Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“How are we doing here?” The librarian comes over and smiles at us.
“Amazing,” Caleb answers her. “I was wondering how one would get a copy of a certain yearbook?”
“That would depend on if there are any extras,” she says. “Usually we print twenty extra, just in case you have a student who forgot and then those go into storage.”
He grabs the one in my hand and then closes it so she can see the year on the front written in silver. “We were looking for this one.”
“Let me check in the storage room,” she tells him.
“Would you like me to help you?” he offers her and she smiles bashfully at him.
“That would be lovely,” she says, turning and walking toward the room.
“If she wasn’t seventy,” I start to mumble, “and I was confident in what a catch I am, I would seriously wonder who else you are flirting with all day long.” He chuckles, giving me a kiss before leaving and walking out of the room.
I look down at the picture of her, it’s the younger her. The next picture the year after shows how much she changed in a year. I find Sonia and she looks even younger with braces on. My hand hovers over her picture.
It’s a couple of minutes later when I see the door open, the librarian walking out first followed by Caleb, who holds the book up in his hand. “We found one,” the librarian says.
“We did,” Caleb confirms, “and she gave us fifty percent off since it’s been a long time, so instead of thirty-five dollars it’s seventeen fifty.”
“Oh.” I put the box down before going to my purse.
“I gave her a twenty and told her to keep the change for all her help,” he mumbles when he gets closer to me.
“My hero.” I smile at him.
“Let’s get these packed back up, so I can put them back and then we can leave.” I nod at him as he places the books back in the box in the same order, then turning and following her back into the room. I hold the book to my chest as if it’s my most prized possession.
He comes out of the room followed by the librarian, who locks the door behind her. “Thank you for all your help,” Caleb tells her as he puts his hand at the base of my back and ushers me out of the room. We stop at the office where we both hand in our badges before we walk out.
“So, successful?” he says, slipping his hand in mine.
“I would say so,” I tell him. “I wonder where they went to after.”
He shrugs as he opens the door for me and kisses me before I get up and in. He buckles the seat belt around me before he walks around. His phone rings as soon as he sits down. “Yeah,” he answers, putting it to his ear. “I’m just finishing something up.” He starts the truck. “Give me twenty.” He hangs up.
“Everything okay?” I ask him as he pulls away from the school.
“Yeah, that was Theo, asking me to go see him for something.”
“Why don’t you drop me off at the bakery? I’ll have a coffee and then walk home.” I look over at him as he just nods.
We pull up to the bakery, and as he parks I lean over to kiss him. “Thank you for today,” I tell him. “I’ll take care of you tonight.” I wink at him before reaching for the door handle and letting myself out.
I slam the door and head toward the bakery, pulling open the door and immediately being hit with the smell of baked goodness. I look around and see that some of the tables are taken by a couple of people before walking up to the pink display case and looking at the donuts they have in there. It’s Everleigh’s specialties, but she changes them almost monthly. “Hey,” Everleigh greets, walking out of the back room, wiping her hands on the apron around her waist, “this is a surprise.”
“It is.” I smile at her. “I was out with Caleb and he got a call, so I told him to just drop me off here.”
“What can I get you?” she asks.
“I’m going to have a latte with some cinnamon on top,” I tell her, “and then give me whatever donut you think I should try.”
“We have a new one this week,” she states, grabbing a plate and then white wax paper. “It’s called Fall into Apple.” She places the donut on a tray as I look at the little pieces of apple crumble on top of the donut covered in white drizzle icing. “It’s as if an apple pie and an apple crumble had a baby.” I laugh at her. “Go and have a seat, I’ll bring you the latte.” She motions with her chin as I grab the tray and head to the corner of the room, pulling out one of the cast-iron pink chairs, before placing the tray on the table and sitting down. I place the yearbook beside the tray, looking around as Everleigh comes over and places the latte on the tray. “What do you have there?” she asks, pulling out the seat in front of me and sitting down. “I think Mom is in here,” she says, laughing as she opens the book.