I couldn’t help but let my eyes slip from his eyes to his upper arm muscles that tried to escape his shirt. I quickly pictured us going to the movies and some punk making a jerky comment to me or about me, and Elijah ‘handling’ it. To be protected by Elijah would be amazing.
“So let me reiterate: I don’t want you to fear telling me things. You can tell me anything. Are we clear?”
“Yes, thank you.”
As we walked out to the lobby, he mentioned that he wanted to work on his ancestry research this weekend, and I briefly mentioned the website I had emailed him. At the counter to his receptionist’s desk, I said goodbye and then began to walk toward my mom.
“Ms. Jones,” Elijah called to her.
Oh my God, what is he doing? He promised he wasn’t going to tell her!
My mom smiled and approached the reception area. I stood off to the side but made sure I was well within earshot of whatever this conversation was going to be about. I wanted to stare at how hot he looked in his shirt, but the impending conversation with my mom thwarted everything sexy.
“Salem has quite the knack for genealogy. It’s been something I’ve wanted to get involved in for a number of years, but I never was really sure where to begin or how to go about it. She’s inspired me to learn about my family.”
“She’s very interested in that for a hobby.” My mom smiled and looked at me as if she were suddenly excited about it. “I suppose there could be worse things she could be doing,” she added.
“Ms. Jones, there can always be something worse going on. The reason I mention all of this is because I was planning on going to the Heritage Library in Hollywood tomorrow to work on my ancestry. If it isn’t too much trouble, I was wondering if maybe you’d consider dropping her off at the library? I thought it would be an excellent way for her to show off some of her genealogy skills, as well as an opportunity for her to get out of the house.”
Oh my God! Yes! Yes! Yes!
My mom smiled as if this was the best news she had heard in a long time.
“Of course I can drop her off. I think getting out of the house to do something other than going to school would be wonderful.” Mom turned to look at me. “Salem, would you like to meet Dr. Hamilton at the library tomorrow?”
“Yeah! The Heritage Library is supposed to have tons of information and records.”
“You say that it’s over in Hollywood?” Mom turned her attention back to Elijah.
“Yes, I can write down the address,” Elijah offered.
As he reached across his receptionist’s desk to grab a pen, I stared at his shirt as it suctioned to his bicep. I stepped closer to Mom so I could watch Elijah grace the sticky note with his beautiful handwriting. My mom took the sticky note that he’d held out toward her, and they confirmed the meeting time of noon.
“Bye, see you tomorrow,” I said and waved at Elijah as my mom and I left his office.
All I could think of on the way home was that I had a date with Elijah tomorrow!
7
Salem
For one ofthe first times in a long time, I took extra care in getting ready for the library. I opted for torn jeans and my signature black long-sleeved t-shirt. It was definitely warm enough to wear a short-sleeved t-shirt, but I didn’t want to risk the chance of being cold in the library.
I had cleared everything else out of my backpack with the exception of my genealogy notebooks. I had a sheet of paper flagged inside of it with some of the pieces for my dad that I hadn’t been able to find on my own with websites. I had some leads, but some were things from certain areas of the world where the record keeping wasn’t the best.
I’d hardly slept last night because I was so excited about today. Aside from having the time with Elijah outside of his office, I was really eager to find some missing pieces to my dad’s side of the family.
Mom gave me some money in case there was a snack section. She reminded me to mind my manners and text her when I was finished. She also told me for what seemed like the hundredth time that she and Thomas had a cocktail party at 7:00 tonight in L.A.
“Don’t worry, Mom. The library closes at 5:00.”
“I hope you don’t stay that late. We’ll be pressed for time as it is. I can’t imagine wasting an entire Saturday afternoon on drawing family trees,” she said under her breath.
“I’m not drawing family trees,” I reminded her. I unbuckled my seat belt as Mom slowed to a stop in the drop off section. “Okay, I’ll text you when I’m done,” I said as I slid off the tall passenger seat of the Escalade.
I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder as I walked toward the entrance. I’d always wanted to come here. I pulled open the heavy oak doors and stepped into the lobby.
“Salem.”
