Between the Stacks

Chapter 35

My meeting with Lakshmi was less stressful than I'd anticipated. I was worried the whole getting-into-an-accident-and-kind-of-almost-dying thing would have made her angry, but she was just glad to see me alive.

"Staffing is such a pain," she joked. "If you died, it would be a paperwork nightmare. No thanks."

The day never calmed down. An hour was dedicated towards chasing a bird out of the magazine section and into the great outdoors; two moms got into a fight when their kids wanted the same book; somebody stole only the yellow LEGOs. I'd been forced to skip lunch, and the thought of my sandwich languishing in the fridge almost brought me to tears. I thought about the title of Wesley's presentation: WE ARE ALL MISERABLE.

Maybe he was right.

Cherryhill was a large community with only three library branches – and one of them would be closed. We were already understaffed. How would the surviving branches deal with the lack of staff? Would services need to be cut?

The answers were obvious: staff would suffer, and so would the public.

---

I hadn't thought about bringing up the popularity of Wesley's speech to Lakshmi, since I thought it would blow over.

I was wrong. No new cat or dog or toddler video blew up on Twitter. There was a wide-open field for a new viral video, and Wesley's half-speech, half-rant fit right in.

The first indication that things were exploding came from a text from Wesley on Tuesday morning. We'd made a big show about exchanging numbers after the car ride home, when we hovered awkwardly outside of my apartment.

My phone dinged, and Wesley's name appeared. Hello, this is Satan, may I speak to Emma?

Thankfully I was at my own desk, and Lakshmi didn't care too much if we occasionally texted. You're not Satan anymore, I texted back. You've gone down a level. Like Satan's henchman.

That's disappointing. I need to sharpen my pitchfork. He added a devil emoji.

This was our first discussion since Sunday. I hated the way I was conscious of my own heartbeat, the way I adjusted my skirt. I felt like a lovesick teenager who was hoping to get asked to prom.

Little dots appeared on my screen, indicating that he was writing. Then the dots disappeared for a few seconds before coming back. It took him two minutes to type out his short sentence.

You're not going to believe this, he wrote. CBC wants to interview me about my presentation.

He was right: I didn't believe him. I stared at my phone, wondering if his phone had been hacked or if I had fallen into an alternate dimension.

In theory, this was great news. Wesley's presentation had been fantastic, and he'd deserved this.

But on the other hand, that insidious snake of jealousy once again started to coil around my shoulders. Riverside would receive all the attention. It was another strike against my own library. CBC was the national news broadcaster for the country - Wesley's story would be heard from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Wow! Hollywood is calling, I said.

I'm a bit nervous. Never been on TV before. Want to come over tonight to help me pick out my outfit?

There it was: an offer to hang out. To continue what had started this weekend. My stomach did an impression of a gymnast as it flipped and turned and spun.

The problem was that I didn't know what I wanted. Part of me wanted to drag him into another hotel room; another part wanted to fly to Australia and hide in the outback and hang out with kangaroos. I wanted to kiss him and hate him and talk to him about everything and never speak to him again.

I'm actually busy toni-

Sounds like fun! When should I co-

How about we just make out inst-

I erased all my attempts at a response and stared at my phone, willing the universe to spontaneously write the perfect message for me.

Then the universe responded in a different way.

"Emma?" I looked up to see Paige the page hovering in the doorway. "There's someone at the front desk requesting to see you."

"Sure." I threw my phone in my desk drawer. I was so focused on mulling over the perfect response to Wesley that I didn't think for a moment about who would want to see me.

When I got to the front desk, I couldn't help but smile. I shouldn't have been surprised.