“Of course.” Vicki gazed a few seconds longer at Jack and then sighed softly before gathering her phone and purse from the circulation desk. “It was really nice to meet you, Jack. Don’t be a stranger. You can always stop by.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Vicki,” Jack said, holding out his hand to shake hers.
Vicki looked disappointed that he offered a handshake rather than a hug or something more involved, something that would cause their arms to be tangled around each other. She slid her gaze away from Jack and toward Stella. “Don’t forget the book club will be here at six thirty,” Vicki said. “Arnie usually handles that, but I guess it will fall on you now.”
Stella nodded. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Vicki said goodbye and left out the back door. Stella reached into her purse and removed her journal. She wrote down the new words, so now the page included:I fell in love once. Did I ever tell you that? He was excruciatingly handsome and no ordinary man.She closed the journal. Was she writing a diary entry or the beginning of a romance story? Was it her voice telling the story or someone else’s?
“Tonight should be easy, right? No more issues,” she said to Jack. But as soon as she spoke, the hairs on the back of her neck stood, and three muddy-yellow words skated across the tiles near them.Chaos and books. Get loose. Stop-your-breath kisses.
Jack watched the words whiz by, and his eyebrows rose. His gaze locked with Stella’s.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m really interested in stop-your-breath kisses.”
Chapter 14
At six thirty sharp, Stella had the book club attendees settled into their usual space on the first floor, sandwiched between the biographies and the reference books with their chairs in a horseshoe shape. Jack stood beside the circulation desk flipping through a shiny trifold pamphlet. She recognized it as one of the college brochures Arnie had tried to force on her. Jack glanced up when he heard her approach.
“Yours?” he asked.
Stella rolled her eyes. “Arnie wants me to go back to college and get a different degree or certification.”
“You were an accountant, right?” Jack said. “But you’ve been working in the library instead.”
Stella nodded. “Accounting was practical, but I know without a doubt it’snotthe job for me.” She reached for the brochure and flipped through it for the first time. “I can’t imagine going back to school for another degree, but if I did, I’d probably study English or creative writing.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted. “Nowthatactually fits you.”
Stella smiled. “It does.” She leaned her hip against the desk. “If I’m honest, Jack, after losing my dad and the relationship catastrophe with Wade, all I really wanted was to disappear, and I could do that here in the library. I could be like a book on the shelf, something that’s noticed sometimes but not messed with otherwise. But recently so much is changing—”
“Like those words?” Jack interrupted. “You said they only recently started showing up. They’re different from the others.”
“Very different,” Stella agreed. “Violent in a way. Words have always shown up whenever they wanted to. But the other night with Ariel, I tried commanding the words to come to see if I could figure out what book she wanted to read.”
Jack straightened. “Did it work?”
Stella smiled again. “It did. I didn’t know I could do that, and it made me realize my life should be more about the words and writing and helping people find other people’s writings. I know Arnie and Percy want something more for me—an advanced degree or a posh accounting firm in Miami—but what if I’msupposedto be here? I could be doing something with purpose, something I already love.” Her cheeks had grown warm with the confession. “I’m still trying to figure it out. Arnie’s enchanted library surprise feels connected somehow, but I can’t quite piece it all together.”
“I can’t picture you living in Miami,” Jack said.
Stella fiddled with the brochure. “That’s what Ariel said too.”
His smile faltered. “I’d possibly never see you again if you moved to Miami, even if Arnie brought me back.”
The awareness struck Stella as if she’d stepped off a curb without meaning to. Jack seemed saddened by the idea of never seeing her again. Did he feel a connection between them too? She’d finally met him in real life, and the experience hadn’t aligned with any of her daydreams. She’d envisioned flirting, hand-holding, and looksof longing passing between them. Instead, their time together had been riddled with complications and mishaps, and she’d ended up being kissed by a stinky pirate.
In her silence, he continued, “It’s not like I saw you every year, but it’s nice to finally be able to talk with you.”
She barely knew anything about Jack—other than what was included in his book, and reading that story for years didn’t count as truly knowing him. But shewantedto know more about him while they had time left, which emboldened her.
“When I daydreamed about talking with you, I imagined it going differently.”
Jack chuckled. “The dreams didn’t include dastardly pirates and screaming children?”
“Only a few,” she teased. Did she even remember how to flirt with a guy?
“You said you had questions.” He took the colorful brochure from her and returned it to the counter.
