Chapter 21 #2
“You,” he said, booping my nose with a finger.
“Have work to do. And underwear to put on,” he added, taking a neatly folded pair out of his pocket.
I was more grateful than I could say for that.
Joel was in the habit of going commando—ease of access, he said—but I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.
Or that I ever really wanted to. “And the work starts with picking a weekly timeslot for me to read to the kids.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said.
“I want to.” Booker pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Now, go change. We’ve got so much to do.”
“I’m happy to donate all the equipment and Ward’s agreed to build the booth if you’re okay with it,” Dante finished after a long speech I could hardly believe I was hearing.
“Say that again?” I asked, stunned.
“All of it?” Dante raised an eyebrow. “Because I kind of rambled a lot there. I want to put a recording booth in the library that people can book to use for podcasts or YouTube or school assignments or even TikTok I guess, if they have to. It’s a public library.
I’ve got the equipment, Ward will build the booth, we just need you to sign off on it. ”
“Did Booker put you up to this?” I asked, still surprised. Dante wasn’t the first person to come in here today offering to do something for the library, and I had a feeling I knew exactly what had happened.
Dante shrugged. “The library is important to the community. If it’s in danger… the community is important to me. I want to help.”
“So Booker did put you up to it,” I said.
Dante smiled wryly. “He’s got a list of people to tell about this, but he didn’t pressure me or anything. The community is important to him, too. And between you and me, he’s got a crush on you.”
“Miles!” another voice called out, rescuing me from having to find an answer to that. A tall, dark-haired man with the most perfect mouth who I didn’t think I’d met before strode over to the counter. “Just the man I want to see.”
“Consider the recording booth signed off on,” I said to Dante, grateful for the rescue.
“I wanna teach practical home cooking classes,” the newcomer said. “Uh, Hayden,” he added, offering me his hand.
“Miles,” I said, shaking it. “But you knew that. Did Booker send you?”
“My husband sent me,” he said, beaming as he said husband. I’d been right, the whole town was gay.
No wonder I felt at home here. I didn’t know exactly what label I wanted to put on myself yet, or if I wanted one at all, but…
They felt like my people.
“All I’d need is a power point and a table. I’ve got all the rest of the equipment and I’ve been fantasizing about something like this forever. I was thinking late afternoon, maybe once a week? Or every two weeks, if you don’t have space?”
“I can give you a weekly timeslot,” I said, pulling up my calendar.
What had once been almost all white space except for the craft circle was now a checkerboard of color.
I didn’t want to fill every hour, but just this morning I’d already booked two writing groups for Ryder—one for teenagers, which he wanted to facilitate, and one for adults, which he thought would be more of a casual kind of thing.
Booker’s weekly storytime was scheduled for Fridays just before noon.
Now I’d have to come up with a booking sheet for the recording booth Dante was already bringing in equipment for.
Just as I finished hashing out details with Hayden, I heard the door opening again…
… and looked up in time to see at least two dozen children streaming through it, with a young woman in a map-print dress heading up the group, and Booker following behind.
He looked good surrounded by kids.
“About those extra library card signups you need,” he said, approaching the desk.
“You brought a whole grade school class for them?” I asked, staring at the sea of tiny people.
Booker chuckled. “This?” he asked, nodding to the kids. “This is just the first class. I’ve got four more lined up. Think that’ll be enough new card signups for you?”
How was he real? How could anyone be this incredible?
“I’m going to die,” I said, but I couldn’t keep the laughter out of my voice. I’d believed Booker when he said we were going to save the library, but I hadn’t had any idea how.
Now, it felt possible. Or at least, it was starting to.
Wow. I hadn’t been looking to be a community librarian, but I understood now why people chose to. This felt good.
“Sink or swim.” Booker shrugged. “And we’ve established that you know how to swim.”
“I’m gonna have to read so many children’s books,” I complained, biting my lip to hide the ridiculous grin my face wanted to split into.
I loved Booker.
I… loved Booker.
Wow.
Well.
Now was not the time to examine that thought.
But it was maybe the most natural one I’d ever had.
“I’ll read them to you,” Booker promised. “Now, get these kids signed up while I go get the next batch.”
“Hey, Book?” I said, brushing my hand over his before he could take it all the way off the counter. “Thank you. For… literally everything you’ve done since the minute we met.”
Booker’s whole face lit up, like that was everything he’d ever wanted to hear.
“Always.”