By the time I finished the library was closed.
“Are you staying to study?” Mary asked, handing me the envelope with my check in it.
Technically I wasn’t allowed to stay after hours, but Mary trusted me and didn’t mind.
“No,” I shook my head, frowning. I really needed to study and get my homework done since I had trouble doing it at home, but I needed to stop by the grocery store and get some food. I knew my mom wouldn’t have bothered to make Tristan and Ivy anything to eat—even if she tried there wasn’t any food in the house. “I have to go to the store.”
“Oh, okay then,” Mary smiled and patted my arm as she flicked off the light on the desk.
“I’m going to change,” I told her, already heading toward the backroom to grab my bag.
“I’ll wait for you, sweetie,” she shrugged into her winter coat.
“No, no, you go on ahead,” I assured her with a wave of my hand.
“Don’t be silly,” she pulled on gloves.
“Mary,” I stopped with a hand on the door. “I leave here by myself a lot of nights. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Don’t be stubborn now, young lady,” Mary warned.
“Alright,” I sighed, “give me a minute.”
I changed out of my clothes in record speed and met Mary at the front. She closed the large library doors behind us and locked them. The library was located in a historical part of town and first opened it’s doors in nineteen-thirteen. It was massive and one of the most beautiful buildings I’d ever seen.
Mary and I walked down the sidewalk and over to parking lot. I waved goodbye and got behind the wheel of my ancient—but reliable—Honda Civic.
I was exhausted, but my day was far from over. I still needed to stop by the local Wal-Mart to get groceries before I went home. I’d have to deposit my check first thing in the morning so I didn’t get a bill for overdrawing my account. That would majorly suck.
The parking lot was packed, even at six in the evening. I ended up having to park all the way in the back of the parking lot, which sucked since it was so cold out and my lightweight coat did little to protect me from the frigid wind and snow flurries. My long legs carried me quickly into the store. I grabbed a shopping cart and pulled the grocery list from my pocket.
My first stop was to get frozen lasagna. I would have rather gotten the ingredients to make it homemade, but it was far too expensive. I was used to living on a budget. I swung by and grabbed a package of deli turkey before heading down the bread aisle. I scanned the prices, looking for whatever was cheapest. Ivy and Tristan had learned early on that we couldn’t afford to be picky. Whatever was the lowest price was what we ate.
I bent down and scanned the lowest shelf. “Aha,” I mumbled under my breath when I found what I wanted.
“I never knew bread was so interesting.”
The hairs on my spine stood on end.
No. Freaking. Way.
I stood slowly, the plastic bag that held the bread was clasped tightly in my hand. I turned, shaking slightly, and my eyes connected with Trent’s.
“Evening, Row,” he smiled cockily, tilting his head. He was dressed casually in jeans and a black leather jacket with a baseball cap perched on his head.
“What are you doing here?”
Shit. I’d said the exact same thing when he’d shown up at the library. I really needed to stop talking around him.
“Getting bread, obviously.” Looking at me, he reached out and grabbed a random bag of bread. Several other loaves tumbled to the floor, but neither of us moved to pick them up.
“Obviously,” I whispered, at a loss for words. I looked behind me, hoping for a means of escape, but running away—again—would have been childish.
“Mind if I walk with you?” He asked, smiling crookedly.
My stomach did a somersault. Why did he have to affect me like this even after all these years?
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”