27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cody
Cody tried to shake off the weirdness with Nyrah.
He wasn’t sure if he believed all that Heart of Gold stuff.
He was far from perfect. Yes, he’d done lots of heroic stuff in Velasarin, but he felt like a different person back on Earth.
He wouldn’t run into a burning building now.
At least, he didn’t think so. But mostly because he knew he didn’t have all the strength and skills he had back in Velasarin.
It was different when you knew you were strong and capable and had a bunch of health potions in your Inventory, but all of that was gone now.
He traded it all for this life, the one he wanted with Morgan. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Before Nyrah had sidetracked him, he was heading to the library to return some books. He made sure no one was looking and then pulled his canvas book bag out of his Inventory and headed into the building.
“Ah! My favorite patron!” Lexi said with a big smile.
Cody paused pulling the books out of his bag. “Who? Me?”
“You always return your books on time,” Lexi explained. “You’re like the only one in Cornerstone who does that.”
Cody dropped the books into the return bin. “That can’t be true.”
Part of the reason he was so diligent about returning books was because he was still half-convinced it was the answer to Lexi’s Friendship Levels, but so far he had been proven wrong every single time. Maybe this time it would actually work. Maybe it was a quantity thing.
“It is very true,” Lexi said. “Your girl Morgan is one of the worst offenders.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And on top of that, she always likes reading the new, hot arrivals–the ones other people have holds on. So, it’s extra bad that she doesn’t return her books on time. Other voracious readers are waiting.”
“Does she have overdue books right now?”
“Yes. Two.”
“Do you…want me to get them?” Cody asked, mentally crossing his fingers that this was a lead into an overdue library book fetch quest and the answer to his Friendship Leveling with Lexi.
“Oh my god, would you?” Lexi asked, grinning.
“Sure thing. I’ll try to go get them right now.”
“See? You are my favorite patron! Go get those books!”
Cody stepped back outside and sent his book bag into his Inventory. He really wished this game had an official Quest Log. He’d know for sure he was on the right track, but it didn’t seem to be that kind of game.
He knew Morgan was working, but Doug was probably working, too. With a mental ‘click’, he brought up his game Map to double check where everyone was. Maybe if Doug was in the breakroom or something, he could sneak in and talk to Morgan and ask her about her overdue library books.
Sure enough, Morgan’s red glowing dot was in the Food Mart, but Doug’s dot appeared to be home, along with Gracie’s dot.
Huh, guess he wasn’t at work. Cody looked for Nyrah on the Map, and was relieved when he saw her glowing green dot headed back to the cottage, walking along the gravel road.
Yana’s dot was inside the cottage, presumably watching TV.
He smiled to himself, happy the Food Mart was Doug-free, and headed in that direction. When he arrived, Morgan was cashing out a family, but she waved to him. He grabbed a basket and picked up a few things before heading to her till.
Morgan started scanning his items, but tilted her head, giving him a quizzical look. “How did you know Doug wasn’t here?”
“I…um…didn’t see his car parked in the lot,” Cody lied, and Morgan saw right through him.
“Doug often walks to work.”
“Huh.” Cody was unsure how to cover up his little lie. “But…I’m right? He’s not here?”
“No, he’s not. Gracie ran away from the babysitter. Apparently, she was trying to get to Grandpa Sam’s workshop. Doug took her home and he’s keeping an eye on her.”
“You told Doug they’re welcome to come by and use the workshop anytime, right?”
Morgan frowned. “I did. Doesn’t mean Doug is going to take you up on that offer.”
“But Gracie is running away from her babysitter because she wants to play in the workshop?”
“It’s nothing new. She’s run away from the babysitter a few times the past couple of months.
Not necessarily to play in the workshop, but because she doesn’t want to be there.
We trust the babysitter, it’s an older woman who used to watch me when I was a kid.
She watches a few kids at her house. Gracie is just…
Gracie. She likes to be out, walking in the woods, climbing trees, doing things on her own. ”
Morgan had finished scanning his stuff and had his total ready, and there was an older couple waiting in line behind him. He tapped his card to pay. “By the way, you have overdue library books.”
Morgan laughed. “Excuse me?”
“Are they upstairs in your apartment? Permission to use your key and grab them for Lexi?”
“Wait, you’re serious? Did Lexi put you up to this?” Morgan glanced over his shoulder at the couple, who started putting their items on the conveyor belt.
“It is very important that I return your library books.” He wasn’t lying, but he also had no idea how to explain this turn in conversation.
“You are so weird sometimes.” Morgan pulled a ring of keys out of her pocket and passed it to him. “It’s the green one. The books are in my bedroom, on the nightstand. Bring the keys back asap, because I need them for work stuff. Now go. I have customers.”
Cody took the keys from her, grabbed his bag of groceries, and left the store. He knew he had weirded her out, but at least she agreed to let him grab her books. Probably because she had customers and needed him to leave.
He walked around the building to the metal steps that led up to Morgan’s apartment, looking through the keys. She had at least twenty of them on the ring. He managed to find the one with the green silicone keycap and used it to open the door.
He hadn’t had a chance to spend much time in Morgan’s apartment, other than the night she had him over for dinner.
It definitely reminded him of her old bedroom, with lots of pastel colors and floral curtains and throw pillows.
He didn’t want to feel like he was snooping around, so he made a beeline to her bedroom and her nightstand.
He thought the books were going to be sitting on top of her nightstand, but there was nothing but her bedside lamp.
He shrugged and opened the nightstand drawer.
Sure enough, there were two paperback romance books tucked in there, along with a bunch of random bookmarks and a thick manila envelope that had photos poking out of it.
He recognized himself in the photo on top.
Curiosity got the best of him, and he picked up the envelope and slipped the stack of photos out.
The first photo was from their last summer together: sitting on the dock at the Callahan cottage, with him in swim trunks and Morgan in a blue bikini.
He had his arm around her shoulders and they were both smiling.
He remembered her mom taking the picture.
He was stunned by how young they both looked, but he knew they had to be eighteen in the photo.
Cody sat on the edge of the bed as he flipped to the next photo.
It was another one of the two of them together: they were eating burgers at Grandpa Sam’s picnic table.
The next picture was just Cody, once again at eighteen.
It was a close-up with him holding his hand up, as if he didn’t want his picture taken, but he was laughing.
Another one of him eating a burger. Fishing off the edge of the dock with his back to the person taking the picture.
Out on the lake canoeing with Grandpa Sam.
He kept flipping through them. More and more pictures of him.
He remembered Morgan liked taking pictures, but he never knew how many she’d taken when he wasn’t aware.
And that she went the extra step and had them all printed out.
And she kept them in an envelope in her nightstand.
And that she had kept them for an entire decade.
He started to feel uncomfortable looking through them. There were so many, at least a stack of fifty. He quickly flipped through the rest so he could get back to the first picture and put everything back the way he’d found it. He shut the nightstand drawer and stared at it for a moment.
On the one hand, it felt a little unsettling to find out she’d taken that many pictures of him and he had no idea.
On the other hand…he supposed, he was her boyfriend at the time.
If she asked, he would have said it was fine, so did it really matter?
He also couldn’t help but admit it was kind of sweet that she kept the photos all this time.
She hadn’t thrown them out in anger the second he broke up with her and left town.
She also kept them in her nightstand, so…
maybe she liked to look at them on lonely nights.
He was perfectly fine with that scenario.
He got his book bag from his Inventory and tucked Morgan’s books inside, carrying both the books and his bag of groceries back down to the Food Mart.
Morgan was busy cashing out more customers, so he quickly handed over her the keys.
He made his way back to the library and held up the book bag triumphantly as he entered.
“You’re back? Already?” Lexi asked, eyeing the bag. “And those are Morgan’s overdue books?”
“Yep!”
Cody passed the books to her, and Lexi gawked at him. “You’re my hero.”
[Congratulations! You have completed your first Friendship Level with Resident Lexi Rayes! Only four more to go until Full Friendship Achieved!]
Cody gave himself a mental pat on the back for being right about the overdue book fetch quest. He was also relieved there wasn’t a note about unlocking Romance Levels with Lexi.
“Any more?” he asked Lexi.
“No, Morgan only had these two.”
“No, I mean–you said everyone in town is bad at returning books on time. Want me to go round up some more?”