Page 71 of Not A Whisper

After a wild morning of getting two fights settled, checking the returned books back into the database, and helping two different students work the library’s website, I’m ready to settle down behind the desk and let Jonathan deal with the after lunch rowdiness.

But my butt barely hits my seat cushion when the sharp sound of heels hurrying over linoleum catches my attention.

“Jonathan! Briella! We have a problem.” Ms. Barbara hurries over to our desk, looking flustered. “A pipe in the bathroom upstairs burst, and it’s a mess and is leaking down into the other ones. I’ve called a plumber, but we’re going to need to close the library until he can get here. The water is just going to keep coming. Help me get the students out of here. Then we can try to barricade the bathrooms and stuff things under the door so no water can make its way out to the main parts of the library.”

I’m back on my feet at once. “Of course, I’ll tell the students on this floor. Jonathan?—”

“I’ll go downstairs and work on kicking them out downthere,” he offers. “We’ll meet up on the third floor and search for any goblins hanging out up there.”

“My A-Team,” Ms. Barbara sighs. “I’ll go find something to start soaking up the mess.”

When I get backto my apartment, the guys are still MIA.

The silence is peaceful this evening. As I pull out wine, chips, and salsa, I take the downtime to call the venues Pianna sent me. Jotting down notes and dates is easy and mindless. I’ve never planned a wedding, but then again, I’ve never put together a luxury ranch and, apparently, I did a decent job with that. It also helps knowing what Pianna wants. With the guys, I just had to wing it and do atonof research.

When I’m done, I give her a call.

“Ok, so out of the five, three are available.” I give her all the dates, times, and details of each place.

“Alright, let me crunch some numbers and figure out the next steps,” she says.

I nod as if she can see me. “Oh, I looked at your dresses, didn’t love any of them.”

Her gasp of indignation is followed by a heavy groan. “Fine. I’ll keep looking.”

“Alright, love you. Talk to you later.”

“Wait!” she calls out.

I lean against the back of the couch, watching the muted commercial on my television set. “Yeah?”

“Are you ok?”

I frown. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. The last few times I’ve called you’ve seemed, I don’t know, tired? Stressed? Is everything alright? You know you can tell me.”

I get up and head back into the kitchen. Grabbing the bottle of wine, I down the last of the contents and then meander over to the sliding glass door that leads out onto a tiny, unused patio.

“I’m fine, Pia.”

Her hum of disapproval tells me she doesn’t believe me. “The guys treating you ok?”

“Yeah, they are.”

Movement in the parking lot below catches my attention. I shift so I can see what’s going on and catch sight of Lance. In front of him, with her back facing me, is a woman. Both of them stand beside a running car. Judging by the way her hands are waving around, the conversation between them isn’t going well. I bite my lip when she goes to shove him. Lance steps back but keeps his hands firmly in his jacket pockets. He shakes his head before it drops, and he turns around. As he trudges across the parking lot, the woman yells something after him. When he doesn’t answer, she stomps around the car and climbs into the driver’s seat.

“Bri?”

I blink, pulling myself back into the moment. “Sorry, what?”

“The guys, where are they?” Pianna asks. “How is it that despite having three boyfriends, they’re hardly ever around when I call?”

I turn around to face the interior of my home.

“They’re busy helping Jason and Trip’s families tonight. And I’m glad because I needed a break.”

There’s a pause. “You do? But they’re never around?—”

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