Page 89 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
Oliver had been into The Hive, yet again, to try and find Lois. She had been down in the archives for the morning and luckily, Andrew was on the desk and told Oliver that she wasn’t there. Lois was grateful to him for his quick thinking, especially because he didn’t know what Oliver looked like, but it was unusual for anyone to come in asking after her. Andrew also reported that Oliver didn’t leave straight away, instead, he headed upstairs and probably had a good look around so maybe he was onto her, and she may not be so lucky next time.
‘You didn’t tell me he was gorgeous, Lois,’ he said over lunch which she insisted on eating in the staff room just in case Oliver did show up again. Maybe it was his day off.
‘Hmm,’ she said through a mouthful of marmite sandwich, ‘I love his hair.’
‘Yep, that probably is his best feature. But his eyes, Lois. Beautiful brown pools you could lose yourself in,’ he said with a faraway look in his eyes.
Lois was not unaware of all Oliver’s lovely features. Trying to put him out of her mind was proving difficult when all she was doing was worrying he was going to spring out on her from behind a stack or follow her back to Steph’s.
That evening, she sat on the balcony looking out over the river, huddled in her biggest jumper, with a blanket over her lap. She wrapped her hands around her cup of tea and seriously started to think about what she was going to do next.
Being at Croftwood Library had changed her and she had been missing that freedom and energy since she had left. Maybe there were other libraries out there just like Croftwood that could be saved? Perhaps she could move somewhere else and do the same thing again. But would it work anywhere else unless there was a huge cheerleader in the form of a coffee house owner, a cantankerous but ultimately kind-hearted old librarian and a steadfast, loyal sidekick who was enthusiastic about everything. Lois smiled to herself. That was why it wouldn’t work anywhere else.
She picked up her laptop and found the internet browser open on the London Library website. A fresh pang of sadness washed over her as the memories of that most perfect night came flashing back as the smells and atmosphere of the place were momentarily all around her again.
Scrolling down the page to look at all the pictures, with renewed interest since now she’d seen it in real life, she noticed at the bottom of the page in minuscule type – Work for us.
Suddenly full of curiosity, she clicked on the link and came to the vacancies page. There was just one job being advertised and it was for an assistant librarian. It would be a step down from where she was now, but it was such an amazing place that she couldn’t even believe they’d need to advertise for staff. Maybe it was a sign.
She clicked through to the application form and spent the next hour filling it in before she pressed send and sat back with a smile on her face. For the first time since she and Oliver had spoken in the library, she felt like there was a glimmer of light in her life again.
The next morning, Lois managed to engineer a trip out with Steph on the school run. Despite having left Tom that morning, Steph was already excited about seeing him.
‘I’ll have to call him Mr Reeves, it’ll be so funny,’ she said, smiling and shaking her head as if she’d never called him Mr Reeves the other hundred times she’d seen him on the mobile library.
‘Mmm,’ said Lois. ‘So funny.’
‘Come on Lo, let’s have a laugh. Forget you’re down in the dumps. It’s a girl’s day out! God, imagine if we were doing the Old Hollow stop today. This is just the kind of day when you need a pick-me-up session with Zoe.’
Lois’s phone pinged.
‘Oh, my god! They want to meet me!’
‘Who? Why have you gone from sad to excited because of one text?’
‘I applied for a job at the London Library last night.’ Lois couldn’t stop grinning. It was so soon to have heard and now she was going to get to go back to that wonderful library. Her heart sunk a tiny bit – it did hold those lovely memories. It might be hard and the last thing she wanted was to start crying in front of them. But she was getting ahead of herself.
‘You what?’ Steph put her foot on the brake and Lois was sure that if it wasn’t for the fact that you had to plan about a mile ahead of needing to slow down, they would have ground to a halt. As it was, Steph pulled into the side of the road, put the hazard lights on and faced Lois. ‘You’re joking? You can’t let this thing with Oliver drive you away. What about… me?’
Lois laughed. Steph looked so forlorn. ‘I only applied, Steph, I’m sure it’ll come to nothing. It’s everything with Oliver that’s brought things to a head but I’m ready for a new start somewhere. Croftwood made me realise what I can achieve, and I didn’t know until I worked there how much I love challenging myself.’
‘They might snap your hand off now you’re an award winner.’
‘I’m not going to get the first thing I apply for, am I? It’s been ten years since I applied for a new job. All that happened was that I was sat there last night on your balcony wondering what I was going to do next, and I opened my laptop and the page for the London Library was still there from when I’d googled it before, and there was a vacancy.’
‘And they’ve already contacted you? That’s a good sign.’ Steph was looking more enthusiastic now.
‘Hopefully. It doesn’t say it’s an interview though, just a meeting.’
‘I think a meeting means it’s in the bag, to be honest.’ Steph got ready to pull out again, probably worried now that they’d be late. ‘And you’re right, Lois. You nailed it at Croftwood, and I’ve never seen you more ballsy at work. You were brilliant.’
‘Thanks, Steph.’ It meant a lot that her friend had noticed. ‘At the very least it’ll be nice to have a day in London and get to visit there again.’
‘And don’t think I don’t get it about Oliver. I know how hard you fell for him, but you’ll be okay. And even though I’ll miss you like mad, you deserve an amazing opportunity like that, Lo. Go for it.’
‘You’ll be okay too, Steph. Now that you’ve got Tom.’
‘Mr Reeves.’
