Turning Pages

Chapter Eight

EIGHT 

I spent the remainder of Friday night angry. Saturday, I went back and forth between depressed and more depressed. Sunday, however, I really started to think about it. Ever since I'd met Rob, I'd noticed his tendency to throw his arm around people and give them little squeezes-it was part of his personality, and he did it so automatically I'm sure it hadn't occurred to him that I would take it the wrong way. I still felt stupid and humiliated, but the anger was starting to disappear. 

As I sat in class on Monday morning, I made another realization. Rob was naturally self-centered. It wasn't that he tried to ignore other people's thoughts and feelings-he had just never been brought face to face with them. He was the center of attention wherever he went, and with that much adoration piled on you every minute of the day, it would be hard to shift your focus to someone else. By the time class ended, I felt a little sorry for him. Poor gorgeous-rich-thoughtless boy. 

I got to work a few minutes late, and Blake wasn't terribly amused about it. I don't know why he was so uptight. We weren't open yet, and it wasn't even time for staff meeting. 

But first things first. I walked over to the Picks shelf and placed a copy of Little Women in my slot. 

"Interesting choice." Blake came up behind me. "Feeling nostalgic about your house?" 

I whirled to face him. "What are you talking about?" 

"Little Women. Haven't you ever noticed that the house is nearly as much a character as the people themselves? All the descriptions of the rooms, the closets, the cubbyholes-that house practically breathes." 

I had been thinking about our house, wishing we didn't have to sell, but I had no idea how he could read my mind so unerringly. "And what about this?" I handed him Melanie's choice, Water for Elephants. 

"Um, I would guess that there are some elephants, and they are thirsty." 

"You are so aggravating. What did you bring me?" 

He handed me the third volume in the Dune series. 

"Ah, The Children of Dune. Now they're procreating?" 

"You just need to read it, Addie."  

I placed the book on the shelf. Terry and Hillary weren't in yet, so I left their previous picks up until I could ask them for their new ones. I wasn't going to take them down-it would almost seem like I was giving up, like I expected Terry and Hillary to be officially let go and was preparing for it. Reading too much into it? Of course. But as a librarian, I read. That's what I do. 

I badly wanted to talk to Melanie, but couldn't with Blake hovering around, and definitely not with the mood he was in. I grabbed a cart of returns and got busy. 

My thighs grew sore from squatting to replace books on the bottom shelf, but I was too lazy to go get a rolling stool. I lined up the last of the Elizabeth Peters books and returned to the counter for the next load. Blake was in the office, and I quickly told Melanie what I'd realized in class that morning about Rob. She nodded as I spoke. 

"You're right, Addie. I guess we can't fault the guy too much. If you're raised a certain way . . ." She sighed. "I can't believe how well you've handled this whole thing." 

I didn't think I'd handled it all that well, from the hour I'd spent blubbering to her on the phone Friday night, to the two hours I'd spent sulking on the phone with her on Saturday, but it was nice of her to say so. 

"Rob was a total jerk, and you were a class act." Her blue eyes, just like Rob's only ringed with mascara, were filled with sympathy. "I've never been so mad at my brother in my life. I could have killed him. I really could."