going to be in this town for the unforeseeable future, she should make an effort. Back home, the librarian had been one of her best friends. Sara Johns knew what she liked and often had books pulled for her before she even had a chance to ask. There were so many things that she missed about home.
She glanced out the window, saw people coming and going, saw the familiarity and the friendship. New Hope had much to offer. Minutes later she was galloping down the stairs and headed out the door. Truth be told, she might have been avoiding Keely just a bit. That woman had an amazing ability to sniff out the happenings in town. For all she knew, crazy Miss Gracie had already alerted the town that not only was there another fire in Joe’s back yard, but that he had been about to have sex with Marti. She was pretty certain had fate and Miss Gracie not intervened, she would have slept with the second man of her entire life.
As she passed the town square, she saw marble steps that drew her attention. They could only belong to a government building. And while that could mean a court house, she was still cautiously optimistic that instead, she would be standing in front of shelves of books, smelling the unmistakable scent of slightly dusty stacks and moldy paper and too many piles of newsprint. She skipped up the steps, ready to make a new friend. That would help her immensely at the moment.
An hour later and five books heavier, she had her very own library card and enough reading to occupy her for days. That was just what she planned. She walked straight to Laurel’s from there and placed an enormous to go order.
“Just you?” Laurel asked suspiciously, as she loaded the bag.
“Just me,” she responded, trying not to sound as glum as she was currently feeling. Feelings. That was the biggest part of her problem. She had them…for Joe. And she wanted to explore them. Everyone she knew had already or probably soon would advise against it. That was not what she needed to hear. She needed to find just one person to talk to, to share these thoughts and feelings with. And there was no one. The one person she could talk to without recrimination was the one person she wanted to talk about. It was…frustrating.
As she pulled out the first of two sandwiches she had ordered from Laurel on those thick slabs of homemade bread, she contemplated her life. Now seemed just as good a time as any for such an endeavor. How had she come to a stage in her life where she was thirty-five years old and had no friends? She had acquaintances galore. She was well liked. None of that was the same as having a best friend.
Then she remembered…it was Blaine. He never liked any of her friends. He pushed more and more people away. And for reasons that she no longer understood she thought that if they could have this life, if they could just be happy together, it would all be worth it. Only now, since it had all gone south, just like her life, it didn’t make a lot of sense. She should have stood up for herself. She should have insisted upon working outside of the home, instead of limiting herself to the countless hours of volunteer work with various charities that she had completed, used to fill the void where time with her husband should have been. She couldn’t change the past, but she still had plenty of life to live. She still could have a happy future. She could choose to be happy.
Feeling both better about her decisions and full, she selected the first book from her bag and began to read. It didn’t take long for her to get immersed in a story. This time, it was A Janet Evanovich novel. Stephanie Plum was at it again...blowing up cars. The men in her life were once again coming to her rescue. For some reason, Stephanie never really had to choose. If she was Stephanie, it would have been Ranger, the dark dreamy mysterious guy. Of course, she wasn’t. Her problems were different and real. Her feelings were out of control and confusing. Read. Don’t think! She reminded herself again and again.
It was time to give Laurel another chance to come around. He was mostly staying away from Marti. He wasn’t with her today. For