Chapter 23
folded things
By Tuesday, the self-imposed sex fast between the new couple had reached religious proportions.
Not that anyone said that out loud. But Callie felt she needed the pause, and Jess, after much grimacing, had agreed. Calendar-wise, it was only one full day without touching each other. To heal the bruised everything and consider what had happened between them. Not just sex. A shift. A charge in the air so significant it couldn’t be named at the moment. Solrien had hinted at it, then got lost in her own history.
Tuesday morning, Callie went to work at the library, determined to be productive, but that resolve vaporized the moment she walked in. Janice took one look at her glowing skin and blissed-out expression and nearly toppled the returns cart as she tried to reach Callie. Marta saw the scramble, and they both landed in front of Callie. The elbow nudging began immediately.
“Well, “Janice drawled, nudging her co-conspirator, “Someone’s still got a post-long weekend glow.”
Marta nodded, standing downwind of Callie, “And someone…has changed her perfume. Yup, there’s still a whole new vibe happening here. Floral with a hint of…mischief.”
Janice pouted, “Not from any vibe I’ve ever sampled.” Her lips twitched, “I’m thinking refunds.” She sniffed too, then rolled her eyes, “As it’s a Tuesday, in July…and you’re wearing a hockey hoodie from the local high school.” Her teeth were gritted, but Janice tried so hard not to laugh at Callie’s mortified face. Janice leaned toward Callie, “Good for you.” Marta's face disappeared into a smile, quickly seconded the sentiment, “Finally.”
“Ohhhh,” Callie moaned, both relieved but confident the teasing would now be a permanent part of her library job, “You guys…Thanks. There may have been a little progress.”
“It was quite a thing,” Callie said quietly, “er, evening…morning…God.” She put her hand over her face, knowing she was fueling their questions, but a text pinged from her phone, followed by another. Then, a third.
Callie froze and then looked into her bag. Her audience was patient as she read the texts, and they saw her jaw drop open as she read the last one.
Marta tried to peek at Callie’s phone. “Let me guess. Not a spam call.”
Callie turned slowly with her phone to her chest, her smile beautiful, “I’ve been asked out,” she giggled, “on a date. A real date.”
Janice was lightning quick. “When?” she asked. “This real date?”
“Um…” A fourth text arrived, and Callie read it and sighed, answering the text out loud. “God, you’re such a romantic.”
“Four thirty?” Callie asked it as a question that involved possibly sneaking out early. “I can stay right up until the last second,” she asked, looking at Marta. Janice answered with a deep chuckle, “That works. Means we still have the whole day to torture you.”
Later that morning, Callie, trying to keep a low profile, decided to rearrange in the back storeroom. She was halfway up the ladder, reaching for a special order just past her fingertips. She angled carefully past a safe distance, grasping the paperback when her vision blurred.
Pulling back, she gripped the ladder hard, hoping it would pass. Three steps up, a fall would be dangerous, and she hugged the rungs as the vision pushed her fear out of the way.
It was Jess. Again, dressed in a black cloak, ready for battle, but she was staring up, her face frozen in child-like wonder. Beautiful, her hair wilder than usual, but the light from her eyes reflected the spectacle unfolding above her. All Callie could do was drink in the image.
An umbrella? Callie thought, a blooming flower, its petals silently stretching, but then the image shattered, and she saw a ragged roof, a hole torn through the structure. The dark sky seemed milky with distant smoke. A young woman darted across the edge of her vision, just a blur, and the moment vanished.
Callie loosened her grip on the ladder and took a breath before climbing down, testing the strength of her legs with each step. Safely down on the floor, Callie took a long, cleansing breath. “So this is how it’s going to be,” she said aloud, “Jess’s face…she looked like a...hot witchy college girl watching fireworks.”
Callie made an odd connection to Jess’s house. There weren’t very many pictures of Jess. Although there were a few Camden-related events over the years, mostly sports-related, only one included Zach, Cam, and Jess as a family. Callie remembered picking it up to look closely, but Jess had been talking, and went quiet. Peeking at the date on the back of the frame, Callie pinned the timeframe as just a few months before Zach’s death.
This vision, as disjointed with that memory as it seemed, gave Callie a new resolve. Maybe the visions were out of her control, but how she reacted wasn’t. It was then that she decided to follow each episode with something good. A laugh, or maybe a compliment. Something rooted in light.
Back on the library floor, she handed Janice her phone, then had to calm the woman when Callie asked for a picture.
“Just a picture,” she stressed after Janice instantly suggested retiring to the store room for a more artistic setting. “Just me. Make it look candid. Maybe a few, and I’ll pick one.”
Janice looked at Callie’s phone like a gift from heaven, “A thirst trap shoot?” Her eyes slyly arched, “Perhaps we retire to a more private room? Artsy or salacious? How about both?”
“No,” Callie rolled her eyes, but wasn’t surprised, “Just a nice picture. Me, smiling.” Callie blanched as Janice pulled down on her sweater to reveal an aggressively insufficient bra. “Good Lord, Janice,” Callie gushed, but took a moment to look anyway, “Just…me, and fully clothed. Make me look cute.”
The more mundane Callie’s criteria became, the more Janice pouted, and Callie found a quirky compromise, “Okay,” she sighed, appearing to give in, “I promise to be envisioning the filthiest thoughts possible when you take them. Will that help?”
As Janice took Callie’s unlocked phone, she glanced down the hall.
“You won’t get ten feet,” Callie said quietly, then, “Better yet, I’ll let you get ten feet before I mow you down like a forward crashing my goalie.”
Janice’s eyes darted away, then looked back as if she was actually considering the engagement. Callie shook her head, “That would be a serious threat to our friendship, Jan.”
Minutes later, Callie flipped through Janice’s pictures. Most were usable. Quite a few were flattering. One, Callie’s favorite, caught her mid-laugh, the tilt of her head framed by the sunlight coming through the atrium windows. That one she saved, tagging it into a hidden album.
Another, less polished and a little chaotic, was taken during an interruption. Callie looked snarky, ready to trade a quip with a library patron, but it was also flirty. It was filed in the album as well. Callie looked at Janice, her lower lip protruding.
“Seriously? Fine. Go ahead and pick one. Promise me I won’t end up on the Internet.”
Scrolling through the pictures, Janice handed Callie the phone. A close-up. All cheekbone and smirk. Callie’s lips were parted just enough to be accidental or devastating.
“You are the worst,” Callie snickered.
“You’re the one who radiated hot librarian energy,” Janice said sweetly, “I just captured the truth.” She held up her phone, “You could send it right now so you don’t get distracted again.”
Forwarding the picture to Janice, Callie added a sincere warning, “Please don’t have this show up on a mock book cover for The Naughty Librarian or something.”
“My eyes only,” Janice confirmed with a wink, “Heh. If you ever want to do some boudoir stuff. I have a little studio. Home visits, too. I did the coolest series for Marta a few weeks ago.”
“Marta…” Callie gulped.
Janice nodded in absolute respect, “That grannie’s got a rockin’ bod for her age. I can only hope to be that firm in my elder years.”
Callie cleared her throat, but then she smiled, thinking the years ahead for her and Jess would hopefully continue their physical intimacy. “Maybe down the road,” she said softly, “Jess and I could have you…” Callie paused at precisely the wrong moment. “Um…for photos.”
Janice’s eyes were wide. “I…I…would be honored.” She turned around and began to walk down the hallway, not entirely in a straight line, and Callie realized how that may have sounded. Janice paused at the restroom entrance and turned back, lower lip in her teeth. Catching Callie’s eye, she darted into the bathroom.
Now, Callie was thinking about lingerie. And Jess. And it was Tuesday afternoon.
At four o’clock, Callie sent a text. I am brimming with anticipation. See you soon.
Jess’s response made her laugh out loud in the quiet building, “You wanted a day, technically 47.5 hours since I’ve seen your face, but who’s counting.
Another message pinged through, “Did you mean brewing?
Callie grinned like a woman caught somewhere between the altar and an arena. She sent her response; I did not misspeak. Have extra napkins nearby.