Page 36 of I Met Him At The Library

“Okay, so don’t freak out, but … you kind of inspired me and I may have started writing a book.”

“Oh my god! Seriously! That is fantastic! Why didn’t you tell me?” I sat forward on the couch, ecstatic over the news.

Poppy and I used to make up entire fantastical worlds together, and I always believed she’d be amazing as an author. But she went to school for graphic design and never gave writing a shot.

“I put creating fictional worlds on hold years ago. No offense, but writing doesn’t always pay the bills and despite my scholarship, I still had student loans to pay off. You’re working on your third series and are finally financially okay.”

“I get it. I really do. Oh, I’m so excited for you. What genre are you planning on writing?”

“Fantasy, full blown, my own world, my own creatures, my own everything.”

“I love it. I can’t wait to read it. If you need a beta reader, I’ll be happy to help. And you know Meghan does editing? She misses you.”

Poppy sighed, “I know and I miss her, too. But you know how it is. Do I stay in contact with my ex’s sister?”

“It’s been over a decade, and yes I know he’s whatever, but if he has a problem with it after all this time, well then fuck him, and you know Meghan would say the same.”

“I don’t want to cause any issues.”

“Think about it. Anyway, I was calling because I need to use your amazing brainstorming powers.”

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“City council is reallocating the funding for the library. If we don’t figure out a way to replace it, the doors will close for good … and since I might be dating the Library Director, Ryan, I would like to keep those doors open and keep him here in town.”

“Wait, that was a lot. You’re dating him?” She asked, her voice rising slightly.

“Yes, but we agreed to keep it quiet for a little bit. First, we need to save the library,” I insisted.

“Congrats on that. Ok, let’s save the library. Most city libraries are funded by an endowment set up for it from its conception. It will probably be harder to do that with Maple Creek’s library since the town pulled together to start and run it.”

“Yeah. Ryan said Levi gave him the idea of contacting authors who are popular in our area to see if they could help raise awareness or, possibly, donate to save the library.”

Within seconds, Poppy came up with the same idea I had upon hearing Levi’s idea. For the next several hours, we started putting together an entire plan for how we could pull the idea off in the short time we had available. I’d need to recruit Meghan, but I knew she’d be completely on board. By the time I slipped under my covers for the night, I was exhausted, but excited to pitch the idea to Ryan.

Chapter 21

Ryan

“We are quietly seeing each other,” I announced to my friends at our usual table inside the bar.

“Should you be telling us this?” Preston asked.

My smile dropped, as I tentatively said, “I think I can. We just don’t want the whole town to know.”

“How the hell are you going to hide it from the town?” Levi asked with a chuckle.

“Well I imagine that since we’ll be working together to save the library, it will be our cover story. It should also be what you all say when asked for gossip,” I stated, giving each of them a hard look.

Preston stared back, Levi raised an eyebrow, and Trey grinned at me. These three were going to be the death of me.

The bell above the door rang, drawing my eyes as Meghan and Emily entered. Emily’s eyes met mine right away, and everyone else disappeared. How did she do that? Every time she walked into a building or room everything else disappeared and it was just the two of us.

As they walked over to us, Trey cleared his throat and the regular noises of the bar filtered back in.

“We’ve been working on an idea, and I need you to hear me out.” Emily spoke quickly as she and Meghan pulled chairs from a nearby table to our booth and sat.

“A con.” Emily pointed at me and then smiled like I had any idea what she was talking about.

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