Page 6 of I Met Him At The Library

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

“Do you like Ryan?” She whispered.

“Stop. You know damn well I’m not interested in anyone from this town,” I said, waving her off.

“Technically, Ryan isn’t from here.”

I gave her an exasperated expression before saying, “Please change the subject. If anyone overhears you, it’ll turn a whole lot of nothing into something. Or … we could discuss the obvious crush the doctor has on you?”

Meghan raised her hands up in surrender and did as I asked. She started telling me about some gossip she heard from Rosemary Hart, who heard it from Ruby Jones, who heard it from her sister Betsy, and at that point I lost track and barely listened to the gossip.

Unless she witnessed it first hand, I wasn’t interested in speculating about people we’ve known most of our lives. I was still stuck on how Ryan even acknowledged me outside of the library. He was a nice guy, but he was tall and practically perfect, and why would he even look in my direction? He never had before, at least, I didn’t think he had.

Shoving Ryan from my thoughts, I needed to be more careful. Not that I’d ever have a relationship with Ryan, but if Meghan sniffed out my little crush, she would grab on and not let go. She’d go to her brother to get details on Ryan, which would mean Ryan would find out. Working at the library would become awkward, and I’d lose my quiet place to work.

I needed a quiet place more than anything right now. I might be self published and able to control my own schedule, but I had readers on social media who I already promised would have seven books in a year and a half. I intended on sticking to that schedule, writer’s block and distractions be damned.

I had started off this series with three of the books already written. I had hoped by the time the fifth book was out, I would have been writing the last one. Unfortunately, I fell behind when I hit a wall after book six, and the release schedule was already etched in stone.

My sixth book releases in a few weeks and then I only have a couple of months before the seventh and final book needs to be published - I was still writing out the first draft. Poppy was finishing up the small details on the cover already, and Meghan was keeping me on track with this self-imposed deadline. I was lucky to have them in my corner.

“Have you talked to Poppy lately?” Meghan talked low to me.

“About a week ago. She was annoyed by the city because she couldn't seem to catch any quiet time to work,” I answered.

“That sucks. I miss her,” Meghan said before sipping on her beer.

“Yeah, me too,” I said and Meghan nodded sadly before changing the subject again.

Our friend, Poppy, lived in Chicago with her husband Max. Poppy dated Trey, Meghan’s brother, back in highschool and as the time for her to go to college got closer she started talking about maybe not going at all. Trey didn’t want her giving up her dreams because of him so he broke her heart - brutally. Poppy went off to college and never returned home.

Her parents turned their house into a vacation rental for families a couple years ago and moved to a warmer climate. The Poppy-Trey break up was the biggest gossip event for years, some of the older people still talked about how those two were meant for each other. I had always imagined she would come back after college and they’d reconnect, but right after graduation, she married Max and that was that.

“So I’m thinking about finally redecorating my office this spring. I could use your help. I love how you decorated your apartment,” Meghan stated.

“Absolutely, I’ll go check out what Trudy has available this weekend.”

As Meghan dove into ideas about her office space, and what she wanted to do with it, I forced myself to pay attention. It also meant zoning out a few people in the bar and completely ignoring the rare appearance of the douchebags in the corner. We didn’t talk about them, and besides, with Trey, Levi, and Preston sitting on the opposite side of the bar, Meghan and I didn’t have anything to worry about.

I honestly didn’t understand why Aaron and the douche squad even came here, none of them drank in public - in order to keep up appearances. They didn’t show up often, but it was still often enough to make me question if it was a bullying tactic to make Trey and Meghan both uncomfortable. Of course, Meghan was the queen of acting completely unbothered so I didn’t know if their actions were particularly effective.

After a couple hours at the bar, I could feel my energy zapping down to nothing. I’d had enough social interaction and it was time to head home for the night. Saying goodbye to Meghan, I headed toward the door, eager to get home where I could get cozy and dive into my latest romance read.

Pounding bass woke me in the morning, and I squeezed my eyes tight before looking at the time. Shit! I was running late. I didn’t need to punch a clock or anything, but I had a routine that worked well for me, and I hated messing with it. I forgot to set my alarm the night before, on top of reading that extra chapter or three, and running late might screw up my creative process for the entire day.

After slamming a cup of coffee, as fast as I could while being careful of the heat, I quickly showered, and rushed out of my apartment. I didn’t own a car because I could borrow the one my parents left behind if I needed one, so I basically walked everywhere. Living along the main strip of town made it easier to not need a car since everything was easily accessible from my apartment. I hurried toward the cafe to get more coffee.

I was not a morning person. At least one cup of coffee was necessary before conversing with people, two to barely get through the day, but a third was my sweet spot for caffeine. Enough to make the day good, not so much my anxiety would be made worse.

Inside Rise & Shine, the smell of baked goods and coffee filled the air. I didn’t often come into the bakery and cafe, owned by the Baker family. Mainly because they were one of the five founding families in Maple Creek, which meant they had an air of superiority over everyone. But the food was good, the coffee was strong, and I was short on time.

Thankfully, neither Paul nor Margaret were at the counter this morning and one of the younger twenty-somethings from the town was working. I ordered my drink and a bagel, paid, and rushed off to the library.

I had recently broken through one bad bout with writer’s block, and I didn’t want to risk losing the flow I finally found. I was getting in my five thousand words per day come hell or high water - even if it meant staying a little later at the library or staying up late to do it.

Arriving at the library, Ryan greeted me like he always did, and I greeted him back fighting the blush rising in my cheeks from his smile. Entering the main room, my eyes scanned the already filled study rooms. This was a problem. Those rooms were never filled, so why now?

Spinning, I chewed on my bottom lip as I searched for a quiet section to set up for the day, and noticed how the library seemed busier than normal. Spotting an empty table at the far end, I quickly walked over to it and spotted all the old law books and reference guides on the shelves. With the internet being a thing, no one even bothered with this section of the library anymore. Good, I’d found a secondary quiet spot and hoped it would work well for me.

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