“Yes. My name is Ally Couper. May I speak with the Library Director?”
She put her finger up to advise me to wait while she picked up a phone next to her computer and pressed a button. As I waited, I stepped toward the book cases close to the window to browse. The books were for sale for a mere twenty-five cents each, with their worn covers and faded pages. I never got into reading. I always wanted to, but physical activity called out to me. I much preferred doing something adventurous and enjoying nature. I simply couldn’t imagine enjoying books so much as to devote your career to it.
Heels clicked behind me. “Excuse me, Miss? I’m Karen Thornpike. You wanted to see me?”
I turned around to a tall, middle-aged woman with almost completely white hair. Wire rimmed classes framed her face, her lips lightly dusted with a pale pink shade. “Yes, hi. I’m Ally Couper and I hoped to get your permission to hide a cache in the reference area of the library.”
She crossed her arms. “You’re not the first person to ask about that, and I’ve already turned down every single person who has. The library is full of treasures - books - and I don’t need people traipsing through here looking for a canister or whatever it is you plan to hide.”
Damn. I assumed this would be easy. I’d walk in, ask permission, she’d gladly grant it, and I’d be on my way. I cleared my throat. “Actually, I plan on hiding a book. Well, not an actual book, but a hard container I would design to look like a book and a few items would be inside.” She kept her arms crossed, unimpressed. I didn’t want to sound like a bumbling idiot struck by cupid, but she left me no choice. “I’m trying to win back my boyfriend.”
A smile spreading across Ms. Thornpike’s face, confusing me with her thoughts. Quite possibly my plea convinced her and she was a sucker for love. I imagined us jumping up and down like teenagers as she helped me plot out my romantic rescue. Okay, far-fetched, but fun. She touched her fingers to her glasses and straightened them. “The library is not in the business of playing matchmaker or any form of the Newlywed Game.”
What? The Newlywed Game? We weren’t married, and wasn’t that a game from my mom’s teenage years? Talk about a backfire. All my winning certainly turned into losing quite fast. I couldn’t catch a break! “I’m sorry. My boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend, is really into geocaching and I thought this would be a clever way to win him over.”
“This isn’t high school, Miss Couper. I’m trying to run a library here and instead of playing hide and seek, or whatever it is, why not pick out a book to read?”
“I don’t have a library card.” Wrong answer. What. An. Idiot. Now, instead of looking like a complete and total nut job for asking to place a cache at the library, I looked like a complete and total illiterate nut job.
Her eyes might as well popped out of her head. “You don’t have a library card? Your library is one of your best resources around. I’m quite disappointed you walked in here, asking me to allow you to do this caching thing, and you aren’t even a supporter of the library?”
How did having a card that allowed me to get books for free support anything? “I’m sorry. I’m not much of a reader.”
“Then you haven’t found the right book.”
“That’s what Seth told me.”
“Seth?”
“Oh, sorry. Seth. That’s my ex’s name.”
“Are you talking about Seth Hayes?”
I didn’t expect her to know who I was talking about. “Yes.”
“Seth’s family has been a wonderful supporter to the library, especially his mother.” She began to walk toward the lady at the desk who helped me when I came in. “Follow me.”
Ms. Thornpike’s change of attitude shocked me, yet I still found myself a little scared around her, so I followed with no argument.
“Nancy, Miss Couper is going to be coming back tomorrow to place a cache in the Reference section of the library. Please assist her upon her return. Also, she will be needing a library card, and if you could help this young lady pick out a few books, I would greatly appreciate it.”
I stood there, unable to respond. She said yes? She was allowing me to hide the cache? Of course, she required me to get a library card, but whatever. I couldn’t believe it. “Thank you, Ms. Thornpike.”
“Please, call me Karen. If this is something Seth loves, and if it will make him happy, after what he’s been through, I’m more than happy to help. I ask you be respectful to the library, keep it clean, in the reference section, and by God, start reading.”
No problem. A small price to pay to have Seth back in my arms again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Now that I obtained the blessing of the library director to hide the cache, I headed right to work. The website stated I needed to hide the cache before submitting it. This didn’t make a lot of sense to me, because what if they rejected my idea, but I didn't make the rules, so I really couldn’t question it. Alyssa and I came up with an idea for the cache, but, despite her kind demeanor, I couldn’t accept her offer to help me. The thought of working with her so closely seemed too awkward. How hard would it be for his ex-wife to be a partner in this? A little too weird for me. I needed to commission Chelsea’s help. That could be a problem.
The second I arrived home from the library, I called Chelsea. Since I sat on the unemployed side of things, the fact she worked slipped my mind. I dialed her cell and realized my mistake, but, still, she took my call.
“Can I help you?” Her greeting when she answered the phone never came off as cold and unforgiving. Her “hello” often registered at the top of the happy scale, but not today.
Even before Daryl fired me, I understood how wrong I was to accuse him of sexually harassing Chelsea. When the words left my mouth, immediate regret followed, but I couldn’t take them back. So he didn’t force her into anything, but she still did things with him. Even if she kept things clean, she flirted with him, and teased him with the short skirt. She had an agenda, but, regardless of her intention to work her way to the top with sexual favors, I was a super shitty friend to doubt her skills at the job. I may have thought I was a better fit, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t at all qualified. “I’m sorry for the way I acted, Chelsea.”
“Me, too. You said some pretty crappy things. Not to mention how badly you hurt me.”
Her voice shook, and I was confident she’d be crying soon. It sucked I wasn’t there to hug her. “I know. I’m an asshole. There. I said it. I. Am. An. Asshole. I’m sorry I ever questioned your ability to get the promotion.”
“And I’m sorry I said a few things I shouldn’t have in order to get the job.”
I stopped the words before they left my mouth. Chelsea just proved my suspicions true, but if I valued our friendship and wanted to move on, I couldn’t fret on it. Her words weren’t what got me fired. I did that on my own. Score! “Don’t apologize. I think I overstepped a tad more than you. Friends again?”
“Gosh, you sound like we’re in high school.”
I guess I kind of did. At least in high school, we didn’t have such grown up problems. I would much rather be arguing over something petty like makeup or what movie to see. But, maybe, I was being petty. “I take that as a yes. Look, I need a favor.”
“I get it. You need me to do something for you, so you apologize hoping I’ll help you? Is that how this works, Ally?”
Crap. I didn’t think of how my asking could make me come off as an ass. Leave it to me to fix our friendship and then screw it back up again seconds later. “No. I mean, it probably sounds that way, but -”
Chelsea laughed on the other end of the line. “I’m joking. Go ahead. What do you need?”
Pleased she was teasing, I explained the situation, and she agreed to come over right after work. We had a lot to do.
----------
Chelsea arrived in the early evening with a rolling cart of materials. Making jewelry and knitting was my thing, but scrapbooking and design was hers. Sure, she knit a mean scarf, but when pu
sh came to shove she had nothing on me.
“How are you feeling?” I asked Chelsea right away as I grabbed the rolling cart from her and set it by the kitchen table.
“Much better. I’m in the second trimester now.”
“And what does that mean?”
“More energy. My books state that the next few months I’ll have the most energy of my pregnancy, thank God.”
With her tired eyes and slow transition from standing to sitting, she could have fooled me. She took a seat at the table and I got her a bottled water, grabbing one for myself. “Thank you for helping me with this.” I meant what I said, too.
“I love this idea. You’re such a romantic.”
Luring Seth in with one of his greatest passions? I thought it was romantic, too. “I just hope this works.”
“I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t. At least things will work out for one of us.”
I handed her the book I planned on using as a prototype for the one we would be building. She gathered materials from her cart as I spoke. “They’re working out for you how they’re supposed to.”
She continued searching through her materials. “This baby growing up without a father? Yeah, how wonderful.”
I took a sip of my water. “I didn’t mean it like that.” My mouth didn’t work properly lately. Every phrase that came out of my mouth meant to be helpful ended up sounding the exact opposite.
Chelsea stopped her search and looked at me, the pain evident in her eyes. “I know. This … just sucks. Never in my life did I think I’d be twenty-five, pregnant, and on my own.”
“You’re not on your own, Chelsea. I’m here. You’ll always have me.” Her face filled with doubt. Damn it, I’d been a shitty friend in every moment of her pregnancy thus far. I hated Daniel. Hated. Daniel. And I completely disagreed with Chelsea’s decision to pursue a relationship with him, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t support her in what would probably be the most difficult time in her life. “Chels, I love you, and despite what happened in the past, and how this situation came about, I will always be here for you.”
Either her hormones took over, or maybe she reached a point of forgiveness with me, but Chelsea’s lip quivered, and she blinked as she tried to get rid of the tears, but it was no use. She began bawling, the tears streaming down her face with little whimpers to match.
“I’m sorry, Chelsea. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She waved her hand in front of her face. “It’s okay, really. I don’t think I’ll be over Daniel for quite awhile, even if I realize what a piss ant he is.”
I snorted. “A piss ant?”
“I don’t know. Scum bag seemed too easy.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to sue him for child support?” Even though Daniel denied paternity, she could make him take a test and get money to help support the baby.
Chelsea sniffled and grabbed some construction paper out of a folder. Holding a scissors in her hand, she said, “My parents and I talked about it. Even if I got a court order for child support, I don’t think he’d pay a dime. Then the whole thing could spiral into garnishing wages and he may want to claim paternity at some point. I don’t want this baby with a father in and out of his or her life. I can’t do that; it’s not fair. My parents are letting me stay with them for a while so I can save money and this promotion will help a lot with that, too.”
In that moment, I didn’t think it was possible for me to be more proud of my best friend. She’d gone from a naive girl blinded by love, to a mom to be with her child’s well-being at heart. She made some dumb mistakes along the way (um, Daryl!), but everyone’s judgment got clouded one time or another. It was like everyone suddenly saw things so clearly. Chelsea realized Daniel was a douche, Perry found himself in love, my mom was even dating, and here I sat trying to get my head out of my ass and right things between Seth and me.
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Creating the cache didn’t take as long as I expected, so, right after, Chelsea and I returned to the library and hid the faux book in the reference section. Back at my place, she watched as I submitted the online form to the website for official approval and placement. I hoped it wouldn’t take long. Two weeks passed since I last spoke with Seth, and I missed him terribly.
Chelsea and I thought we should make up for lost time, and head out to dinner together. Our little town boasted only a few restaurants, so we settled on a tiny sit down place for a quick meal, and a band if one was scheduled to play.
Known for their excellent pizza, we ordered a cheese and sausage. Chelsea said she couldn’t handle much more than that on her pizza. Her pregnancy so far didn’t create any odd cravings, but she needed to keep things simple. Being just the two of us, we ordered a small, and a pitcher of diet soda.
“I can’t believe I didn’t ask how your trip went!” Chelsea picked a sausage off her piece of pizza and popped it in her mouth. “And I love your hair.”
We were so busy working on the cache, up to our eyeballs in glue and paper, we barely discussed anything. We had a lot to catch up on. “Thanks,” I said as I smoothed it down. “Well, if you can believe it, Perry has a live in girlfriend!”
“What? I never thought I’d see the day.” About a year before she met Daniel, Chelsea developed a little crush on my brother. He’d already moved to Nevada, but at that time, he came back often to visit. I warned Chelsea of my brother’s womanizer ways, and she, ironically, stayed away. “Good for him.”
“So, Perry’s happy, you’re in a good place. I need to find my own happiness.”
“It’ll come, Ally. Once Seth finds this cache and realizes how much you care for him, he won’t be able to resist. You deserve happiness after what Josh put you through.” She paused. “You deserve happiness anyway.”
“Thanks, Chels. I appreciate you saying that.” I picked up a piece of pizza, blew on it to cool it down, and took a bite, the cheese pulling from it and almost landing on my chin. “I haven’t eaten pizza in awhile. This is so good.”
“I forget, you eat healthy.”
She used air quotes around the word healthy. I hated when people did that, as though watching what I ate made me some sort of a snob. “Stop it. I like to watch what I eat. Sue me.” My gravitated toward the bar. I couldn’t believe what I saw. “And screw me, too.”
Chelsea picked up her cup and sipped out of the straw. “What? Why?”
“Seth. He’s over at the bar.” Chelsea turned where I my eyes fixated. “He’s not alone.” Seth stood at the bar with another guy, and two girls. “Is he on a date?”
Chelsea turned her attention back to me. “I’m sorry, Ally.”
“No. Don’t be. I just … I gotta get out of here.” I grabbed my purse, yanked out my wallet, flipping through until I found some cash. I tossed it on the table. “I’ll be outside in the car.” I got up and raced toward the door, and heard Seth call my name behind me. I did what I should have done all along.
I ran away.
----------
“Ally!” I let him yell my name as I pumped my legs faster until I reached the car. I latched onto the handle, but the door wouldn’t open. Shit. My keys were in my pocket. I forced my hands in, snatched the keys, and as I hit the unlock button, Seth’s hand met my shoulder. “Ally, stop. Listen to me.”
I pushed his hand off, blinking away tears. “No. I know what I saw. Leave me alone, Seth.”
“Please. Turn around. Look at me.”
His voice captured me, and I remembered his hearty laugh, loving eyes, those strong, gentle hands. I didn’t need to turn around because if I did, I’d give in to those eyes. “No. I don’t want to. Go back to your date and enjoy the rest of your life. Chelsea will be out any minute and we’ll be out of your hair.”
I waited for his footsteps to pound against the gravel. He tried to catch his breath, and he stood so close, the warmth grazed my skin. Every ounce of my body wanted to turn around and grab him, press my lips against him and tell him how much I loved him. He
didn’t walk away, and I didn’t turn around.
Seth’s breath got hotter as he got closer. He came up behind me, touched his fingertips to my neck, stroking the bottom of my hair. “I like your hair. You … you’re … beautiful.”
I shivered, the words meaning more than he could understand. “Thanks.” I longed for those hands on my skin, but seeing him with another woman, I wanted to shove them off of me. Yet, I couldn’t.
“It’s not a date. Well, not exactly.”
I didn’t move. Did I even want to listen to an explanation? First Alyssa, now this? Alyssa told me the truth - I had no reason not to trust her. Still, did I trust Seth?
“My friend thought it would do me some good to get away from work. He set it up.”
I lifted the door handle, refusing to pull the door open just yet. “It doesn’t matter anyway. We’re not together anymore.” A tear hit the side of my nose and I licked it off as it hit the tip of my lip. I backed up to open the door, and as I did, ran right into Seth.
He turned me around and there I stood, looking into those eyes. “Ally, you ran off on me.”
“Don’t.” I held the key between my fingers as though I were ready to poke him with them. “Don’t even try to make this my fault. You never even bothered to call. What Kate told you -”
“How do you know what she told me?”
“Alyssa.”
He backed away from me. “When did you talk to Alyssa? And if you know what Kate told me … wait, did Kate lie to me?”
I forced the tears to stay in as I contemplated my choices. Even if I despised Kate, she was still his sister. I didn’t want to cause a rift between the two of them, especially if I didn’t intend for us to be together again. “I’m not sure exactly what she told you, but she said you and Alyssa were out together. I thought you were cheating on me.”
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