers from both locations often remained in close contact to ensure that they treated their customers fairly. He ignored Greta’s questioning glance, anxious to find out what Lance considered so important that it couldn’t wait until next week to be discussed.

  *

  Marisa, sitting alongside Lance Albrecht, sat at the oak conference room table, looking over the packet of statistics that explained why her boss called for a meeting with Alexander. The stats were quite shocking, and while she agreed with her colleagues on how they should handle the issue, she didn’t want to deliver the bad news to Alexander, who might take their decision as a personal assault.

  Not only that, but she hadn’t seen him in an entire week. It had been hard enough not talking to him during his last
two weeks at Bedford Falls, but not even hearing his voice over the past week made her feel miserable. She needed him in her life; she needed to feel the connection that came so easily between them yet was so out of reach with others.

  All week, she’d walked past his office, knowing that he wasn’t inside, but she found herself wanting to relive the memories of days gone by. She could get over losing him while at work, but given that scenario, she needed to have him in her life in another capacity.

  She reminisced about Russell and Jorn and the length of time it had taken to get past those heartbreaks. She hadn’t gotten intimate with Alexander. But upon greater thought, when excluding the physical, their entire history together was nothing but intimate. And no matter how much time passed until they saw each other socially again, it would still be too long.

  Alexander entered the board room with a nondescript expression, keeping his eyes on Lance, not even acknowledging her existence. Marisa felt a stab of pain in her heart. She took the blame for the way he treated her; she’d hurt him, not the other way around. So if anyone should be hurt, it would be Alexander. To disguise a guilt that made it difficult for her to breathe, Marisa scanned the figures once more.

  Alexander approached the table, removed a chair from the table opposite her, and sat down. “Is everything okay? What’s going on?”

  “First off,” Lance said, trading glances between Alexander and Marisa, “whatever is going on between you two must end now.”

  Marisa raised her head from the document to look at her boss. Heat scorched her cheeks. How humiliating! How long had he known? She hadn’t expected him to address their falling-out. The two weeks leading up to Alexander’s departure had been uncomfortable to say the least, and when her colleagues suggested that she was angry with Alexander for leaving, Marisa didn’t correct them because she didn’t want her personal life conflicting with her career. She knew how ridiculous that sounded, considering that Alexander had acknowledged that they were a couple, but still…

  So how had Lance found out? He stayed in his office all day and hardly walked about the building. Some said that was due to having bad hips, but Marisa guessed that Lance had fallen out of love with the direction libraries were taking in the digital age, and he didn’t want to infect other staff members with his grumpy attitude. So if he rarely left his office, who would pass him regular rumor updates? His administrative assistant. Which meant that the entire organization would be buzzing with speculation now.

  Marisa nodded at her boss.

  “Good,” Lance said. “Because you two will be working on this together.”

  “What?” she snapped. “But—”

  Lance silenced her with a wave of the hand. A reflective smile chased away his burdensome frown. “I’ve been saying for years now that I’m going to retire. With this, I might just make good on my threat. I’m too old to deal with this. Add in Facebook, Twitter, tablets, the rise of eBooks, and the library doesn’t look like the place I’ve loved for so long. If Alexander had an assistant director, Marisa, I’m sure given the issues you two seem to be having, you’d be working with that individual. Since Vista Heights doesn’t have the budget for that, you’ll have to work with Alexander, unless he decides to delegate this matter to another person.”

  Marisa caught the distaste Lance used when noting Vista Heights’ budgetary concerns. Of course, having worked with his former boss, Alexander knew that Lance disliked everything about Vista Heights: their board of trustees, their staff, their patrons, their facility, and their community. But she expected her boss to have more respect now that Vista Heights had hired one of his former staff members. But it seemed Lance had no intention of letting change alter his view of the Vista Heights Public Library.

  She also heard the urgency in Lance’s voice when he described how the rise of social media outlets had disrupted the bygone days of public libraries. He’d held these tools and materials at bay for far too long, which had already begun to affect Bedford Falls’ reputation among their community. And his aversion to addressing these issues made it clear that, unlike past lighthearted claims of retiring, he now considered it not only inevitable but imminent.

  So when would he be leaving? Had he already informed the Board? And where did that leave her? She’d just started and expected to work with Lance to ensure that she fulfilled her duties and picked up all the knowledge that he’d need to pass along to her.

  Dread filled her. What would happen now? The Board would obviously want to hire an experienced director who could give her the guidance she needed. But until then, would she become the interim director? If so, she wasn’t prepared for the guidance and insight needed to lead her organization. Her previous position as department head had given her plenty of leadership experience, but anyone tasked with becoming an interim director needed much more mentoring before they stepped into that position.

  Alexander still hadn’t removed his gaze from Lance. “Why did you ask me to stop by?”

  Lance got to his feet, motioned to Marisa, stepped away from the table, and walked out of the room.

  Astonished at Lance’s total reluctance to discuss the subject of this meeting, Marisa stared at Alexander, who spun around, astonished to see Lance simply walk out of their meeting.

  Turning, Alexander looked directly into her eyes with an impenetrable stare. “What’s going on?”

  She felt a spark of intensity flicker through her. She had never seen Alexander look so determined, so in control. It was unexpected and unsettling and, she couldn’t believe she was even thinking it, but kind of…sexy. She shook her head to banish that stray thought.

  The disarming realization that Lance might soon be leaving obviously distracted and confused, which explained why her mouth had gone dry. And it explained why she’d had a momentary thought that never would have occurred to her otherwise. She swallowed and licked her lips as she met his gaze.

  “Well?”

  “We’re going to be changing our borrowing restrictions. We’ve run some reports, and your patrons constitute a large percentage of our highest circulating materials: videogames, new DVDs, and new books. It means our taxpayers are paying for your community to use our materials. And we’ve revised our policy to prevent that from happening in the near future.”

  Reciprocal borrowing had always been a long-standing partnership between all public libraries in Illinois. This new restriction would greatly affect the amount of time Alexander’s patrons would be waitlisted for items they’ve requested. It would result in many upset patrons…patrons who would complain to Alexander and his staff, thereby making both his patrons and staff irritated and edgy.

  He stared at her. “You said a ‘large percentage’ of my patrons used your materials. What kind of figures are we talking about?”

  Marisa removed the packet from under her notebook and handed it to him.

  He paged through pie charts, bar graphs, and spreadsheets that verified Marisa’s claims. He’d known that Vista Heights’ patrons frequented Bedford Falls and used their materials, but based on the way his eyebrows lifted a notch, he had no idea the statistics were so high.

  Many Vista Heights’ patrons would soon need to return to their home library, and most of them would be upset that their library couldn’t compete with the abundance of materials that Bedford Falls offered to its customers. After all, while both libraries had similar budgets, Vista Heights served three times as many people. Therefore, Alexander’s library faced a huge shortfall of materials without the budget to make up for this disparity, which would aggravate a considerable number of its residents.

  Vista Heights’s patrons would soon lash out at the Bedford Falls’ staff for instituting this change. Afterwards, they would turn their dissatisfaction upon their home library – and at Alexander for failing to anticipate this inevitable policy change. And since he came from Bedford Falls, he’ll have given them one more reason to dislike him.

  Watching as Alexander’s bewilderment gave way to annoyance,
Marisa could only imagine that he regretted taking the promotion at Vista Heights. And it hurt her that he’d soon have plenty of ill will thrust upon him.

  Alexander put the packet aside and shaded his eyes with a hand. “You couldn’t have told me about this sooner?”

  “I found out about it on your last day. That’s why I was late to your goodbye party. I knew what this would mean for you, and I—”

  “Didn’t want to tell me? So when does this policy go into effect?”

  “A little less than a month from now – on November first.”

  “What?” Alexander said, rising from his chair. “That’s it? My community has been checking out those materials for over a decade. And you want to make this huge change in less than a month?”

  “I’m sorry,” Marisa said, unable to meet his gaze. “If it’s any consolation, your patrons will be upset with us…before they turn on your management team.” She shook her head, wishing she could have phrased that better. Marisa meant to sound apologetic, but no matter what came out of her mouth, she wouldn’t have to deal with the repercussions of the policy her library had put into effect.

  “For a few months,” Alexander said, “my patrons might be angry with your library. But after that, they’ll come back to their home library and get upset because we don’t have your budget. Is that timeline fixed?”

  “The Board of Trustees just agreed to it a couple days ago. And knowing that Lance doesn’t like Vista Heights, I don’t see him changing that date.”

  Alexander cracked a smile out of disbelief.

  Marisa could see him silently making mental calculations. “We’ll help in any way that we can,” she said, using a commiserating tone.

  “Really? How does that work?”

  “I didn’t do this, okay? The department heads brought it to the Board. They made this decision, not me.”

  “Who said anything about you? I didn’t. Three weeks goes by and you get an ego the size of Mount Everest.”