Page 6 of I Still Love You (Citation Needed)

“Dr. Smith, it’s so wonderful to meet you,” Heather said as we shook hands. “Dr. Fairfax and Denise both rave about you and what you’ve accomplished.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Denise who shrugged. I wished Mason was sitting next to me so we could chuckle about that. Denise didn’t know how deep my anger at Lois went. I gestured for both women to join us and introduced them to the others at the table. When I got to Cooper, Heather’s face lit up like I had brought her a bag full of diamonds.

“Did you get involved with EncycloWiki while you were here?” Heather asked me barely a second after the final introduction. “I would love to learn how you used your academic background to get the executive director job.” She leaned closer as if I might share some secret advice.

My eyebrows drew together. “I’m not sure what you were told, but I’m not an academic.”

Heather’s eyes got wide. “I’m so sorry! I assumed since you have a PhD that you came from academia. Aren’t you part of the WikiAcademia board?”

I shook my head in response to Heather before gesturing to my legs and chair. “I started editing EncycloWiki after my accident. I’ve been involved at different levels ever since, but professionally I’ve typically run organizations that focus on accessibility. I think it says a lot about the next phase in EncycloWiki’s growth that they hired me.”

Lizbeth and Cooper chuckled as I spoke. Heather looked around confused.

“She left the board about a year ago to focus on her own non-profit,” Cooper said before I could explain. “Penny has been editing EncycloWiki for so long that she often says ‘citation needed’ in meetings.”

Heather tilted her head to the side. “Mason says that too.”

The memory hit like a ton of bricks. I hadn’t thought about how my habit had started. I thought about the times Mason would listen to my rants about how the world seemed to be personally attacking me by not being accessible. He would always tell me ‘citation needed’ when I stopped to take a breath. Sometimes I would have proof but most of the time I was angry and frustrated. It had taught me to always have evidence to prove my point. Of course, by the end of our relationship, I always had evidence that he wanted to ignore.

Denise nodded in agreement with Heather. “He’s a big fan of always having evidence to make your point.”

“This is such a pretty little city,” Cooper said, sensing the shadow passing over me. “I have a passion for fiber related articles, especially the history of mills, labor, and unionization. I maintain a lot of entries about these topics.”

I appreciated him distracting everyone. Cooper knew my history here, including some of what had happened with Mason.

“Have you met Carrie Woodhouse yet?” Denise asked as she pointed to where Carrie was helping people find places to sit.

Cooper nodded. “One of my friends, Lisa, works in the city as the head of their community center. She brought me over yesterday for a personal tour of the museum and mill. I’m going to have field day editing because of it.”

“Did she let you take pictures and video?” Denise asked.

Cooper winked at me as he nodded. “Don’t worry! I’m making sure there are captions and transcripts. I think Lisa’s bringing some of the community center kids over today to learn to edit.”

“Are you going to work with them?” I asked.

Cooper might be working on WikiAcademia for university students, but his real passion was teaching in K-12 schools. I knew he wanted to take their program and extend it to schools, but those plans were on hold until a permanent executive director could be hired.

“Carrie is very excited to give editors access to the Woodhouse family archives,” Cooper said as he stood up from his seat to see over the crowd. “She understands it’s better for her to empower the rest of us and give us access to content. Have you met her yet, Penny?”

I nodded. “She seems to be open to learning and quick to understand.”

Cooper waved at Carrie who spotted him and waved back.

“She’s going to be a good ally to have. Beware because she gets very excited and a little overbearing until corrected,” Heather added in a low voice. “She has a habit of saying yes to everything and making it about her.”

The woman’s comment got my back hair up. I was sure she was right, from what little I had seen, but there was something about it the way she said it that felt like she was mocking Carrie. I was already trying to find a way to work with Carrie and her family’s foundation for local projects.

“I’ll be right back,” Lizbeth said as she got up and rushed over to where Carrie was standing.

A man with dirty blond hair wheeled a cart full of food into the room. When he gave Carrie a quick kiss, I realized this was her partner, the chef. This was confirmed when Lizbeth walked over and gave him a hug. She had mentioned weeks ago that her father’s former sous chef was in Lacock.

“You’re going to love the spread for the reception tonight,” Denise said when she noticed where Lizbeth had gone. “Carrie’s partner Zach is the chef at the cafe. His baker Humberto made the breakfast pastries. They also made the lunch today.”

I thought back to the yummy cheddar cheese scone I had enjoyed while meeting with my new employees.

“Humberto uses bacon fat in the scones,” Mason said, as if coming out of nowhere. “Zach made his own hot dogs for pigs in a blanket for a fundraiser last year. There were apples in them and it was like eating fall.”

Our eyes met and I could feel my heart thud in my ears. I forgot how it felt when I was the center of his attention.