Page 8 of Mountains Divide Us

I kind of loved her, and I’d slowly been steering her closer and closer to the romance genre. She’d never read a romance book before she met me.

“Well, if it isn’t Cal DuBois,” she said in a tight voice, which was really unusual for Phil. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”

Cal responded through teeth clenched so tight, I thought they might crack, “Philomena.”

Yikes. There was definitely some history between those two.

I intervened quickly. “Moving on. As you all probably know, I’m Sam Russo. I’ve been here at the library for a little over a year. Before that, I lived in Florida, but I came to Wisper a lot as a child. My gramps is Jessup Anderson. He used to run the Wisper Gazette, and my grandma, Josie, used to bring me to this library three times a week when I spent summers here. I’m really happy to be back, and I’m even more excited to find women I can talk to about books. The romance genre is my favorite, so I’m hoping I can find a lot of books that you’ll love too.”

Picking up another copy of the first book on my list from a small table set against the wall, I held it up in front of my chest. “If you haven’t yet, grab a copy from the table. There’s enough for everyone.” When everyone had a copy in their hands, I said, “This one is really popular right now. It’s on The New York Times Best Sellers list. It’s a contemporary story, and it’s all over Bookstagram, so I think it will appeal to a broad audience. I thought it would be a good choice for our first read. Then, we can get into more niche parts of the romance genre, like Aislinn suggested, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading some of the classics too.” Hugging the book to my chest like a dork, I said in a dreamy voice, “I love them all.”

“What’s Bookstagram?” Phil asked.

“I’ll show you later, Phil,” Billie said as an aside. “It’s just Instagram, but the part that talks about books.”

“There ain’t one bit of that sentence that made sense to me except for the word ‘book.’”

Billie snorted.

I tried not to laugh. I was really excited to have two older women in the group. If they could get along, they could add a whole different perspective to the stories we’d read. I was grateful they were putting themselves out there, jumping into the book club even though every other member was years younger than they were and some of the subject matter might feel questionable to them.

“Aislinn, I emailed you a link to download the audiobook. There’s a coupon in the email, too, so it should be free for you. If anyone else wants the audiobook, let me know. And ladies, if there’s a book you’d like the group to read, I’ve started a list out at the front desk. Just jot it down for me. We have to make sure it’s available in more than just print to allow for our members to listen to on audiobook or read on their e-readers, if they prefer, but other than that, the only rule is that it has to be a romance. Oh, and no politics. Make love, not war.”

Cal frowned, and no one else said a word.

Oh jeez.

I kept talking, hoping they’d just forget my joke. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s meet back here in a week or so, then we can better gauge how much time we’ll need before we meet again. Really, this is informal. I want to set tentative dates so we can plan around our meetings, but we can be loose about them. The first thing you should know about me is that making a schedule gives me hives.”

Really? Was no one going to laugh?

“That’s fine for me,” Carly said. “I’ll be done in two days. Seriously, books are how I get through dealing with three kids every night, and then, when the big kids are at school and the baby’s sleepin’, it’s my reward.”

“Me too,” Aislinn said. “My fiancé and I don’t have children yet, but I’ll probably finish in four or five days. It takes me a little longer because I listen to audiobooks, and if I set the pace too fast, I miss details.”

Women after my own heart. It would probably only take me a day to finish the three-hundred-page book in my hands. Granted, I’d already read it, but I didn’t mention that books were my escape too.

Carly lifted her purse from the floor. “We done for today? I gotta get back home. My mama’s watchin’ baby Drew, but he’s in his fascinated-with-poop-and-boogers phase, and she can only last about an hour.”

Cal made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, and Phil laughed.

“Yep, we’re done,” I said, “and on that note, see you in a week.”

The women all stood, chatting to each other and gathering their things, and I waited off to the side, hoping for the whole friendship thing to happen magically.

Of course it didn’t.

CHAPTER THREE

FRANK

“Frank, you have to touch him.”

Dr. Masterson was staring at me, waiting for me to respond while my overgrown puppy rubbed circles around her legs, drooling on her. Six months old and he was already tall enough to set his paws on the vet’s shoulders if he stood on his hind legs.

“You know? Like, pet him.” She scratched his fluffy yellow head. “Listen, I don’t see anything wrong with your puppy, so if you want my help, I’m gonna need a little more information. The dog can’t actually give that to me, you know, so you’re gonna have to.”

Running my fingers through my hair, I felt naked without my hat, but I didn’t want to be rude and wear it indoors. “It won’t eat. I don’t think it likes me.” I didn’t like the sound of my own voice in the quiet examination room. The low timbre reminded me that I hadn’t been alone with a woman in a long time. Dr. Masterson was married to a local rancher and had kids. I wasn’t attracted to her, but my awareness of her because she was an attractive woman, combined with her younger age, had my mind wandering to the library.

---