It didn’t take much to stir his temper nowadays.
“I think I, uh... need some air,” Brian said as he smoothly, carefully, walked out of the door, Tellulah following him like a shark in blood-infested waters.
Why couldn’tshebe his father’s successor?
Why did it have to be him?
The oldest, the son?
Surely his sister’s tenacity would make a better boss than he would.
When he finally found the lounge, he let out a frustrated sigh.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” his sister bit.
“I can’t do this right now,” he said.
Tellulah crossed her arms.
“You can never do it, Bri, that’s kind of the problem. One day you’re going to have to man up and just bite the bullet.”
“I don’t want to be dad, Lu.”
Tellulah rolled her cornflower blue eyes. “No one is asking you to be dad. But the libraryshouldbe run by a capable Leehan so it doesn’t become ancient history. Our great grandfather didn’t found the place just so you could turn away and...”
“Why can’t you do it then? You’re just as much a Leehan as I am,” he nipped.
“Because I’m not the one with a stupid Masters in Library Science and a minor in history. And I’m not theoldestchild.”
“I’m sure dad could weasel you in if you nagged him instead of nagging me.”
“You know that’s not how it works, and besides, I’m not the right fit and you know it. Why are you so resistant to this? It would make everything a lot easier and everyone a lot happier...”
“What about what I want?” Brian asked, feeling as if the world was caving in.
Tellulah rolled her eyes again. “Oh, please. You don’t know what you want. You never have.’
“I know I don’t want to be locked up in an office somewhere buried underneath paperwork, facing rejection after rejection, lobbying for grants, and beholden to the whim of the university, who are not as invested in thehistoryof the library and—
“Then what do you want? Huh? You going to sign out books to elementary kids forever for barely fifty thousand a year? Is that what makes you happy, Bri? Because I don’t think it is....”
Brian turned away, not liking where the conversation was going.
“It’smylife, Lu. I’m the one that gets to live it, gets to make the decision ofhowI live it. Not you, or mom, or dad can force me to live someone else’s life,” he said as he headed toward the elevator.
“Where are you going?” she hollered.
“Home,” he hollered back. The nurses didn’t even blink an eye to their sibling quarrel.
When he reached the elevator, he felt like he could finally breathe. He pulled out his phone, queuing up a ride home, more than happy for the moment to be free from the expectations of his family. He needed to process everything, and he couldn’t very well do so in the presence of his insistent mother, his impulsive sister, and his resistant father.
When the car pulled up to the library—hislibrary—Brian let out a sigh of relief. Priya, the other attendant, didn’t even blink an eye as he walked in, making a beeline for his favorite spot. Then again, most of the staff at the library were used to Brian coming in to do his work well beyond his scheduled shifts.
Set in the far back, among the dustiest shelves, was an old, abandoned cubby. It had been there since he started working at the library a mere ten years ago, when he’d only volunteered.
Brian curled up on top of the cubby desk surface, crossing his legs as he pulled a book off the stack he’d left from the last time he’d been in this spot... only a few days ago.
When he was contemplating going to the speed dating event at the DeLux Café, the flier had flown in on the wind, curling around his ankles as if it were seeking him out, and upon reading it, he couldn’t help but think maybe that was what was truly missing from his life.
