Page 60 of Authentically, Izzy
PS: What a perfect match for a librarian and an author to become a pair! And think how much his contacts could help support the library. It’s almost too perfect!!
From: Izzy Edgewood
To: Josephine Martin
Date: April2
Subject: Re: Mother
Is this a belated April Fools’ joke, Josie? You don’t seem the sort, but I’m just checking before I respond.
Izzy
PS: When all the points converge, it can also reveal a Bermuda Triangle.
From: Izzy Edgewood
To: Luke Edgewood, Penelope Edgewood
Date: April2
Subject: Aunt Louisa and my future
I just got off of an excellent video call with Brodie where we spent half of the time sharing our favorite Calvin and Hobbes stories, when an email from Josie deflated my happiness like nothing else. Did either of you know Aunt Louisa planned to retire from the library in September? Josie says she wants to have freedom to help with the twins when they arrive, which I cannot fault her for at all, but retire?
And of course that means she’s looking to me to take over the library, which vanquishes the bookshop idea or any other future dream-job ideas. I know Aunt Louisa and Josie have the best intentions, but I’d appreciate a say in the workings of my own future. I know you both understand. Luke, Josie had you enrolled in three different schools with your career all planned out as a veterinarian. And Penelope, she nearly forced you to become a contestant on some spinoff ofThe Voice.
True, Josie isn’t as bad as Miss Havisham, but she’s certainly on the same page as Austen’s Mrs. Bennet with a little Catherine deBourgh stubbornness sprinkled in for good measure. Whatever hormone power those twins are giving her right now is only fueling the emotional madness!
I love the library. I’ve grown so much as a person and a part of our community since taking the job. It’s allowed me the freedom to research marketing, small business tips, and creative ideas to enhance such a historical place, but become head librarian? Is that what I want?
My heart squeezes against the thought. I’m thirty. I’ve lived in this community my whole life. My best friends are my cousins. My favorite conversations are online with a man who lives in a foreign country. My dog has a healthier social life than I do.
Some days I feel as though I’m stuck on a conveyor belt with no ability to alter the course of my future. I don’t expect starting my own bookshop to be an easy task, but succeed or fail, it would bemyplan. Is it crazy to want to run away from home at thirty years old? To drop everything and redirect your life? To grasp the “what-ifs”?
I don’t expect an answer. I think I just needed to voice my thoughts. Seeing them in print helps me process, as you know.
I love you both,
Izzy
PS: I’ve always liked the name The Prints & the BookWyrm. Isn’t that a cute name?
From: Luke Edgewood
To: Izzy Edgewood, Penelope Edgewood
Date: April2
Subject: Re: Aunt Louisa and my future
What do you want, Izzy? Once you know the answer, you’ll become the heroine of your own story.
Luke
PS: The Prints & the BookWyrm is a fun name. Sounds like a book that needs to be written.
From: Penelope Edgewood
