Page 63 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
‘Yes, me too. Thanks for a lovely evening,’ he said, standing up and pulling a couple of notes out of his wallet and leaving them on the table.
‘Very generous of you, mate,’ said Max. ‘Joking,’ he added after a glare from Steph.
‘Do you fancy grabbing a drink?’ asked Lois after they’d left the restaurant.
Tom shifted around uncomfortably. ‘Um, thanks but I’d better not.’
‘Because you like Steph?’
‘I’m so sorry, Lois. You’re great, but yes, I’ve always liked her. To be honest, I can’t see it working out for her with that bloke, so I’ll hang on and see how things pan out for her.’ He was staring at his feet now, his hands in his jacket pockets and desperate to be able to leave.
‘Steph’s coming for a drink too if that makes a difference.’ It wasn’t her place to tell him what Steph was about to do and besides, she still may not manage to do it.
‘Oh. Well, maybe for a quick one.’
They walked to Heroes, a cocktail bar on the first floor of a crooked half-timbered building on New Street. Lois and Steph had been going there for years. They sometimes worried nowadays that they might be too old, but it hadn’t stopped them yet.
Tom bought drinks for them, and they managed to find a table in the corner.
‘Steph said you’re working at Croftwood Library?’
Lois nodded as she sipped her drink.
‘One of the parents at school has rallied to your cause and asked us to put the flyers for the Library of the Year competition out with the school newsletter this week so you might get a few extra votes.’
‘Wow, that’s brilliant. Honestly, it’s amazed me how many people have said they’ve voted for us.’
‘Everyone loves an underdog,’ he said winking.
‘Well, we are that.’
Steph appeared, not five minutes behind them. That didn’t bode well, there definitely hadn’t been time for her to say what needed to be said.
‘Sorted,’ she said, with a broad grin.
‘Really?’ asked Lois doubtfully.
‘Yep, turned out he wasn’t feeling it either and, no offence, he thought my friends were boring.’
Lois gulped her drink down, pleased that she’d chosen a gin and tonic and not a glass of wine. ‘I’m off then.’
Steph stood up and took her aside as Lois was putting her coat on.
‘Thanks, Lois, I appreciate this.’
‘No problem. Have a lovely evening. Bye,’ she called to Tom over Steph’s shoulder. He waved at her, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
Lois headed towards the bridge for the short walk home. If the night had taught her anything it was that she wasn’t ready for any relationship that wasn’t with Oliver. It was impossible to forget him and just as hard to avoid him. And she didn’t want to have to avoid him, she liked being friends. But what had seemed like a good compromise was making it a lot harder for her to move on. Even the fact that he was so involved in the book club made it impossible to draw a line under their relationship in whatever form it was, and she probably needed to accept that she was going to be in this state of limbo until she left Croftwood Library. She just had to make it through until then.
35
Steph had picked up the Dial-A-Ride minibus after her shift, had already collected Flora, Jerry, Audrey and Bill and was on her way to Eunice’s house for Eunice and Dottie. Tom had tagged along for company. They had seen each other almost every day since she’d finally got herself together and dumped Max on the night of the double date.
Max had been completely indifferent when Steph told him she thought maybe it wasn’t going to work out between them, so it had been easy to suggest that they call it a day without either of them being upset about it.
Once Lois had left her and Tom together in Heroes, he’d admitted to her that he’d thought about asking her out before but thought she wasn’t interested. She felt so comfortable with him that she was able to say that she’d always thought he was too nerdy for her but that when she’d seen him in ‘real-life’ she’d fancied the pants off him. They were both relieved that Lois hadn’t been interested.
So, Tom sat in the front of the minibus with Steph, his hand resting over hers on the gearstick when she was on a stretch of not having to change gears. It struck her as vomit-inducingly sweet, but she loved it all the same.
