Roommates & Soulmates

Ch165: Tessa's Thinking

It had been over a month since the tedious task of potty training Lucie had begun, and Tessa was tired. It wasn't so much that she hadn't slept, but more that her patience was almost spent. Still they had made progress. Lucie had the general concept figured out. The main problem now was that she'd forget about going to the potty whenever anything interesting was going on, which meant Tessa's phone was going off every two hours with a 'potty time' reminder.

That is except for the four blissful hours she'd spend at the library today in which her phone would be on silent. Will was on his days off at the moment so she could dash off to her bookly heaven without fear of Jem getting worn out by their small human.

The weather wasn't much changed, if just slightly improved from last month. July being warmer than June. Tessa breathed deep as she walked outside to the bus stop. Will had offered her a ride, but Tess had come to really enjoy her commute to the library almost as much as being at the library. Once sitting in her usual seat at the stop, she opened her book and didn't close it when the bus arrived. She'd gotten through her chapter and into the next one by the time the bus reached the library.

"This is your stop," the bus driver said. Tessa looked up from her book to smile at her.

"Thanks," she replied and got up.

Walking into the library Tessa waved to Sophie who stood behind the counter. Sophie waved back, though she seemed distracted.

"Anything the matter?" Tessa asked.

"Just can't seem to get my bearings today," Sophie sighed. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Tessa smiled. "It's so wonderfully quiet here."

"I know what you mean," Sophie laughed. "I can't wait for school to start again. Then I might get my house back."

"How old are your two girls again?" Tessa asked.

"Barbara is seven and Eugenia is nine," Sophie replied. "In grade one and three, respectively."

"Wonderful ages," Tessa smiled. "I'm quite looking for Lucie being school age myself."

"Yeah," Sophie said, though again her mind seemed to be elsewhere.

"I'll get to work then," Tessa said, and then asked where she should start. Sophie assigned her a section and Tessa moved away to start shelving.

It was only about an hour later that she heard a chair move against the floor, and fast legs running off towards the back room. Tessa stopped what she was doing and went to check, knowing it could only have been Sophie since there was no other staff here today.

As Tessa got closer she saw that the noise was coming from the staff bathroom. She knocked gently on the door. "Are you alright?" Tessa asked.

"Yeah," Sophie called back. Tessa heard a sigh and then the door opened. From the look on Sophie's face and the sound of a toilet flushing, Tessa deduced that her friend had just thrown up.

"If you aren't feeling well you should go home," Tessa said, "I can cover for you. I don't mind."

"Oh, I don't think I'm sick," Sophie whined. "What I am is too old for this."

"I don't understand," Tessa replied kindly.

"I think I'm pregnant again," Sophie groaned, annoyed. "Stupid husband, so damn charming."

"Isn't this a good thing?" Tessa asked.

"I'm thirty-eight," Sophie whined. "I don't wanna do it all over again, even if my husband keeps saying he always wanted a boy."