Chapter 22 Rosie
ROSIE
Istarted to find solace in the rows of books that I’d ignored before I started coming to book club.
The quiet of the library settled the ache in my chest that I’d been doing my best to ignore, and I found that I came early on Saturdays before even Maggie got there to get lost in pages and words I never knew existed.
Like right then. Was the demon going to suck her soul out, or was she going to suck something of his?
I wasn’t paying any sort of attention to my surroundings until a voice sounded from behind me.
I was so startled that I all but threw the book as I felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment.
“That’s a good one, dear. We covered that a few months ago.”
“Maggie.” I breathed in relief, no longer feeling the embarrassment I had a few seconds before at being caught in what was promising to be a very in-depth, only-one-bed scene. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Yes, I can see that.” Her eyes held a knowing glint, and my face flushed bright red again. “Rough night?” she asked as the glint in her eye transformed into something more like concern. Maggie always seemed to be able to see what I was feeling inside, and not what I portrayed on the outside.
“It was enlightening.” I went to close the book and almost went to bend the page to mark my spot.
But I had a small trauma response before I could, remembering when I returned my last book, and Meredith found me later, ranting and raving about the fact that I had bent the pages.
I expect the books to be returned in pristine condition, Rosie.
Pristine. You’re an adult. I felt like I was back in grade school, being scolded, and I swore I’d never do it again as she slammed down a bookmark in front of me before she floated away.
She continued to mutter under her breath as she went.
“Young people… youths… sanctity of written words.” I wanted to peel my skin off.
“Enlightening like that book, or…” My eyes almost bugged out of my head at Maggie’s suggestion, and I stuttered out, “Absolutely not.”
“Are you going to make me pry it out of you, dear?”
I sighed. “Can we wait until everyone else gets here? I’d rather not have to rep—”
“Ze traffic was terrible on the way in.” Jeanie and her six-inch stiletto heels came bustling in, also almost out of nowhere. For older women, they were extremely nimble in their approaches. They all could startle the dead, I swear.
“Traffic in our small town. Tell me, was it the first stop light or the second that held you up?” Evelyn also made her appearance, and just confirmed what I’d been thinking—startle the dead.
“When did you guys get here?” I inquired, waiting for Meredith to appear from the shadows of the shelves. I kept my head on a swivel. “It is book club day. Hangover? I have something in here…”
“No prescription drugs this early, Jeanie, for the love…” Evelyn started in on her already, and I had to keep my lips firmly in a straight line and not give in to the temptation to laugh at their bickering.
“No prescription drugs in the library,” Meredith said from behind me.
I jumped, annoyed that I was so distracted by Jeanie and Evelyn that I had missed her appearance.
At that point, no one could convince me that those ladies were not ghosts haunting the library.
If I hadn’t seen Orla outside, at work, I would have been very suspicious.
“You suck the fun out of everything,” Jeanie retorted, to which Meredith just rolled her eyes.
We found ourselves waiting for Orla once again.
I felt a rush of appreciation for her and all she had done for me those past few weeks.
I was a terrible waitress—really, truly.
I dropped a plate every single shift, but the customers liked me, and I liked them—adored them, really.
I was growing increasingly fond of Daniel and Matt as well, although I had a feeling that Daniel was already spoken for, even if Orla wasn’t willing to admit it yet…
“Earth to Rosie?” Evelyn waved her hand in front of my face, and I felt the daydream fade away as I realized they had been talking to me. I felt the flush on my chest, but before I could apologize and ask what they were talking about, Orla finally appeared.
“Leave the poor girl alone. We all know she had to see Wesley and Caitlin last night.”
Ah. Good ol’ Orla, not beating around the bush. And by the looks on everyone else’s faces, that’s exactly what they had been starting to ask me about when I had been lost to my own appreciation for Orla, which I was now regretting. Traitor.
“It was fine,” I said as plainly as possible.
“Fine? Mi Amor, fine? That is all you will tell us?” Jeanie had her hand over her heart in mock offence, and I shot her an, are you for real? look.
“It was what I needed.”
“Ah, that is why you look so tired.”
“Jeanie, manners,” Maggie scolded her, and Evelyn looked ready to smack her, but she was right.
I was tired. I had tossed and turned all night, replaying everything from Lionel meeting Lake, to the car ride, to our entrance, to the delicious dinner I barely ate, to Caitlin all but admitting they were living together.
And it’s fine. And Caitlin is lovely.
So lovely.
I was happy for them. Really. Didn’t mean it sucked any less.
But what kept me up most of the night was the look I saw that briefly crossed Wesley’s face when I told him goodbye and kissed his forehead.
The way I could have sworn I saw a flicker of desire, of something primal.
But it had dissipated in seconds, and I convinced myself I was seeing what I wanted, not what was.
“Rosie?”
“Oh. Uh, yeah. What were you saying?”
“Honestly, child, snap out of it,” Jeanie told me, while everyone else held looks in different stages of assessment, looking for wounds they couldn’t see, but knew I felt. I was beginning to feel my skin prickle under their gazes.
“I think I should date someone, right? Like…” Before I could even finish my sentence, there was a round of hooting and hollering, and those who had been sitting were standing and exchanging what looked like a few twenties.
“I told you.” Orla fist-pumped the air as Maggie and Evelyn frowned in her direction.
“What’s going on?”
“You had an unfair advantage. You spend more time with Rosie than any of us. Double or nothing,” Evelyn quipped. “So, I say double or nothing on who found the best match for Rosie.”
“I’m right here. Can we maybe let Rosie know what you’re talking about?”
“No betting in the library.”
“Stuff it, Mer. You’re just mad because you were knocked out a week ago.” Evelyn pointed at her while Orla counted the money, making sure it was all there.
“I’m unsure if I want to risk it,” Orla said. “Jeanie, no comment this time?”
“Phft. My match is the best, so I will win when it matters.” She checked her manicure out like she wasn’t aware that it was done perfectly.
“Someone feel like clueing me in yet?” I asked again.
“It’s better to show you,” Maggie said. “Meredith, where do you keep the whiteboard?”
“Whiteboard?” I mouthed at the group. Orla caught my whispered question, and she just nodded at me, not bothering to answer.
Meredith disappeared somewhere in between the shelves, and silence descended upon the group.
I just continued to stare at them, waiting for an answer, but no one was ready to give it up.
They all had varying degrees of smiles on their faces, and I was becoming increasingly concerned as to what they might have done.
Murder? No, No… don’t be ridiculous. Thankfully, my mind couldn’t continue to spiral because, almost as fast as she went, Meredith came back, pulling a rather large whiteboard behind her.
It almost looked like an Excel sheet came to life.
Rows made with dry erase marker, sticky notes with facts.
And all of them stemmed down from pictures.
Pictures of men.
“Uh, guys, what the hell? This almost looks like a stalker board…of…all the single men in town?”
“Exactly. You’re looking at the work of The Well-Read & Well-Laid Matchmakers Club,” Evelyn said proudly.
“That is not the name!” Maggie puffed out. “It’s still a work in progress.”
My mouth gaped open, looking at all the information.
What the fuck?