Chapter Eighteen #2
Another twitching smile, so fleeting that it was gone in the time it took Tess to blink. ‘In very special circumstances, the head librarian has been known to make an exception to library policy,’ he said.
‘Am I a special circumstance then?’ Tess asked and it was the mood which Gabe had created: the candles, the tantalising smell of vintage Cheddar and chorizo, the cosy space tucked away from anyone else, that made it seem so utterly romantic.
‘You are the most special of circumstances,’ Gabe said in a voice that was half gravel, half treacle, which made it seem, if possible, even more romantic.
A romance overload.
‘Where do you want me then?’ Maybe it was being so high up that made Tess sound like oxygen was in short supply.
‘Where do I want you?’ Gabe frowned as he gave the question serious consideration. He looked at Tess, then round the room, his eyes gleaming, his expression thoughtful. ‘If you sit on one of the chairs, I’ll get the first of your dates.’
What with all the … everything, Tess had almost forgotten the real reason why she was there.
She climbed up on the dais and sat down in one of the chairs. ‘OK, then.’ Her hands were clammy with anticipation. Which felt a lot like being terrified. ‘Bring it on!’
Gabe paused from his perusal of the pile of books and peered at her over the top of his glasses. ‘You are going to be open-minded about this, aren’t you?’
Tess was offended that he even had to ask. She was here, wasn’t she? Against her better judgement. ‘Believe me, I’m wide open.’ She could definitely have phrased that better. ‘My mind is open, receptive, willing and able.’
Still Gabe didn’t make any move to select the first book and get the party started.
‘And remember, that I did, respectfully and I hope gently, posit the theory that you didn’t know what your type was?
Think of this as a good opportunity to trial some new types in a controlled yet fun and flirtatious environment. ’
Way to kill Tess’s fun and flirtatious buzz.
‘Are you going to make me sign a waiver?’ she demanded, a little exasperation creeping into her voice.
‘Look, I’m curious as to what you think my type might be.
Yes, also a little bit nervous, but can it be worse than Heathcliff or Rochester?
Definitely not. Third time’s the charm. Now, date me! ’
Gabe nodded. ‘Very well then.’
Tess sat back, hands clutching the arms of the chair. Her heart felt as if it was going to punch a hole through her chest. She focused on taking shallow little sips of air, as Gabe walked over to the door with his pile of books, which he placed on top of a small bookcase.
Then he unlocked the first volume, predictably, a small, very antiquey-looking book, even though he’d mentioned choosing some more contemporary candidates.
Gabe looked directly at Tess, who thought she might vomit from nerves.
This was such a different energy from being downstairs in the main library and exercising her own free will.
Upstairs in this little reading room, just her and Gabe in the confined space, it felt very intimate.
‘Tess, may I present the most romantic of all the romantic heroes,’ Gabe said in a very un-Gabelike voice, as if he was channelling Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman.
Then with a dramatic flourish, like he was going to pull a rabbit out of his back pocket.
‘Romeo! Of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet fame! ’
The melodious bells which accompanied a paper and ink character suddenly becoming corporeal were so loud in the small room, very much like the clanging chimes of doom, that Tess jumped as the air began its usual shimmer.
Then the door opened wider and in a shower of gold motes of dust there was …
a diminutive figure who didn’t look anything like a young Leonardo DiCaprio.
Not that Tess expected him to. Even she knew that they didn’t wear Hawaiian shirts in downtown Verona either, but still it, he, was quite underwhelming.
‘Oh! Much smaller than I imagined,’ Tess murmured as she tried not to let the disappointment show on her face. Talk about an anticlimax. ‘Hi.’
Romeo made no move to step into the room. ‘Forsooth, thou art mistaken,’ he muttered. He looked around as if he’d misplaced his phone. ‘Romeo? Wherefore art thou Romeo?’ He shrugged. ‘I am not Romeo. Not to this withered crone.’
He glanced at Tess then shuddered. She shuddered right back, because it wasn’t just the doublet and hose, which shrieked Tudor.
It was the sullen expression on a face covered in a fine dusting of spots and an attempt to grow a beard that looked like bum fluff, which shrieked very loudly teenage boy still going through puberty.
Also, she felt personally attacked. Withered crone. Withered crone? She did at the very minimum a four-step skincare regime every morning and every night. ‘At least I’m not some whiny emo baby, mate.’
‘What happened to keeping an open mind?’ Gabe had the nerve to ask.
‘There’s keeping an open mind and then there’s ending up on the sexual offenders’ register,’ she spluttered. ‘Just how old are you?’
Romeo shrank back and lifted his arm to cover his eyes as if her decrepit features caused him great pain. ‘I’ve yet to see my sixteenth year.’
Tess had heard enough. ‘Send him back!’
Gabe looked from Tess’s stony face to Romeo’s sulky pout. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I have never been more sure of anything in my life,’ she snapped.
‘It doesn’t explicitly say in the text that he was underage,’ Gabe said. ‘Yes, young, but not underage.’
‘But it’s implied. It’s very heavily implied,’ Tess said, grabbing a handful of cheese cubes from the platter on the table in front of her because she needed to rage eat as Gabe opened the book once more.
‘Restore,’ he said and thank fuck that Romeo verily returned whence he had come, in a heavy shower of dark dust, its pungent aroma very reminiscent of a generous application of Lynx Africa.
‘I’m not impressed,’ she said once she’d managed not to choke to death.
‘It’s early days.’ He didn’t seem in the least bit remorseful that he’d paired Tess up with a literal child. ‘Let’s count that as a practice run. There’s plenty more where he came from.’
Tess sat back in the chair again and took a huge swig of Sauvignon Blanc. ‘I know I said that I’d keep an open mind but just so you know, I’m not having good feelings about this.’