22. Jane
22
JANE
‘ S o sorry.’ I approached one of the members snuggled up under a blanket on the window seat. ‘The library’s closing in fifteen minutes. Would you like to check that out?’
‘Definitely! It’s just getting good, so probably best I take it home…’ She smiled mischievously. I hadn’t read that novel, but I knew it was spicy.
After I’d checked out the book and the last few members had left, I walked around the library hall, straightened the cushions, folded up the blankets, then neatly placed them back on the various sofas and chairs so that everything was ready for the morning.
It’d been so busy today I hadn’t got a chance to read even a page of my latest book at lunchtime. I was desperately trying to see if anyone had a room I could crash in, but no joy.
Looked like I’d have to go back to my parents’ tonight.
This afternoon I received a text from Mum. She was replying to the text I’d sent last night to say I wasn’t coming home. Apparently Dad wouldn’t be at the house tonight because he had ‘meetings’ to get funding for his campaign.
I didn’t know what kind of ‘meetings’ required an overnight stay, but I wasn’t going to ask. I think it was her way of telling me that the coast would be clear if I wanted to come back tonight.
Of course I was relieved, but that was only a temporary solution. I’d have to face Dad sooner or later.
Even though I knew I could go back tonight, I didn’t want to. I wished that I could just spend time with Jackson. Have dinner together like we did last night. Then go back to his place and… I shook my head. Just because I liked him didn’t mean he liked me.
Although the towel erection thing did make me wonder if he did.
No. Of course he didn’t.
If I couldn’t spend time with him tonight, I’d spend the evening with my latest book boyfriend instead. I’d stay here for an hour or so, then get the train to my parents’. The less time I spent there, the better.
‘You ready to go?’ Jackson walked into the library and I swear my knees almost buckled at the sight of him.
‘I, er… I was actually going to hang out here for a bit.’
‘You avoiding going home? I thought you said your dad wasn’t gonna be there tonight?’
When Jackson came back this afternoon, the first thing he’d asked was whether I’d found a place to stay, so I gave him an update.
‘No, it’s not that. Sometimes I like to curl up and read here at the end of the day. It’s really peaceful and these sofas are like sitting on a cloud, so that’s what I was going to do for an hour before heading to my parents’. It’s okay, though, I know you must have stuff to do, so I can make my own way back.’
‘I’m not leaving you, Jane,’ he growled and his commanding deep voice sent a tingle down my spine. ‘It’s safer if you don’t go home alone until we find out who’s been sabotaging the library. If you want to sit and read here, that’s fine, as long as you don’t mind some company?’
‘You want to stay and read with me?’ My eyebrows shot up.
‘Unless you have any objections?’
‘No! Of course not. I just didn’t want to interrupt your plans.’
‘I don’t have plans for tonight. I got the stuff I needed to do done when I went home this afternoon, so I was just going to read more of Office Delight , which I can do here.’
‘Okay!’
‘You pick the comfiest sofa and I’ll get the tea and biscuits, then we can get stuck into our books. Deal?’
‘Deal, but I’ve had a long day, so instead of tea, why don’t we have something a bit stronger. There’s still a couple of bottles of Prosecco from the cafe opening which Jess said we could share. What do you think?’
I didn’t know what had come over me. A cuppa, biscuits and a book were much more my style than sipping Prosecco whilst reading, but maybe I wanted to do something more dangerous for a change.
Okay, okay, I know that drinking one glass of Prosecco would hardly be considered dangerous for most people over the age of thirty, but that was exactly my point. I didn’t want to keep doing the same things anymore .
Yesterday, I’d done something different. I’d said no to Dad for the first time ever. And I’d gone out for dinner with Jackson and stayed over at his house. Most people did that kind of stuff in their teens. But when it came to my personal life, I was at least a decade behind my peers. I still hadn’t had sex for God’s sake.
So, yeah, as sad as it sounded, tonight I was going to let my hair down a bit, drink a glass of fizz and sit on the sofa and read with a guy that I fancied like crazy and try to enjoy the experience.
And maybe see what happened next…