Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
My shoulders relax. My whole body relaxes. Christian found someone—a guy on his team named Bryant. He’s attached the contact card.
Then I spot another text. From a new number and name.
Bryant: Hey! Christian said you need a place to stay. I have a sweet guest room under the staircase.
My heart sprints.
Jay: That sounds like something out of a book!
Jay: Also, thank you! I am so grateful. You won’t even know I’m there!
Bryant: Happy to help.
Jay: My brother said I should come by after the game and we can meet. Does that work for you?
Bryant: Yup. See you then.
I’m about to slide my phone into my pocket when it pings once more.
Bryant: Also, you can move in whenever. It has sheets and pillows and stuff already.
Bryant: The decorator did it. Not me.
Bryant: So it’s not like it’s black sheets and chrome.
I laugh at his reassurances that it’s not hyper manly even though I wouldn’t care if it was designed in every single shade of gray.
“Buddy, you need to move,” I say, pleading with the fluffy beast with the implacable gaze.
The cat refuses to budge though, so I bend down and scoop him up.
“Oof. You weigh thirty pounds,” I blurt out as I lift the big boy, then open the door with a pretty impressive combination of elbow and butt maneuvering if I do say so myself.
“I see you met Raccoon.”
It’s Thalia on the other side, bracelets jangling as she heads my way.
“Raccoon?” I ask.
“Our library cat. We found him in the wall and he stayed. But don’t body shame him,” she says with a wink.
“My bad,” I say, then gesture toward the floor. “Okay to put him down here?”
She waves her arm around to the shelves, her bracelets chiming. “He has run of the place. Leave him wherever. He’s why we have no mice,” she says as I set him down and in a heartbeat, he makes like a cat and hightails it far, far away from me.
On my way back to the conference room, Christian sends me one more text, telling me a woman named Everly will meet me at the arena whenever I arrive. He drops me her number too. I thank him, then return to the conference room, feeling like I can breathe easily thanks to a room under the stairs in some hockey player’s home.
When the session ends an hour or so later, Thalia suggests we all grab a drink. Since I have time before the hockey game ends, I join them. She takes us to The Spotted Zebra, and I learn that I’m the first new librarian at this branch in years, and it’s also the first time this little branch has landed a grant for any position.
“You’re our unicorn,” Thalia says.
And unicorns are cool, so I say, “Achievement unlocked.”
When we’re done, she offers to drop me off.
I say yes and text Everly on the way. Once Thalia reaches the rink, I thank her and hop out of her little Honda, hoisting my bag up on my shoulder as I walk toward the main doors. I pass the huge lit-up marquee for the Sea Dogs—their mascot is a fearsome canine who looks like he can brave the icy waters of any North Sea ship. I haven’t had a chance to google this Bryant guy, but I can do that when I’m inside rather than when I’m walking outside at night. Safer that way.
When I arrive at Main Door G, there’s a tall blonde with her hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. She’s polished and put together in black slacks and a royal blue shirt, the color of the team. Her fair skin is dotted with a few freckles, and her brown eyes are warm.
“You must be Christian’s sister,” she says, then offers me a hand. “I’m Everly. I work in publicity for the team, and he asked me to take you down to the locker room.”
I balk at that last word. “Um…”
“Oh,” she says, shaking her head with an amused smile. “You probably don’t want to go into the locker room.”
Not with my brother there. Not with any of them there, to be honest. I love my brother. But I’ve never crushed on his teammates. Not in high school, not in college, and not while he’s been in the pros. I’m more into geeks and nerds than athletes, so the idea of standing around a bunch of big, sweaty guys does nothing for me.
“I can wait in the hall,” I say helpfully.
“Of course,” Everly says, then whisks me past security and through the concourse. “So you just arrived in the city about a week ago, Christian tells me. What do you think so far?”
That I never know if I’m going to step into a mud pit or a garden of flowers. “It’s great,” I say, since there’s no need to tell her the details about my topsy-turvy experiences here. “You never know what each day holds.”