Page 3 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
Talking it through with Andrew wasn’t helping her to be at peace with the decision and it actually made her realise that it was the first time she had missed having Alex at home. Her now-ex-boyfriend had moved to London a couple of months ago and their relationship had very quickly fizzled out. Lois had been surprised by how easily she had bounced back from the break-up, but her friend Steph had insisted that was because Alex wasn’t The One. Regardless of whether he was The One or not, he had effectively been her closest friend for the two years that they’d lived together and that was what she missed the most.
She wheeled the returns trolley over to the lifts, hit the button for the first floor and then pulled her phone out to look at while she waited. There was a text from Steph who as well as being her best friend was in charge of the mobile library van.
Want to come on a jolly tomorrow? Doing the school round and could use a hand. X
The mobile library visited a lot of the smaller rural primary schools. It gave schools the opportunity to refresh their books more frequently than their budgets would otherwise allow. The children were allowed out of class to come and choose books, and sometimes Steph needed a hand to help with the children as well as do the necessary admin side of the visit. Lois always jumped at the opportunity to go out and about and Robert was really good about letting her go out on the mobile library whenever she wanted to. It might be her last chance before she started working at Croftwood.
Count me in! x
Do you think I’m mad?’ Lois asked Steph as they meandered along the country lanes in the mobile library van.
‘Oooh, that’s a hard one. Mad to be taking the Croftwood job when you don’t want to, or mad to say yes to Robert when you could wrap him around your little finger if you tried? Tough…’
‘Come on Steph. You know what I mean.’
‘I do know, Lois. I know that you need to do whatever feels like the right thing for you.’ She was very pleased with her diplomatic answer.
‘Well, I think I quite fancy it. It’s a proper library at least. It’ll be a challenge and I think that’s what I want. I love the Hive, but this is a chance to do something different for a little while. It’ll be like having a new job for a few months without actually having to get a new job.’
‘You’re right. A change is invigorating, makes you feel like you’re really living life.’ Steph didn’t think for a minute that Lois was going to find working in Croftwood Library invigorating or challenging but it was her job to support her friend. She was probably still feeling a bit adrift since Alex left, although in her opinion it had been good riddance, so doing something different was a good idea.
Steph had worked on the mobile library van for fifteen years and contrary to the advice she was happy to dish out to Lois, had never wanted to do anything different at all. It sounded boring to have been doing the same thing for so long, but she was way past the point of caring about that. She knew she was lucky to have a job that she loved. It was her customers that made the job so fulfilling. The regulars saw her as a lifeline which meant more to her than just being a librarian.
‘It does bother me that Robert is so…’ Lois was wavering for the right word.
‘Wet.’
‘I was thinking, presumptive,’ she said, looking pointedly at Steph who concentrated on the road and pretended she hadn’t seen. ‘He knew he was onto a sure thing asking me to do it.’
‘Well, I hate to point out the obvious, but you are doing it and didn’t put up much of a fight, am I right?’
Lois hated confrontation and was particularly bad at putting her foot down about anything. In fact, Steph knew that Alex had left most of his stuff behind and Lois was keeping it in the spare room for him.
‘Yes, but I don’t want people to think I’m a pushover.’ Lois sighed.
‘Well, don’t let yourself be pushed over so often.’ Seeing Lois’s face fall she said, ‘Come on, it’ll be fun. You’ll get to ride your bike to work every day. Think what that’ll do to your bum, it’ll look amazing by Christmas,’ said Steph.
Lois laughed as they pulled up at St Hilda’s Primary School, parking the van in the playground. Steph went in to let them know they’d arrived while Lois got the steps down. A few minutes later Steph appeared with four small children who were walking behind her in a line, holding each other’s hands.
‘Right, you’re allowed to choose one book each,’ she said, as they came into the van, their eyes wide with reverential excitement. ‘If you want to sit down and look through some different books before you decide you can sit here.’ Steph gestured to the carpeted area at the back of the van.
The children began to cautiously look at the bookshelves, one little girl turning to look at Steph as she tentatively put out a finger to take a book. Steph nodded encouragingly, seeing the girl’s relief as she realised it was okay to touch. She went over and crouched next to her, picking out a Mr Gum book.
‘Have you read any Mr Gum books before?’
‘No.’
‘They’re really funny.’ Steph handed the book to the girl who flipped through it.
‘It hasn’t got many pictures,’ she said doubtfully.
‘It hasn’t,’ Steph agreed, ‘but you know when someone reads to you and you make pictures of the story in your head? Well, this book is really good at that.’
The girl nodded. ‘I’ll choose this one,’ she said, very seriously, holding the book to her chest.
‘That’s a great choice. If you take it to my friend, Lois, she’ll stamp the date in it for you.’
‘Chosen already, Clara?’ Mr Reeves, the Literacy Leader and the class teacher came into the van followed by another four children. ‘Time to make your choices, Harry, Maia and George!’
