Page 24 of Overdue

I pull my truck into a parking space in front and gather up my stuff. Pushing through the front door, I immediately scan the open space for a glimpse of her. Seeing none, I make a beeline for Kim at the circulation desk. I don’t need anything, but there’s a view inside Austen’s office from here.

“Hey, Kim. How’s it going?” I ask.

I’m not paying attention to Kim. My eyes are firmly stuck on Austen bent over her desk, studying something. That glorious ass in yet another tight skirt fills my vision. That is a million-dollar view. It makes whatever torture she has in store for me this afternoon worth it.

“Hey, Reed. Good view?” Kim laughs. I don’t even try to be stealthy about ogling Austen. Why would I? The entire town knows, or thinks they know, about my intentions.

“The best,” I say with a wink. With one last look, I hitch my load higher and head toward the table at the back. This town park isn’t going to draw itself. I open my sketch pad.

My rendering is finally starting to make sense when I feel someone watching me. Looking up, I find Austen staring at it from the other side of the table.

“Hey, about earlier—” I begin.

“Is that your latest design?” she asks, cutting off my apology. I glance back down at the page as if seeing it for the first time.

“Yeah, you want me to explain it?”

“I would.” Austen sits next to me again.

I can’t wait to see what rumors make it around by tomorrow about this. When I returned to work this morning, the teasing picked right back up. The report of my fumbled attempt at stopping the next rumor had already been reported back to the guys. At least running the hedge trimmers with ear protection on afforded me some peace.

“I think there should be three main entrances with a curved metal sign over each one. The main one will have ‘Dansboro Crossing.’ The one on the east, the date the town was established, and the county name on the west one. There will be a low retaining wall with cutouts in it for easy access no matter where you park.”

I chance a glance at Austen. She’s listening with rapt attention. Something inside me warms with pride.

“I’ll put a gazebo at one end and the stage at the other. The city can bring in different acts, and there’ll be plenty of room for everyone to set up lawn chairs. The gazebo will be big enough for weddings and the like. I also scattered shade trees around, so you can have storytime out here when the weather's nice. If you want.

“I’m adding a walking area that will include a flower garden. I contacted the garden club for their input, so I’ll meet with them next week.” I grow silent and wait for Austen to say something. Anything. I’m holding my breath, hoping she doesn’t hate it.

“What do you think?” The suspense is killing me. I’m starting to sweat. Still, she seems to be studying every square inch of the design. Slowly, her eyes lift to mean mine.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispers. “I had no idea you could do this.”

“Surprise.” I add the open-arm thing. Yeah, it even sounds lame to my ears. Austen, however, is beaming at me.

I’m at that place again. It would be so easy to lean over and kiss her. But I don’t want to fuck everything up again. How do I keep winding up here? That’s right, I thrive on self-torture.

“When do you have to present it to the city council?” she asks.

“Week after next. I want to put it in a computer presentation and show how it’s designed layer by layer so you get the feel for it. End with a 3-D artist rendering of the finished park. Except, I’m not good enough with a computer to do that.”

“I know someone who is,” Austen says excitedly. “Chad Weston moved back to town and just opened a business doing websites and stuff. I bet he can help.”

“Are you shitting me?” It comes out more like a growl. “I’d rather have my head shaved, dipped in honey, and nailed to a fire ant mound.”

That asshole used to leer at Austen in the hallway whenever she got near him. The whole prom incident resulted in one hell of a locker room fight with both of us suspended for two games.

Chad also spread some nasty rumors that involved my tongue and Austen’s…bits that got back to Eliot. It took me the remainder of the week to convince Eliot I didn’t even know how to do most of what was being said. And that I would never do it to her little sister.

That’s a lie, but she didn’t need to know that. I had to take the biggest slut I could find from one of the neighboring towns to prom to quell the rumors.

“And the Oscar goes to… seriously, Reed, that was a long time ago. He’s married now with two adorable little ones who come to storytime. He grew up a lot over the last several years.”

I doubt it. Once a douche, always a douche, in my opinion. Chad had been the king of them in high school.

“I’ll set up a meeting here next week in the evening. You two can hash out a plan in plain sight.”

With a smile, Austen rises from the chair. I watch her greet the group of girls just reaching the table next to me. I watch her walk through the library until she disappears into her office. My gaze shifts over to the table where I’m greeted by four grins. I shrug in a “what can you do” motion, and they giggle. At least they’re consistent.

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