Page 85 of The Glass Dolphin

Seconds seemed to slow, and she wasn’t even sure why. Her phone beeped and buzzed, and she startled back to the present. Back to reality. She looked at her phone and found Maddy had returned her text.

Lunch sounds amazing! Tomorrow? Should I invite Julia?

If you can tear her away from Liam, Tessa said, smiling to her screen. She lifted her face, feeling better with plans with her friends. That alone gave her enough courage and stamina to face the bistro, knowing she’d be dining alone.

* * *

“Tessa?”

She turned away from the shelf where she’d just inserted a hardcover book to find her boss, Bonnie, standing there. “Hey, Bonnie.”

“Do you have a minute?” She nodded back toward the offices and check-out desk in the small library. Bonnie was at least fifteen years younger than Tessa, and she’d been hired as the new library director only two months ago.

Tessa liked her a lot, because she had good ideas for the small island community library, and she was willing to work to get the programs, the funding, and the concepts in her head out into the public.

“Sure.” Tessa took the few books she had in her arms with her as she walked down the aisle between bookshelves behind Bonnie. She’d worked or volunteered in a library for many years, and there was nowhere she’d rather be than around books, books, and more books—except maybe flowers, as Tessa adored gardening too.

Bonnie led her into her office, which was lined with books, and held carts of books, and had stacks of books on her desk. “Close the door, would you?”

Tessa did, and she balanced her few books on her lap as she took the only chair across from Bonnie. The room smelled like oranges, and Tessa wasn’t at all surprised to watch a gray cat leap lightly onto the librarian’s desk and meow.

“Not now, Dusky,” Bonnie said briskly. She’d inherited the cat with the library, as it lived here. The first librarian who showed up in the morning fed her, and there were no less than three beds for the feline around the library, all of them on top of bookshelves, so the cat could look down condescendingly on all the patrons who dared to look for something to read.

Dusky meowed again, then sat down and looked at Tessa. She smiled at the cat, as she owned two of her own. She’d adopted them from the local shelter here, and her neighbor took care of them while she went to Nantucket.

“All right.” Bonnie sighed like an older woman and folded her arms in front of her. She looked past the cat and all the books and beamed at Tessa. “We need an assistant library director to help run all the programs starting up this summer.”

Tessa’s heart began to pound. An assistant library director was a full-time position. She wouldn’t be resolving books from the return cart, and she’d be expected to work every day.

“I want to offer it to you,” Bonnie said, her smile growing. “I think you’re perfect for it, because we have programs I want to get off the ground for men and women your age. It’s not just summer reading for kids and teens anymore.”

“I know.” The words scratched on the way out of Tessa’s mouth. She attended all staff meetings, and she’d heard and seen all of Bonnie’s ideas. She’d voted on some of them, and she liked how the director didn’t take offense when her ideas got shot down.

She simply moved onto the next one, or she went back to the drawing board to refine the idea before she brought it up again.

“The Book Club,” Tessa said, her voice only slightly stronger.

“For young moms, moms of teens, and those beyond.”

Tessa smiled, because she knew she was in the “those beyond” category, and no one wanted to label people her age asold. Bonnie had never used the word, and she gently corrected anyone who said anything like, “older generation.”

The truth was, Tessawaspart of the older generation who didn’t think of the library when it came to their hobbies or how to spend their afternoons. Tessa worked here, so it was completely different for her.

“It’s a full-time position,” Bonnie said, plucking a yellow file folder from somewhere on the other side of the stack of books between her and the library director. “Monday through Friday, with some Saturday work. I want you to work on all of our adult programming, including the Book Clubs, because you’re perfect for it. Everyone here respects you, and—”

She stopped when Tessa held up her hand. “You don’t have to flatter me.” She smiled at Bonnie. “I’m honored that you thought of me.”

Bonnie’s eyebrows went up, and she casually pushed her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. “But?”

Tessa paused, because she didn’t know what came behind that word. If she lived here full-time, she could go to lunch with her friends any time she wanted. She could become better friends with Robin, Alice, and Eloise. Heck, she might even learn the whole story behind AJ, Kelli, Jean, and Clara’s lives.

She wanted relationship with those women, but she’d been choosing Abe over and over…when he hadn’t been choosing her.

Her throat narrowed, the walls of it nearly sticking together as she weighed her options in mere nanoseconds. The human mind was so amazing, and Tessa blinked, the answer to this job offer right in front of her.

“I’d be honored,” she said, her own smile finally reaching way down deep inside her and touching a hidden spot of happiness.

Bonnie squealed and clapped her hands together. “Perfect. I still want you to take this.” She got to her feet and rounded the desk. “It goes over your salary and your benefits. Ask me or the city lawyer any questions. I had to work hard to get this position.”

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