“Really? That sounds exciting. You must be relieved to see him finally rebounding.”
“Except he’s not telling my mother. Honestly, I have so much to tell you. Can you come to a pasta-and-wine dinner at my house tonight?” I hold up a hand. “And before you answer, you need to know that Jess will be there.”
“I don’t hate Jess, Mia. I simply don’t always agree with the advice she gives you. And since I’m certain tonight will be filled with lots of it, I need to be there. Especially when it’s Friday night and there’s no clock on the time she has to lecture you. Where are we getting pasta, because I know you’re not cooking.”
“Usually Maggiano’s. I can’t believe I’ve never invited you to pasta-and-wine night.”
“Me either, since I love Maggiano’s. You need me to pick anything up?”
“You’re tolerating Jess for me. Just bring you. Oh, and on that wedding. What is the date?”
“Saturday the twenty-fourth. Why?”
“Jess is getting an award that weekend. I’m not sure if it’s Friday or Saturday night. There’s a big party. Can you go with me to that, too? If the timing works out? Maybe we’ll already be dressed up.”
“She didn’t invite me, so you can go. And if you can’t make the wedding—”
“I can,” I say. “We’ll figure it out. And you’re invited to the party. I’ll make sure of it.”
“I’m not going because you’re forcing me on Jess.”
“Nope. You’re going for me. You know how socially awkward I am.” I shift the topic. The phone on my desk buzzes, and I whip around in my chair and grab the line. “Mia Anderson.”
“Mia, it’s Kara. Can you come down to my office?”
My heart thunders in my chest, a volcanic eruption threatening to blister a path right to my belly. “You’re at work?”
“I am. Hurry now. I have a meeting soon.” She disconnects.
Jack appears in the chair beside me. “What happened?”
Those two words—What happened?—are haunting me today. “Kara needs to see me. Now.”
“She’s back? Hmm. I guess she wasn’t as sick as you thought.”
“Or Wednesday’s presentation went so badly she’s trying to save her job.”
“That’s not what’s happening here.”
“And if it is?”
“It’s not.” The bell begins to ding at the front. Obviously, the doors are open, and patrons need help. “It’s not, Mia. The sooner you get down there, the sooner you can tell me I’m right.” He knocks on the desk, I guess to knock some sense into me, and then he’s gone.
I stand up, and that volcanic eruption finds my belly and burns fire in my gut.
I think I might get fired. And I don’t know who I am if I’m not the librarian on floor three.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The ride down the escalator is uneventful.
The man on floor two seems to be gone, in my mind, a stranger who swooped in, passed judgment, and cracked my solid world right in half, if I’m correct about how this meeting with Kara will go. The zoo below is as it always is—busy and chaotic—and as the escalator shoves me into the masses, I have a sensation of quicksand beneath my feet.
I’ve managed all of two steps when Akia Lee, one of the librarians in the zoo, steps in front of me. Akia is ten years older than me, fit, athletic, and confident. The only things we share in common are a love for books and being single, which one might think is enough to stir friendliness between us. We’ve spoken about three times in five years. And I’m kind of okay with that. I don’t like to be around people who make me judge myself as worthy or unworthy.
Akia stirs that feeling in me, that need to look in the mirror and brush hair from my face.
He’s not my kind of people. I’m not his.
