Free Libby the Librarian: A Rom Com Novella by Alice Bex

maybe we needed to spend a little less time together for a while, but he was so fragile
     
    Sydney didn’t break up with Adam, which made me think it was either because she was too nice to break up with a man who’d just lost his father, or that she liked Adam so much she was willing to wait things out and see what happened.
    I invited her and Adam over for dinner the next Sunday, in the hopes that spending some time with me would put her mind at ease. I invited Shasta and Brad , too. Brad couldn’t come. That made it just Adam and three women. He didn’t seem to mind. I thought it might be awkward, but it wasn’t.
    At least it wasn’t awkward until Shasta put her foot in it. Shasta knew all about me going to Dallas. I guess she assumed that Sydney did, too. I mean, Sydney should have known. Adam should have told her, but I guess he hadn’t.
    We were clearing the plates when Shasta said to me, “I heard it got up to a hundred in Dallas last week. Hope you brought along your shorts.” It was a strange thing to say. Shasta isn’t the type who talks about the weather. Looking back, I’m convinced she did it on purpose, just to blow Adam’s cover. That surprised me. Shasta usually goes out of her way to make sure no one gets mad and no one’s feelings get hurt.
    I didn’t say anything, but Sydney was looking at me. Guilt—not that I had anything to feel guilty about—must have been written across my face, because then Sydney looked over at Adam.
    “What’s Shasta talking about?”
    “Who knows,” Adam said.
    “Libby went with you, didn’t she?”
    “You didn’t tell her!” I couldn’t believe it.
    “I was going to,” said Adam.
    “When?” Sydney sounded mad.
    “I don’t know. There’s nothing to be mad about ,” Adam said.
    “Nothing ? I might have believed that if you’d told she’d gone in the first place.” Sydney looked ready to spit.
    I could have sworn there was a little smile flickering on Shasta’s lips. I can’t imagine why. I certainly wasn’t finding the situation very amusing.
    Sydney and Adam left right away. I didn’t hear yelling, but I’m betting there was some on the way home.
    “Why did you do that?” I asked Shasta, after they were out the door.
    “Do what?”
    “You did that on purpose.”
    “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t.”
    “How did you even know that Adam hadn’t told Sydney?”
    “Adam and I talk.”
    Great. I used to be the one Adam confided in. Now I’m the other woman, but with all the responsibilities and none of the benefits.
    “Adam loves you,” Shasta said.
    “I know he loves me.”
    “No, I mean he loves you.”
    I snorted a very unladylike snort in response to that statement, but it didn’t faze Shasta. She’s tougher than she looks.
    I guess Sydney and Adam managed to patch things up , because I didn’t see much of Adam for almost a month. I imagine that was a condition of staying together—that Adam would be seeing a lot less of me.
    I was half relieved and half sad. I hoped Adam was doing all right. Sydney may be a nice girl, but she doesn’t know Adam like I do.
 
    After dropping off the map for almost a month, Adam abruptly reinserted himself into my life. Five weeks to the day his father died, he stopped by my office and announced that he and Sydney had broken up, and would I like to go out to dinner?
    “Tonight?”
    “Are you free?”
    I was free, but I didn’t feel like letting him off that easy.
    “You know, you take me very much for granted,” I said.
    “I do know. And I very much appreciate that you let me.”
    “What if I stopped letting you?”
    The smile vanished from his face , and he looked a little scared. “I really need to see you.”
    When he put it that way, I couldn’t refuse.
    That evening I met him at the restaurant. Told him I was working late. For some reason that I c an’t explain, I didn’t want him coming to my house to get me.
    It felt like a first date. We’d never gone so long without