Long Overdue (Library Love Notes #6)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

brIANNA

Moving to Beaver Creek in the middle of winter was objectively a horrible idea, and Brianna was starting to regret this whole endeavour as she stepped off the train onto a snow-covered path.

She lugged her suitcase behind her, already cursing the past version of herself who thought the whole ‘upending your entire life to move back to your hometown’ cliché was something she should be doing at this point in her life.

“This is fine,” she mumbled to herself as people getting off the train carefully walked around her. When she spotted her grandfather waiting in the parking lot, she realized it would really all be fine.

“Hellllooo,” Brianna called out to him as she got nearer. He quickly moved towards her suitcase, grabbing it before she could protest. For a man in his seventies, he was as limber as he always had been.

Once the luggage had been placed in the backseat of his car, they were finally able to hug.

“I missed you,” Brianna said, hoping she didn’t sound as clingy as she felt.

“I missed you too. You know you’re always welcome with me,” her grandfather responded.

Not wanting to be overly sentimental in the GO station parking lot, Brianna stepped away, shaking out the snow from her boots. She opened the passenger door of the car and sat inside, still leaving her boots hanging out of the car so she could bang them together to get even more snow off.

Finally, with both properly seated, her grandfather turned up the heat as they began to drive towards Brianna’s new apartment building.

She had seen it only via FaceTime calls with her grandfather (which took a few regular phone calls to teach him to use), and he had helped her with most of the furniture already.

Subletting small rooms in Toronto meant most of the furniture she had was not actually hers.

She had left the small bookcase she did own behind, the books on their way via a very expensive Canada Post bill.

She would have to find one here, but she was looking forward to it, in her own weird way.

As much as this town was full of awkward, painful memories, she was hoping this would be a bit of a fresh start, in a weird, nostalgic way.

“What’s got you all tied up?” her grandfather asked, snapping Brianna out of her musing.

“Just thinking about my new place. Thank you for all your help with that, by the way,” she said.

“Don’t even mention it. You know I’m always in your corner.”

Brianna didn’t have much to say that wouldn’t have her far too emotional for a Tuesday afternoon, so she tried to change topics. “I know… After we drop off my stuff, should we go out to dinner?”

“Sure, where do you want to go?”

“What about The Dam Drunkard?”

Her grandfather laughed. “You want to go to that shithole?”

“Grandpa!” she said but laughed with him. She had rarely heard him swear, and it was both shocking and endearing.

When she stopped laughing, she elaborated. “I never got to go there when I lived here earlier. You know my parents… They seemed to think it was beneath them. Everyone else I knew seemed to like it, though.”

“Okay, we can go.”

The rest of the ride to Brianna’s new place was smooth enough, despite the light snow falling, and when they arrived, she was happy to see it felt familiar from all the videos and calls she had with her grandfather.

She was able to convince him he couldn’t help her with the luggage (“I don’t want the building manager to think I’m a spoiled brat.

How would it look like to them if they saw you carrying my bags?

”), and it was a simple ride up to the sixth floor.

It was made even simpler by the fact that her grandfather had taken care of all the admin on her behalf as they did the key exchange over FaceTime earlier.

She was infinitely grateful he was in her life and that he didn’t mind spending his retirement doing this for her.

At the apartment, she wheeled her suitcases inside and then dropped her backpack. Her grandfather dutifully waited while she repacked her necessities into a purse, and they were soon on their way to The Dam Drunkard.

Brianna led them both inside, nodding to the bartender in the centre of the restaurant as they walked in. She walked with a confidence she did not usually feel, but she was determined to leave her timid, shy ways behind in Toronto. She was going to fake it ‘till she made it, even here.

Thankfully, the pub was nothing special, and she was relieved at the normality of it.

It was what she would’ve imagined if she Googled an Irish pub: the bar was in the centre with a wooden bar top, TVs around the bar were playing a mishmash of various sports, and there were neon lights on the walls.

She led her grandfather to a booth near the back, and they slid inside, waiting for a server to present them with a menu.

She removed her winter parka and deposited it next to her in the booth, taking her grandfather’s jacket from him so she could add it to her pile.

The server soon appeared with glasses of water for them both, two menus tucked under her arm. If she thought it was odd they were there at three o’clock on a random Tuesday in the middle of November, she didn’t say. From an outsider’s perspective, Brianna would’ve thought it was odd.

They ordered generic bar food, her grandfather ordering a steak he knew he could cook better if he had the time and Brianna ordering a chicken sandwich.

Their conversation flowed steadily, and her grandfather was in the middle of telling her more about the latest thriller he was reading when a hand slammed on the table, startling Brianna.

“Brianna!” a male voice shouted. It was a familiar voice, but one she hadn’t heard in-person for quite some time.

“Nathan!” Brianna shouted, now that she was no longer startled. She stood to wrap her best friend in a hug.

“You didn’t tell me you’d be here already!” he said once they moved apart.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d be up for seeing people yet. I just moved today, like an hour ago,” Brianna said.

“I totally get it.” Nathan nodded, his overgrown light brown hair falling in his face with every motion. He seemed to realize they weren’t alone as he turned to her grandfather.

“I’m Nathan. Nice to meet you, sir.” He held out a hand for her grandfather to shake, which he did.

“John.”

“This is my friend from high school,” Brianna explained, to which her grandfather nodded.

She knew her grandfather would not make any teasing comments about them knowing each other, and she was grateful at least this had happened while she was out with her grandfather and not her parents, who would’ve assumed she was still close with Nathan for the wrong reasons.

Their close friendship was a source of gossip among the town for most of their high school life; people seemed to not believe a boy and a girl could be just friends, but that was truly the case for Nathan.

He wasn’t her type. His sister, on the other hand…

Brianna forced herself to focus on the situation at hand and not fall down a weird rabbit hole of thoughts induced by late-night doomscrolling sessions across her Instagram feed. “Want to join us?” she asked Nathan.

“Nah, I’m here with some coworkers. Very early holiday celebration at the office.

This was the only day that worked for everyone before vacations start next week.

” He jerked his head towards a table at the front of the restaurant that Brianna was purposefully avoiding looking at earlier for all the noise they were making.

“True. I’ll text you later for a proper time we can hang out. Give me a few days to settle in and start the new job, okay?”

“Of course. I just couldn’t resist saying hi when I saw you, though. We’ll talk soon,” Nathan said and leaned down for another hug, which Brianna easily returned.

When Nathan left to return to his table, her grandfather didn’t comment at all on his sudden appearance, and Brianna was instantly touched by his usual warmth. He then promptly interrogated her about the one other subject she detested talking about—her future.

“So, you ready for your shift tomorrow?”

“Yes, I already looked up how to get to the library from my apartment, so I should be good to get there.”

“Not that.” Her grandfather shook his head. “I meant mentally.”

That was the worst way he could’ve meant it, and Brianna sighed at how easily he could read through her.

“It’s what you always say: the only way out is through. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow?”

Her grandfather smiled that fond smile he had often around her and lifted his soda in a cheers. “Let’s at least toast to new beginnings?”

“Sure. To new beginnings.”