Page 24 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
She took a deep breath and despite every fibre in her willing her to fill the silence, she managed not to. Instead, she waited to see what he was going to say.
‘After you left, I realised that I’d had a much better time with you than I was having with her.’
Lois smiled. ‘Well, that’s something, I suppose.’
‘I wish Amy hadn’t come to the pub, Lois.’ He looked at her sincerely. ‘And I wish I could tell you I would be able to ask her to go if it happened again but, to be honest, I still don’t know what I could have done. I just know that I was having a great time with you, and I ruined it.’
The pleading look in his eyes won Lois over. For now. ‘I was having a good time too. It’s ages since I’ve been spontaneous like that.’
‘I meant what I said. I’d love to try again sometime.’
‘I’d like that.’
‘Thanks for understanding.’ He got up from the table and took their empty glasses over to the counter with him.
But actually, she didn’t understand because he still hadn’t explained properly and now she was annoyed that he thought she was okay with the whole thing. But he’d looked so forlorn that she’d had to put him out of his misery and let it go because she wasn’t confident he was ever going to tell her what was going on.
Lois went over to a couple of the tables to chat to people she recognised as library customers. One of them was Jess who owned the Croftwood Haberdashery. Lois still hadn’t had chance to go in there yet but she was more inclined now that she’d met Jess, who was wearing a denim jumpsuit that she’d made. It was a fabulous advert for her shop, although Lois wasn’t sure she was quite up to that standard of sewing.
Once all the book-daters had left and Oliver was taking the last of the cups and glasses over to the counter to wash, Linda, Rosemary and Lois sat down together and reflected on how well the evening had gone.
‘I had a wonderful conversation with that young man who had read David Cameron’s autobiography. He was a staunch Liberal Democrat supporter and it was so refreshing to talk to a young person who was interested in finding out other points of view. Fascinating. A thoroughly enjoyable evening,’ said Rosemary, with a smile of satisfaction that Lois didn’t think she’d ever seen before.
‘The couple of ladies who’d read the Debbie Johnson book loved it. They’ve asked me to order the other books in the series,’ said Linda. ‘And I saw the woman who I think was the one who asked for a date, leaving with the man we paired her with. It could be the start of a beautiful friendship,’ she added as Rosemary visibly stiffened.
‘Are we agreed that it was a success?’ asked Oliver, coming over to their table and sitting down, stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankle.
‘Yes, definitely,’ said Lois. ‘Are you okay to host again next time?’
‘Of course he is,’ said Rosemary. ‘It’s all agreed.’
Oliver nodded with a resigned smile. He had soft spot for Rosemary for some reason.
They gathered up their things and left Oliver to lock up behind them.
‘I’ll call in and change my book,’ Oliver said to Lois, out of earshot of the others.
‘Okay, see you then,’ she said.
He held her gaze as he locked the door. Lois crossed the road to where she had left her bike locked to the railings outside the church, put on her helmet and fluorescent coat, stowed her bag in the basket and put the lights on ready for the ride home. When she looked back at Oliver’s all the lights were out but when she looked up at the window above, she saw Oliver watching her. He looked caught out when she waved at him, but he waved back and Lois set off for home feeling sure that there was something between them but less sure that Oliver saw her as the only woman in his life. After playing second fiddle to Alex’s friends for almost three years she was certain that if she got as far as having a relationship with Oliver it would have to be only the two of them in it.
15
Steph had dragged Lois to Croftwood Cinema to see the original Superman film. It was an old art-deco cinema in the park, that Lois thought Oliver might be involved with. It had just been renovated and for some reason it only showed old films but there was nothing wrong with that. Steph knew Superman wasn’t Lois’s kind of thing but unfortunately it wasn’t her new boyfriend Max’s thing either.
‘I just couldn’t tell him yet that I love superheroes. It seemed too soon,’ said Steph, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
‘But it’s going okay otherwise?’ asked Lois.
‘Oh my god, Lois, it’s amazing! I was just about at the end of my dating tether, I’d sworn it was my last Tinder date and there you go. It finally happened.’
‘Really, as good as that? It’s only been a couple of weeks.’
‘When you know, you know. Right?’
‘Yes, I guess so.’
Until recently Lois had never understood that kind of feeling at all. She certainly hadn’t had it with Alex and now she knew that was what she should have held out for. The feelings she had for Oliver made her understand what Steph was on about even if nothing had really happened between them yet. There was something more than attraction, it was a connection. She wished she was sure enough to let her feelings lead the way, to take charge of the situation and go forth. But Oliver was doing a terrible job of letting her know where she stood, if indeed she stood anywhere.
