The football player and the librarian? Come on. Only a fool woman with too many romance titles on her bedside table would believe that was even possible. Her personal stack of Debbie Macombre, ReAnne Thayne, and Tracie Peterson didn’t count. That was research for her job … as a librarian … of the children’s section. She stopped humming. The problem with being smart was that she couldn’t lie to herself. She was a hopeless romantic who wanted to believe that a football player could fall for the maladroit librarian.
It didn’t happen in high school. It didn’t happen in college. And it certainly didn’t happen after the realities of adulthood bled into life. Owen was new in town and she was a friendly face. That was all.
“Miss Phelts?”
Bree straightened her glasses and peered down at Brax Hopedale. He wore a Titans jersey and his black hair had grown out from a fauxhawk to a frohawk. Kids all over town were due for haircuts. The poor barber was probably pacing in front of his red, white, and blue rotating barber’s pole, wondering if he’d be able to make his mortgage this month. “Hey, Brax.”
“My mom says I gotta get a book.”
“Sounds like a smart mom.”
Brax’s head lolled to the side. “I don’t want to get a boring book.”
“So you came to the expert, did ya?”
He tilted his head even more, reluctant to hand over praise to anyone who was an accomplice to his summer sentence.
Her eyes dropped down to the football shirt, and she knew exactly what would capture his attention. “Follow me.” She headed to the young adult section. On the L–P aisle, she ran her finger along the spines as she searched for a treasure. “Here!” She commandeered three titles from the shelf. “Brax, I’d like you to meet Mike Lupica. He is your salvation from boring books.”
He shifted onto his toes, bringing him infinitesimally closer to the novels. His eyes danced across the baseball, basketball, and football covers. He lifted his hand towards the football cover, a flash of interest on his face. Suddenly, he leaned back and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“I’ll tell you what.” She held out the football book and set the others on the shelf. “Read the first three pages. If you’re not convinced on this title, I’ll find you something else.”
“Whatever.” He flopped into a chair and threw his leg up over the armrest.
She’d save the victory dance for when he checked the book out.
Someone cleared their throat behind her, and she turned around to find Mayor Blunk in his short-sleeved, button-up shirt and sweater vest a la Ferris Bueller. Her eyes stung just looking at it. Wow. It took guts to go in public in that thing.
“Hello, Mz. Phelts.”
“Mayor Blunk.”
“Please, call me Mayor.”
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. Okay, then.
“My daughter loved the book. Do you have the second in the series?”
That she could respond to with some semblance of intelligence. “Of course.” She went around to the A–D aisle and clippedIvy and Bean and the Ghost that had to Gooff the shelf. “There are ten books in the series, so she should be happy for a while.”
He followed her to the checkout counter and fished his library card out of the pocket of his white shirt, pulling the sweater vest away to gain access. “Bethany is eagerly crossing off her daily reading chart. Any hints as to the grand prize?”
“Sorry, Mayor Blunk.” She could not bring herself to call him Mayor with a capital M. Perhaps she could picture the word lowercase and take a stab at it. But probably not. “I can’t give anything away—not even to you.”Or to my neighbor, my mom, or my boss—because there isn’t a grand prize!Although Owen’s sixty-dollar donation was a big step in the right direction.
The mayor took his book and card. “This’d better be good. I’m highly invested in the outcome of this program. The education of the next generation is my biggest priority.”
Bree exaggerated her nod. “I’m aware.” The whole town was aware—his slogan had been “A vote for Blunk is a vote for a child.” And he won the election. Yeah.
He continued, “You are a huge part of the future thinkers in our community.”
Because children didn’t think until the future. Made total sense.
“Don’t let us down.”
All Bree’s sarcasm evaporated like a drop of water in a frying pan. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Mayor Blunk.”
He pointed at her as he backed away. “That’s what I like to hear.”
