Page 59 of Please Send Snow
“We can only borrow five books at a time,” I remind him. “So let’s really look at them and make sure we get the ones you like best.”
“Okay, Maddie,” he says, looking up at me with serious eyes.
“Grab the three best looking ones for now,” I tell him. “And meet me over on that chair.”
He looks at where I’m pointing and then nods to me.
I force myself to go over to the chair to wait for him. Though I’d love nothing more than to pick out books for him, I know part of the pleasure of having free range of a library is choosing yourownbooks, and I don’t want to take that experience away from him.
Dylan spends a good amount of time deliberating, which unfortunately gives me enough time to think about last night—the food, the fun, the songs, the hot tub, and…
Jake.
I’m probably too vulnerable to be making smart decisions right now, but I’m not too far gone to know that falling for my boss is the worst kind of idea at the best of times, but especially given my current financial situation.
Still, it’s so hard not to start caring about someone when they show you who they are. Jake said so little about his childhood, but Ifeltit in my gut, like I could see the little boy he once was.
I let my guard down and I’ll probably pay the price for it later.
But for now, I can’t help reveling in this time when I get to play house with Jake and Dylan Stone.
“Maddie, Maddie,” Dylan squeaks. “I got the best three.”
I smile at him and open up my arms so that he can scramble into my lap and read with me.
The timeat the library passes quickly. At some point, there’s a shadow over the page and I look up to find Jake standing over us.
“Dad,”Dylan cries happily. “We got a library card. We can check out five books.”
“That’s great, bud,” Jake tells him, his blue eyes dancing as he smiles down at his boy.
“You’re finished with your market research already?” I ask him.
Jake gets this odd expression and then he shuts it down and nods once.
“I can pick it up again another day,” he tells me.
“Okay,” I say. “Dylan, should we check these out?”
“Yes,” he says, very happy because he’s convinced we’ve got the best ones.
It was fun to read with him, but I’m starting to be more convinced that he does need extra attention. He doesn’t mind helping me out with a word or two when we read his books at home, but now I think that the bright little guy has those books mostly memorized.
Once we got into the new picture books, I quickly discovered that he has a very hard time with new material, so instead of asking him to help me with a lot of words, I asked him to tell me about the pictures instead.
It’ll be okay,I remind myself.His dad has all the resources in the world to get him the help he needs to thrive.
The main thing I want to do is make sure he likes the idea of reading and writing. And if our daily reading sessions, Froggy stories, and letters to Santa are anyindication, he certainly does. As long as he doesn’t lose that feeling, I’m pretty sure he can learn to do those things as well as anyone else. My bestie Monique certainly mastered it. She even went to college to become a teacher herself.
I really miss spending time with my friend, but I know she’s happy in her grad program and we’ll catch up when I’m back on my feet. It’s probably for the best that she’s not around right now. I definitely can’t stand the idea of anyone feeling sorry for me, and I’m not sure that I could talk to her and not spill the beans about everything that’s happened.
At least so far the news about me hasn’t been interesting enough to publish. I can be grateful for that much, since it’s given me the opportunity to have a roof over my head.
By tricking the man I’m starting to really care about…
We get to the lobby and Dylan puts his five choices on the counter along with the library card.
“Hello there, Mr. Stone,” Mrs. Chalfont says fondly to him. “I can see already that you’re going to be my favorite kind of library customer.”
