Page 28 of I Met Him At The Library

Brunch and our conversation was going beautifully, until the Hill family walked in and Emily’s shoulders tensed. In fact, the whole place had seemed to tense a bit and the din of conversation quieted to murmurs around us. The light in Emily’s eyes faded a little when she spotted them. The urge to switch to her side of the booth, so I could block them from her sight, came to me, but I stayed put. Emily was a private person, and moving closer to her - even to protect her - might bring unwanted attention.

Chapter 16

Emily

The Hill family sat at a large round table near us, the surprising addition to their family being Sophie Hart. Aaron and her were dating, but their family breakfast tradition never included her, until now. I disliked the entire Hill family - especially Aaron and his mother, Rose - but I never shared my displeasure with anyone other than Meghan.

Sadie came by with our meals in her hands and stacked up her arms. This was the type of diner where they didn’t have trays, and I always marveled at the way the servers managed to carry so many things at once.

After our meals were settled in front of us and Sadie refilled our coffee, we began digging in. I tried to enjoy my meal, but I could feel the disdainful stare of Rose on the side of my face. I made the mistake of looking up and making eye contact with her. Her eyes traveled to my plate, before she let her scrutinizing gaze scan my body, and then stare into my eyes with her judgemental stare.

She smiled in a way that wasn’t sweet, but no one would realize it wasn’t then she said, “Good morning, Emily. How are you on this fine day?”

“Wonderful, thank you. How are you?” I responded, knowing the game she was playing, as I erected mental walls to keep the eventual barbs from hitting where they could hurt.

“Fantastic. It was an interesting service today. One day you should join us. I know many in the town would be thrilled to see you.”

“Maybe one day,” I replied with a tight smile, hoping she’d end the conversation but knowing it likely wasn’t over.

Then words I didn’t see coming, came out of her mouth, “Are you two dating?”

My attention turned to Ryan, who stared at Rose with an eyebrow raised. As his mouth began to open, my head turned back to Rose and I blurted out an answer.

“No. We’re just friends getting breakfast together.”

Out of the corner of my eye, Ryan’s gaze turned to me, and a pang of regret bubbled up in me for saying we were just friends. We were a little bit more than that, but we hadn’t even discussed it. I didn’t want to look at Ryan to read his expression - afraid it would give away what felt like a lie to Rose.

“Oh well, I didn’t want to assume anything,” Rose said breezily, her eyes once again scanning my body in judgment. It took everything within me to keep my face neutral instead of rolling my eyes.

“Okay Rose, it’s been … a chat. You enjoy your meal with your family and we’ll get back to ours,” Ryan said with a slight command in his voice.

Rose’s eyebrow lifted slightly as she set her gaze on him, but that was the only clue she might have been offended by Ryan’s curt tone. She smiled tightly before turning back to the table - her husband, the pastor, turning as well. Looking at Ryan, I gave him a relieved expression, and he smiled at me, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Well, shit. Did I offend him by telling Rose we were just friends? I mean, it was too early for us to put a label on this thing. We were getting to know each other, and while our kiss was seared into my memory, I wasn’t quite ready for the entire town to know about our interest in each other.

After breakfast, Ryan wanted to pay the tab, since he invited me, but I insisted on paying for my portion. We walked back to my apartment building in silence.

After our kiss, I was sure he felt we were moving past friendship and into something more, but my declaration might have sent a whole host of mixed signals. We probably should have clarified everything before breakfast.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know exactly how to broach the subject now. There were a lot of things he likely didn’t know about when it came to the founding families. Was the gossip in this town bad? Yes. What was worse was the gossip that came directly from the Hills and the other families.

“I have to go to the library to work on a few things, what are your plans for the rest of the day?” He asked.

Looking up at him, was he was grateful I didn’t put anything other than a friend label on us? My stomach knotted with nerves. Maybe the kiss hadn’t affected him as much as it affected me.

“I’m going to do some writing, as usual,” I replied.

Arriving at my door, I turned to him and he smiled at me, with it once again not reaching his eyes.

“Thank you for having breakfast with me,” he said.

“Thank you for inviting me.”

“I’ll see you around,” he said with a nod.

He turned back toward the stairs, and as he started down them my eyebrows dropped low as I whispered, “Bye?”

Walking into my apartment, I closed and locked the door behind me. A feeling of disappointment and anger rose within me, but I shoved it aside to deal with later. As much as I wanted to spend hours analyzing every single interaction we’d ever had, it would cause me to waste the entire day.

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