Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Charlie
Ruby wins again.
Ruby is weeding—identifying books to remove from circulation and send on to our next library sale. If I’m lucky, I can help Sydney before Ruby sees her. I don’t want to listen to her crow about it through lunch.
“Hey, Charlie,” Sydney says when she reaches the desk. It’s counter height, and she rests her hands on it, one settling on top of the other in front of her.
“Hey, Sydney. Back for more mineral rights?”
“I need to focus on the mechanics of mineral extraction for a while.” She brushes her strawberry-blonde hair out of her face.
She’s pretty in a quiet way. Not a lot of makeup, but mascara accentuates her hazel eyes, and she’s got on some peach lip stuff.
With her black trousers and off-white shirt, she comes off as simple but not basic. Kate Middleton vibes?
“Let me see what we’ve got,” I tell her. “Did you already check the shelves?”
Her cheeks show a faint flush. “I checked there first, but those books looked too general. If you’re busy, I can go back and read through the indexes on my own.”
“Not busy at all.” I like Sydney. Despite Ruby pointing it out like I’m clueless, I’d sensed Sydney was looking for a reason to talk to me again when she came in last week. “Let me see what I can find in the system for you.”
I adjust my monitor and start a search. “Brace yourself because this could take a minute. Or ten. Like I mentioned, the collection at the central branch is great, and if that doesn’t turn up anything, we have some academic databases I can check for articles.”
She settles her forearms on the counter, and I adjust the screen so she can see. She’s not in my space at all, but she’s close enough that I catch her scent. Something floral, maybe? But it’s subtle. It suits her. I’m flattered by her signals, but I keep my setting at “friendly helper.”
“Looks like you’ve already checked out the most relevant books in the city collection,” I say, scanning what’s available. “One day I’ll convince the director that we need to quadruple the size of our geology collection, but so far, she’s not buying it.”
“Oh. That’s too bad.” Sydney starts to straighten.
“Not so fast,” I tease. “Academic articles, remember?”
“Right. Fancy database.” Her tone is pleased.
I haven’t always been a chump. If Sydney had come in even seven months ago, I would have asked her out. I was still shoving down romantic feelings for Ruby. I went on my own dates. But six months ago, when she dumped Niles, the dam inside me broke, and suddenly I was drowning in Ruby.
“Oh, hey, you here for more rock books?” Ruby asks, walking toward the reference desk. Her smile probably looks friendly to Sydney, but I know Ruby too well: that’s triumph curving her ruby-red lips.
That woman rocks a red lipstick. If she wears it with one of her sexy librarian outfits, it kills me.
(Ruby doesn’t have a Sexy Librarian outfit rotation.
She turns normal things like a blouse buttoned to her chin and a straight skirt to her knees into Sexy Librarian clothes by being sexy and working in a library.
She hates the sexy librarian stereotype.)
“I am,” Sydney says. She blushes again, deeper this time, probably feeling obvious. If only she knew Ruby is fully Team Sydney. “I don’t have great research skills. Y’all are nice to be so patient with me.”
“What do you do for work?” Ruby asks as she rounds the desk to man the other computer.
Sydney makes a sound between a squeak and a hiccup before she goes even redder. “I’m a paralegal.”
Ruby’s eyebrow goes up, and her expression says what her mouth, thankfully, does not. You mean you do one of the most research-intensive jobs around?
Sydney clears her throat. “I meant I don’t have great general research skills. I’m pretty good in a law library.”
“No doubt,” Ruby says. “I hope Charlie is being helpful.”
“He is,” Sydney says. But she’s guarded, her look moving from Ruby to me, probably drawing an accurate conclusion.
“I need to tell Charlie something super unprofessional for a second, and then his mad search skills are all yours,” Ruby says.
Sydney starts to say, “Sure. I have to go—”
But Ruby is already talking. “It has begun. First date tomorrow. Dinner with Sami and Josh and a lawyer named Ed.” She flashes a smile at Sydney. “My roommate and her boyfriend are playing matchmaker for me.”
Sydney doesn’t finish her thought, closing her mouth and looking from Ruby to me again.
“Already?” I ask, hoping I sound semi-distracted and not tense. I should have known the girls would jump right in.
“Did you forget who I’m dealing with? Anyway, update over. Go back to minerals.” Ruby wakes up her computer and starts typing like she’s not going to eavesdrop on every word we say.
“Good news,” I tell Sydney, turning so I can’t see Ruby. “This looks promising.” I point to the article title. “Contemporary Approaches to Rare Earth Mineral Mining.”
“Perfect,” Sydney says.
“Great. I’ll send that to print for you. Anything else I can help you with?” I ask.
Sydney glances around the reference area. When she fails to come up with another excuse to stick around, she gives me a friendly smile and shakes her head.
“That should do it. Helpful as always. Thank you, Charlie. I better get back before my lunch break is over.”
“No problem,” I tell her. “Have a good day.”
Sydney collects her printout and leaves with a wave.
“Thank you, Charlieeeeee,” Ruby croons when Sydney is out of earshot.
“Is that supposed to be a Sydney impersonation?”
Her eyebrows waggle. “Ooh, Sydney. You know her name. This is getting serious. Ready to concede that she’s researching you and not minerals?”
“I’m ready to concede that you predicted she would come back today, and she came back today. We deal in facts at the reference desk, ma’am.”
“Fact: I was right. Why won’t you admit it?” she teases. “Sydney is cute.”
“Not cute.”
Ruby gives me a surprised face. “She’s a babe.”
“I meant she’s pretty, not cute.”
“And now you get to be right. It feels good, doesn’t it? Although not as good as the sandwich you’re buying me is going to feel in my starving belly.” She pats her stomach.
“Why am I buying you a sandwich?”
“Because I won the bet.”
“I didn’t bet you.”
“But I bet you, and I won a sandwich. Korean hot chicken. It’s going to be delicious. Thank you.”
At least one of us will enjoy it. The pit in my stomach when she announced her first date must be right where my appetite usually goes. It’s going to be like that for all her dates unless they suck, and I hope they suck.
Since that’s not something I can control, I make an excuse to Ruby about needing to go fill in the book display for National Nutrition Month. It will give me time to work on something I can control: my plan to become Ruby’s best option.
No. To become so undeniable that I’m the only option Ruby wants.