Page 65 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
‘No, she’s over at the Courtyard Café with Rosemary.’ Linda’s eyes darted over to Oliver who was busy making coffee. ‘She thought it was for the best.’
Steph had been so caught up in her own love life that she hadn’t had the chance to catch up with Lois about hers for ages. Did she still like Oliver? She’d assumed that once the ex-girlfriend had turned up, Lois would have moved on.
Steph went over to where Tom was sitting with Dottie, across the table from Bill and Eunice who were engrossed in conversation with each other.
‘Looks like you lost your book date, Dottie.’
‘Well, it’s nice to see Eunice enjoying herself. I don’t mind. There’s bound to be someone else I can join in with.’
‘There will be. I’ll find out from Linda who Bill was meant to be paired up with.’
Bill’s partner turned out to be someone called Laura who hadn’t arrived yet. Steph primed Linda to send Laura over to sit with Dottie when she arrived then excused herself, along with Tom.
‘We’re not leaving already, are we?’ he asked as Steph led them outside.
‘No, I just need to call into the other place to see Lois.’
They strolled down the road to the Courtyard Café where Lois, wearing a Santa hat, was on the door with Rosemary and people were standing in groups outside, despite the chilly winter evening, with take-out cups in their hands, all cheerfully talking about books.
The inside was adorned with fairy lights, not as many as Oliver’s had but it was a good effort and looked very festive, nevertheless.
‘Hey, Lois.’
‘Stephanie, there is, unfortunately, no room inside and as library staff, you are entitled to attend the evening at Oliver’s,’ said Rosemary in her most officious voice.
Lois gave Rosemary a tight smile. ‘Can you hold the fort for a minute please, Rosemary? I just need a word with Steph.’ She took Steph’s arm and steered her past the crowd to a quiet corner of the courtyard.
Tom stayed behind and Steph could hear him introduce himself to one of the groups. The benefits of dating a teacher; he seemed to be able to deal with anything that was thrown at him.
‘I’m loving the hat by the way,’ said Steph, provoking no reaction at all from Lois. ‘So, what’s up? I thought you were going to be at Oliver’s. Has something happened?’
‘Not really.’ Lois sighed. ‘It’s complicated. Amy has a bit of an issue with him doing the book club with me, so I thought it was easier to stay away.’
‘Right…’
‘He’s so easy to be with, so it’s weird to have to be careful so she doesn’t get upset. It’s less stressful for everyone if I just steer clear.’
‘So that’s it? You’re just going to avoid him for the rest of your life?’
Lois shuffled her pieces of paper while she stared intently at them. ‘Yes, if I have to.’
‘And what about you? Are you happy to do that? This book club is amazing, and you did this and now you’re having to be all… furtive.’
‘I’m not being furtive. I just want an easy life. And anyway, it kills two birds with one stone.’
Steph raised her eyebrows to let Lois know that needed more explanation.
‘Well, maybe I’m not over him. It’s so stupid, I mean, nothing ever really happened but I like being with him and it just makes it worse knowing nothing can happen.’
‘Oh, Lois. I didn’t know you still felt like that about him.’
Lois shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll be okay.’ She turned back to look at the café. ‘Tom seems to have found his tribe.’
‘He just gets on with everything, it’s great. I might not be able to drag him back to Oliver’s though and I ought to get back to see how it’s going. I think there’s a bit of a romance blossoming between a couple of my customers.’
‘At least someone’s getting lucky.’
‘You won’t have to wait ‘til you’re eighty, don’t worry.’
