Page 44 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
Amy had left. For how long, he didn’t know. She’d walked out, taking her car keys at the height of their row the night before and hadn’t been in touch since. He hadn’t slept at all, wondering where she was, where she had gone…what she had done. Because he knew she was still fragile he worried that any disagreement that made her as upset as she was last night could be what sent her over the edge. There was an edge, he could see that as soon as they had got back together. He didn’t think it had ever been there before and now, he could see her teetering on it, and yet he seemed to have very little influence over how close she got to it because he couldn’t seem to do anything right. He was failing to anticipate what he might be doing wrong at every turn because there seemed to be no logic behind any of the issues that Amy had with him.
It was never going to be plain sailing being back together again when so much time had passed and if he was honest, it hadn’t been when they were together before and they had both forgotten that. But he didn’t feel like a man who was having a second chance with the love of his life, so what was he doing it for?
He sent yet another text to Amy begging her to call him or come home then left his phone on the side while he made himself the espresso he’d been promising himself since before Lois came in.
25
The usual Thursday morning meeting had been postponed until Friday as Rosemary had been so keen to distribute the posters, that she hadn’t made it back to the library the day before. She hadn’t heard about the book club and was incredulous when Linda and Lois related the tale of how busy it had been.
‘Full? But we only had twenty-two cards handed in. That’s more than last time, I grant you but they surely didn’t fill Oliver’s.’
‘I think the word has spread, probably thanks to Linda, which is great but has sort of eclipsed our original intention of increasing footfall here at the library.’
Lois went on to explain her plan to split the evening between the two venues. ‘And the best thing is that the next meeting will be just before Christmas so we can make it extra special anyway.’
‘When I was at the Hive over the weekend I saw they have a wonderful display of Christmas books. Could we do that and have one of the book club choices be from that selection?’ asked Linda.
‘That’s a great idea. The other thing we need to organise is the treasure hunt for the Christmas light switch-on evening. I’ve made an entry form and a poster. Rosemary, would you be able to take them on your travels, see if you can get people to put one up here and there for us?’
‘Of course. I assume you will need extra help on that day?’
‘If you don’t mind, that would be brilliant,’ said Lois, silently hoping that Rosemary would be able to stop herself from telling off any exuberant children.
‘I’ll be in that day too,’ said Linda. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’
‘Thanks, guys. It’ll be a chance to launch our fundraising for the teenagers’ area of the library so I hope we can get loads of people in that day.’
‘Do we have enough prizes, Lois? I can ask some more of the local businesses if needs be,’ Rosemary offered. Sometimes it flummoxed Lois how Rosemary could have left Croftwood Library in the dark ages for so long when she was so proactive with everything Lois introduced.
‘Thanks, Rosemary, we’re probably okay for prizes with what you’ve already managed to collect. I’d love to drum up some enthusiasm for the fundraising, I think that needs to be our next focus. Right, let’s get to work.’
That evening Lois was glad to be able to go home, get her pyjamas on and binge the new season of Jack Ryan. After being in London on Tuesday and the crazy book club on Wednesday, it felt like the first minute she’d had to relax for days. It would almost be time to watch Christmas movies, her absolute favourite thing about the run-up to the big day. Depending on which day Alex came to clear out his things, if she had Sunday afternoon free, she would be tuned into the cheesy Christmas movies on Channel Five which had already started.
Her phone pinged with a text notification.
Can we have dinner tomorrow night? I’m staying at Rich’s this weekend. Alex
Lois rummaged for the remote control and paused Jack Ryan. She was wary of reading too much into Alex’s invitation, it would be easy to overthink it. They’d said all there was to say and she couldn’t understand what could be gained by any more discussion. She needed a second opinion.
‘Hey, Steph.’
‘Lois! Good to hear from you. What’s up?’
Lois sighed. ‘Alex wants to have dinner on Friday and I’m worried that…well, I don’t know exactly what. But it doesn’t seem like a good idea.’
‘What’s the harm? He’s coming to clear his stuff out which is what you wanted, maybe he’s just trying to have a nice ending.’
If Steph wasn’t still in her loved-up bubble she would not be saying that. Since when did Alex ever suggest doing anything like eating out, unless it was dinner at the pub with his mates? Lois could count on her thumbs the number of times they’d been out for dinner somewhere nice, alone. She had rung Steph for reassurance that she was right to be suspicious about Alex’s motives, and she wasn’t going to get it.
‘Maybe you’re right,’ she said, purely to satisfy Steph that nothing else needed to be said on the subject. She wasn’t about to start trying to convince Steph to be on her side instead of Alex’s. ‘And how’s it going with you and Max?’
‘Really good. He’s taking me out with his motorbike friends on Saturday. We’re going to Weston-Super-Mare in a big convoy.’
‘Oh, brilliant,’ said Lois, trying to sound enthusiastic. ‘Well, have a good time and maybe we can catch up next week.’
‘Okay and let me know how it goes with Alex.’
Lois pressed play but had lost concentration on Jack Ryan. What was Alex up to? And why did it bother her anyway? A dinner to say goodbye was a nice idea if that’s what it was, and she should probably go along with it.
