Page 50 of I Met Him At The Library

“Really, an Anderson?” I asked skeptically.

“According to Levi, Dylan isn’t like the other founding families. Plus him and Jason’s sister, Rachel, are a thing, remember?”

“I-- What? When did that happen?” I asked.

“I told you about that during our last girls night. You never listen when I have juicy gossip.”

“I listen when you witness it first-hand but when it’s more than two people deep, I kinda ignore it until it’s proven true.”

“Anyway, Dylan could probably convince a few of the original residents who bought up rentals. I’ll text Levi and have him ask Dylan.”

“I don’t know if it would be enough.” I frowned as Ryan was texting someone on his phone.

“Yes, but I can also call Dr. Cooper, who is friendly with many of the people who own the vacation rentals. Dad still talks to Walt, who might be able to get in contact with a few bus drivers and we could bus people in from Fairwood. We are not giving up on this!”

“Bus drivers,” I stated more optimistically, and Ryan’s gaze shot to mine as his eyes widened with a bit of hopefulness.

“Yes.” Meghan said.

“Okay, that is your task for today. That and finding us a big name so we can hopefully sell more tickets and book these places faster than the church.”

“Well, evidently, I know one huge name in the area, who will likely be walking around the event anyway,” Meghan hinted, but when I didn’t reply she continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll find someone.”

“Thanks, Meg.”

Hanging up the phone, I explained her idea to Ryan and he visibly started to relax. By the time I finished telling him about Meghan’s plans, he took a deep breath and nodded.

“It’s okay, we can manage this. We are going forward as planned. I’ll contact a few of the Fairwood hotels once we have an answer regarding buses. We can add them as accommodation options and offer bussing from the hotel to the library,” Ryan said and I nodded.

It would all work out. I had to stay positive about it. If I let myself get down, I’d end up spiraling. We could still have a successful event, even if I kept my identity a secret and didn’t do the signing.

Chapter 29

Ryan

It had been a couple of weeks since we found out about the church concert, and things weren’t looking great for our book festival. This morning, however, I opened my emails to find an author from our list had emailed. Addison March had originally declined our invitation, but after an issue with the venue for an event she had planned to attend on the east coast, her availability opened up.

Tonight was going to be a celebration. Not only did we land another popular author, but Emily had finished the self-edits of her book and sent it over to Meghan for editing.

While the book was in editing, Emily was working on planning out her next series to write. She claimed moving to the next project like this was a good way to keep her mind from spinning on whether the last book was good or not. However, tonight she was mine.

I made plans for dinner at a Fairwood restaurant, and afterward, I booked a hotel room for the night. In the last couple of weeks we hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time together and I was looking forward to getting this time with her, away from Maple Creek.

Pulling up outside of Emily’s building, I exited my car and walked toward the door. Unfortunately, Margo Hill, the mayor’s wife, was walking down the sidewalk at the same time. Keeping my eyes turned away from her, I hoped to avoid a confrontation.

“Oh Ryan!” Margo called, and I winced.

Slowly I turned to her and forced a smile to my face. “Hello Mrs. Hill, how are you?”

“I’m doing well. Listen, it seems there is a bit of a scheduling mishap with events. Do you think you could postpone your little book thing for a week or two? The church had a concert scheduled and now people are complaining they are having a hard time booking accommodations.”

Tilting my head, I worked up as much kindness as I could before replying, “That’s a shame, but unfortunately for the church, I cannot push off the event. Maybe the church should have planned their event for a later date.”

Margo gave me a blank stare like she couldn’t believe I hadn’t simply agreed to her suggestion. But why the hell should I push off an event I scheduled first, for a library that needed funds due to her husband’s desire to move the funding into programs the church was trying to take over? I’d love to know where the Hill family seemed to find so much audacity.

The corner of her mouth lifted and she turned her head to the building and said, “I hear you and Emily have been spending a lot of time together. Are you visiting her now? So late in the evening?”

“My sister lives in this building.”

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