Letters to Isabella

twelve.

Laura's POV

The sound of Edith shoving books back into their correct shelves and sweeping up the small specs of dust that had emerged over the last few days comforted me as I sat in the back room with a cup of warm tea in my hands and a million butterflies inside of my stomach. It was almost six o'clock and luckily for both Edith and I we had permission to close the library up a little earlier than usual which suited us both just fine. Edith was more than happy to head home early to her cat Whiskers and get an early nights rest and I was extremely happy to get off early and spend the rest of the evening with the love of my life away from the stress of our home and the pressure of being parents. It would be good to just feel like Ross and Laura again; just for tonight at least.

"Honey I think he's here!" Edith called out. She poked her head around the door with a flustered smile on her face. She was holding her dustpan and brush tightly in her left hand and eagerly pointing to the entrance of the library with her right hand. "Car lights just shone through the window so I'm assuming that's him, otherwise we're about to go into lockdown."

I giggled and nodded at her. "I'm pretty sure it's him." I emptied my half drunken tea into the sink and pulled my red trench coat tightly around my body. It had been a chilly day and it was supposed to be an even chillier night, I could only be thankful that I'd been smart enough to bring my coat to work otherwise I'd be on the verge of catching a cold. "Thank you so much for the tea, Edith. Are you sure you'll get home okay?"

She smiled. "I'm sure honey but thank you for expressing your concern to me."

I nodded happily at her and handed her a small slip of paper with my mobile number and home number attached to it. "Just in case you ever need me feel free to contact me, okay?"

Edith accepted it from me and slid it into the pocket of her blue dress. "Thank you Laura, I appreciate that. I probably won't ever disturb you though, especially whilst you're at home with your family but I appreciate the gesture nonetheless."

A quiet beep from outside caught both of our attention and before I could say another word, Edith was quickly ushering me towards the entrance doors. "Go on now honey. You look beautiful! We can talk all about it in work on Monday. Have a great night okay?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay -"

"Yes I'm sure!" She exclaimed with a chuckle. I stepped outside into the cold October air and smiled at her one last time. "Be safe out there." She reminded me with a quick tap of her nose.

"You be safe too!" I scolded with a half slanted smirk. "Goodnight Edith, I'll see you on Monday!"

As I ran to Ross' car Edith called out to me. "See you on Monday sweet cheeks! Enjoy your date!"

I hopped into the passenger seat and closed the door behind me with a heavy sigh. It felt good to finally be out of the cold. I turned to Ross and smiled at him. "Hey handsome."

"Hey beautiful." He replied. He leant in towards me slowly and wrapped his left arm gently around my waist. His lips carefully brushed against mine in a teasingly manner before trailing down towards my neck which instantly sent shivers up and down my spine. Ross trailed his soft kisses up to my ear and whispered hoarsely to me. "Are you ready for date night?"

As he pulled away from me and started up the car once more I breathlessly replied to him. "Uh... yes... I think so."

"Good." He replied with a smirk. He kept his right hand firmly on the steering wheel and allowed his left hand to rest easily on my thigh as he drove away from the library. "First stop our old high school."