Just One Taste (31 page)

Alice narrowed her eyes. “
This
book?”

“This very one. When I went back to the library the next day, it was back on the shelf.”

“How can that be? Are you sure it’s the same book?”

Daniel picked it up and turned to the frontispiece. There, in faded black ink in a spiky copperplate script, was his father’s inscription:
Presented to the good citizens of Merrill’s Mills by Ephraim Daniel Merrill. Wisdom outweighs any wealth.  ~Sophocles

“My father was a self-taught man. Nothing meant any more to him than education. Except money, of course, the hypocrite. The books, the library, they were designed to give him more consequence. Like a PR campaign. But he died before they could redeem his reputation. I think the folks in town were too smart to be suckered by a pile of stones and a bunch of books anyway.”

“Do you want to steal the book again?” Alice asked, worrying her lip like she did when something upset her. He longed to kiss that plump lower lip to make her forget the trouble he’d brought to her orderly life.

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t think it would do any good. I stole it every day for a week. Threw it in the river. Set it on the railroad tracks. Tore it up with my pocket knife. You’ve seen
Groundhog Day
, right? Just like that.”

“That’s just not possible.”

“Sweetheart, you’re forgetting who you’re talking to. None of this is possible, yet here I am.”

She stood on her toes and kissed him. He felt all her heart fill with misplaced hope and desire. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said softly. “And if you can’t change the words today, I’ll help you get rid of the book tomorrow.”

A
lice had offered
to keep the library open late for him, but all Daniel wanted to do was take her to bed. And eat. But mostly take her to bed. He supposed it wasn’t very resourceful of him not to take advantage of his relationship with the librarian this time around, especially if it meant it might mean his
last
time around.

But he was sick of sitting in the Reading Room. And now half-frozen and sick of sitting in the Meeting Room. He hadn’t gotten anywhere with the book, as it sat like a malevolent toad on the table. Daniel had returned it to its spot on the shelf before they left.

Tomorrow would be tricky. The library closed at two on Saturday, and there was a kids’ Halloween party planned around noontime. Alice had promised he could “liberate” the book afterward, or stay in the library as long as he wanted. Right now he was partial to theft and spending his last day in Merrills Mills with Alice, preferably in her bed.

They stopped at the grocery store on the way to Alice’s apartment, since neither one of them was interested in a peanut butter sandwich on stale bread. He was reminded how different the Merrills Mills Market was from the general store of his youth. Not only were the shelves stocked with everything imaginable, but the market offered hot entrees, sandwiches and decent pizza. He could vouch for the latter, even when reheated in the microwave.

After a mini-debate, they settled on containers of corn chowder, crusty French bread, cheddar cheese, salad from the salad bar, and a bakery blueberry pie. Two bottles of cheap champagne, too, the best on offer, although what they were celebrating was not exactly clear to either of them. Alice picked up bagels and juice for breakfast, and steaks and asparagus for Saturday night.

As they waited in line, Daniel was under the distinct impression that everyone from the bagboy to the store manager to the baby in an infant seat with its finger up its nose at the next check-out was giving him the once-over. Some things never changed in a small town.

When Alice took out her debit card while Daniel was distracted by the inevitable pop tartlet headline on the cover of
People
, the temperature dropped inside the store. Daniel knew he’d somehow failed a test.

“Here, let me.”

Alice looked alarmed. “No, I’ve got it.”

“Really. I want to.”

“You don’t have any money,” Alice gritted through her teeth.

He looked at her in surprise. “Who says?”

“There was no money in your wallet. No credit cards.”

“I don’t carry my money in my wallet. I lose it all the time.” He pulled out a thick wad of bills, held together by an antique silver money clip. Leaning over he whispered, “Sorry I was slow to step up.” He pointed in the direction of the magazine rack that had captured his attention. “There are other people besides you who don’t wear underwear.”

Alice looked stunned as he peeled off two hundred dollar bills from what seemed to be many more.

“I never know what might come up,” Daniel shrugged. “I might meet a pretty girl, for example, and want to have dinner with her.” He winked.

“That’s too much, sir,” the cashier said, handing him back one of the bills and the change from the other.

“I hope you don’t get mugged in the parking lot,” Alice said as they rolled the cart to the car.

“Me too. I have big plans for tonight.”

Alice cuffed him playfully as they loaded the bags into the backseat of her Subaru. When they got to her place, they made short work of packing everything perishable away, and ate directly from the supermarket containers at the kitchen counter. Time seemed to be of the essence. Before the last forkful of pie made it to his mouth, Alice dragged him to bed. He didn’t put up much of a fight.

It was exactly where he wanted to be. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. He’d like to fix up the old homestead, make it the house it could be, have Alice help him. With her at his side, the gloom would vanish and all traces of Ephraim Merrill would be obliterated.

For now, Alice’s fake Florida garage apartment would have to do.

Daniel remembered he had an important job ahead. Those freckles needed counting. And kissing.

S
aturday was
one of those perfect October days where the sky was the color of the Virgin Mary’s robe and the air was redolent of wood smoke. If there
had
been a pumpkin on the library steps, it would have been covered with frost.

Alice has skipped buying a new one yesterday for the Halloween party. She was
not
supplying the town’s juvenile delinquents with any more ammunition. She was pretty certain Dobby-defiling Dylan Coleman was behind the vandalism, but had no way to prove it. Alice sure wasn’t going to hang out all night in the library trying to catch him.

In fact, Alice didn’t want to be in the library at all. She wanted to be back in bed with Daniel. Forever. But she didn’t have forever, just today. And half of it would be spent with her dressed as a witch.

Daniel had laughed this morning when he saw her get-up. Well, why wouldn’t he? She was wearing a tatty black cocktail dress she found in a Portland thrift store, its long chiffon sleeves making it hazardous for her to be near breakable objects. A pointed witch’s hat was secured on her head by an elastic band, which was cutting into her chin. If she hadn’t met Daniel, she would have painted her face green, but she couldn’t bear that he’d remember her that way for who knew how many years to come.

Halloween night wasn’t until the middle of next week, but the library always hosted a party and story hour for the town’s children the weekend before. The little ones came in costume, cried, ate cookies and candy, chased each other. The older ones came to check each other out and look scornfully at their younger siblings. Alice closed the pocket doors to the Reading Room, so Daniel had been hermetically sealed, separated from the controlled chaos of the children’s section.

She was too busy to think until the last of the stragglers left. Jamie, looking quite svelte in a black cat suit, volunteered to do the clean-up and closing.

“Get out of here. You deserve it.
And
him,” she said, tilting her head in Daniel’s direction. Jamie had seen them arrive together and was probably already planning their wedding reception. “What’s he doing in there anyway? Did he tell you?”

“He…he…he’s a philosopher. He’s thinking,” Alice mumbled.

“Really. There must be a lot of money in the thinking business. Ruth Hardwick told me he’s loaded. Saw you two at the grocery store last night with a zillion dollars in his pocket.”

“Uh. Yeah. He does very well.” Alice escaped Jamie’s interrogation with her wits barely in tact. She supposed she’d now have to construct a scenario to explain Daniel’s disappearance, but she’d worry about that tomorrow.

She tapped on the doors, then opened them. “Any luck?”

Daniel looked drained. He shook his head.

“Okay, then.” Floating like a black butterfly in her chiffon, she swished over to the book case and hid the book in the folds of her sleeve. “I’ll run this by the demagnetizer. Meet me in the parking lot.”

“Thank you, Alice. For everything.”

Her heart constricted. He sounded so bummed out. “We’ve still got some time. What say we barbecue the book when we grill the steaks?”

“It doesn’t stay burned, remember?”

“We’ll think of something. I promise.” She kissed him quickly. Later she’d kiss him slowly.

He was sitting in the car when she got outside. She solemnly handed him the book.

“Can we swing by the Merrill Mansion first? I want to get my stuff before I turn into a pumpkin at midnight, and I don’t want to lose a minute with you.”

“You mean I’m going to have to watch you go?” Alice knew she sounded whiny. But the thought of him vanishing into thin air was pretty traumatic.

“I didn’t think. I’m sorry. I’ll split before it’s time.”

“No.” She reached across to him and squeezed his hand. “I’m a big girl. I want to be with you, too. What will I see?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been here with anyone before. My guess is one second I’ll be there and the next I won’t.”

They rode along in silence. Leaves skittered across sidewalks. Industrious neighbors were raking outside, baking inside, walking dogs, riding bikes. Living average, normal lives. Just a typical Saturday afternoon in a small town in New England.

Alice would never be average and normal again. That was Daniel’s fault. She wouldn’t regret it, either.

She turned into the Merrill Road. “What if you try to take the book back with you? Put it in your backpack?”

Daniel was quiet, thinking. And not getting big bucks to. “I could try. I haven’t done that before.”

Alice felt a little surge of satisfaction. At least she had helped him in some way. “Are you going to keep trying to work your magic on it this afternoon?”

His voice was so low she could barely hear him. “No. I want to work my magic on you.” Her stomach fluttered.

They pulled up to Daniel’s house. It hadn’t been painted in years, but used to be white with a deep green front door. Once it had been a gloriously proud Federal-style frame dwelling with a pediment and rounded fanlight over the entry. The formal gardens were ragged and overgrown. The Merrill Mansion looked nothing so much like a haunted house now, ready to scare the living daylights out of the local kids.

“We’ll go in the front so you can get the full effect.” Daniel unlocked the peeling front door and Alice found herself in a gracious oval vestibule. Hardwood floors, now dull and buckled, ran the length of hallway to the rear of the house. Large parlors were on either side of the entryway, the rooms empty save for sheets of wallpaper that had tumbled from the walls.

“It must have been beautiful once,” she said wistfully.

“A real showplace.”

Daniel sounded bitter. His memories here had been tinged with unhappiness.

Alice looked up at the curving staircase, rubbing her hand on the banister.

“Don’t even think about going upstairs. You’ve seen the movie
The Money Pit
? I’m not about to fish you out of the rubble.”

“Okay. Lay on, MacDuff.”

Daniel’s brow wrinkled. “You know that’s the beginning of the death scene, don’t you? Let’s hope not.” He ambled back to the kitchen. Sunlight streamed through the old glass, casting a rippled pattern on the cracked plaster walls. “I’ll just be a minute.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Scared?”

Alice shivered. “A little.”

“My room’s not as impressive as the rest of the house. It was a scullery.” He led her into a dismal little room. Alice sat on the mattress while he packed his few possessions in his backpack. Last to go in was his wife’s Bible, right on top of
The History of Merrill’s Mills
.

“There. I guess that’s it. I’ll write to my caretaker to clean out the fridge.”

“You can write here?” Alice felt a little leap of hope.

“Only to the Dunns. They’ve kind of inherited the job of looking after the house. One of them’s an attorney, too, which is handy.”

Alice knew the Dunn family. One of the first settlers around these parts was a Dunn. They were related to a lot of people in town in some way, if not by blood, then marriage. “Do you think you could write to me in care of them?”

He put his arm around her. “I can try. The worst that can happen is that they’ll never get the letter.”

He locked the mudroom door behind them, and gave one last look at the house.

“Maybe it won’t even be here next time.”

And maybe I won’t be either, thought Alice.

S
he was frantic for him
. The clock next to the bedside was a constant harbinger of doom, each flip of the numbers a reminder that this kiss, this caress, this stroke, this unsurpassable orgasm might be the last. They were both slick with sweat yet unwilling to stop, until Alice had the bright idea to make love in the shower. She pleasured him on her knees, he used her fragrant soap and his talented fingers and then his mouth to return the favor, they slid somewhat alarmingly against the white tiles until Alice was hoarse from crying his name.

It was nearly eleven-thirty. The steaks were still shrink-wrapped, the champagne unopened. Food had seemed far too mundane when they could feast on each other. Alice was light-headed, but not from hunger.

She was so afraid she’d fall apart before he left.

She watched as he pulled his last pair of clean jeans from the pack. And saw the color leach from his face until he looked like a marble statue of some lost Greek god.

“What is it?”

“The history. It’s not here.”

“But I saw you put it in! And it was there when you got out your hairbrush.”

His voice was steely. “Well, it’s not there now.”

“Oh my God. Do you think it’s back on the shelf in the library?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all. It was a nice try, though, Alice.” His mouth twisted in what she didn’t mistake to be a smile.

“We’ll go get it. Right now.” Alice leaped from the bed and opened her dresser. She grabbed the first things she could find and threw them on. Daniel stood in his boxers, watching her.

“Why bother?”

“Because! I won’t let them take you away without a fight!” Her voice broke, and she knew her eyes were welling with hot tears. She felt as though her heart was crying too.

Looking resigned, Daniel got dressed. “I’ll drive.”

Alice nodded. She could barely see her way to the door. Tears streamed down her face. Her last few minutes with Daniel were to be spent in her Subaru, racing against time and hope.

When he pulled into the parking lot, it was fifteen minutes before midnight. He took the backpack and the keys away from her shaking hands and unlocked the door. Flipped on the lights. Stopped in front of the Reading Room arch.

“I can’t.”

Alice brushed by him, the brief contact igniting every nerve ending. Without turning on the light, she found the damned book right where it had always been, mocking them both. She held it out to him. “Take it.”

He stood still, not coming any closer.

“Take the book, Daniel! Please!”

“I’d much rather kiss you again.” He smiled now, this time for real, and Alice felt her heart crack in two.

“I love you. I always will.”

“Oh, Daniel, I love you too.”

The grandfather clock ticked, as steady as their heartbeats. He took the book from her hand and slipped into the backpack, then let the bag drop to the floor. She flew into his arms and kissed him, pouring every wish, every desire into the act. She wanted him to know, she wanted him to feel, she wanted him to burn as she was. So he would never forget.

“One last time.”

Bemused, he looked down at her.

She pushed him backward until he landed into “his” chair. Unzipped him. Pulled down her sweatpants. Took him inside. The moonlight cast its silver glow. The clock began to strike.

“God!” Daniel cried.

It took a while for her to realize he was not in the throes of orgasm. Alice stopped. Somewhere behind her there was a crackling. She turned in time to see a tower of flame shoot out from Daniel’s bag.

He was laughing, a rich, precious sound. Before she could even think to get up and get the fire extinguisher, the blaze died out. There was nothing on the rug, not even remnants of ashes.

“It’s gone,” she said, puzzled. “The whole thing is gone.” She looked on the shelf. The space where the book had been was still there, empty.

“Succumb to temptation in this holy place. My God.” Daniel struggled to get his breath. He was still blessedly inside her, deep, throbbing.

Oh, there simply was no substitute for the word throbbing, Alice thought. Pulsating just wouldn’t do it.

“We’re going to have to expand your vocabulary,” Daniel grinned, as the very last of her thoughts spun away from him. “Night after night.”

“I don’t understand.”

“This library. This was my father’s church. His monument to immortality. And you, my little librarian, are temptation incarnate.” He looked at his watch. “It’s 12:06, and I’m still here.” He thrust up once again.

“You certainly are,” said Alice.

There was a pounding on the front door.

“Oh, shit.”

Alice leaped off Daniel’s lap and hiked up her pants. “Coming!” she cried. “Do something,” she said, pointing to his very erect, very exposed penis.

She ran into the lobby. “Who is it?”

“It’s Chief Osborne, Alice. Is everything all right in there? I was driving by and saw the lights.”

Double shit.
She smoothed her hair down and opened the door. “Hi. I…I just had a few things to do. Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d come in. Do some work.”

“Now, Alice, I’m sure the selectmen don’t expect you to spend your days
and
nights working in the library.” He paused and sniffed. “Were you burning something?”

“Just books.” Catching the alarm on his face, she quipped, “Librarian’s joke. You know, like “‘Librarians do it in the stacks.’”
Shut up shut up shut up.
“It’s just the heat. The furnace is cantankerous.”

“Well, if I were you, I’d let them know at the town office. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to the building. Or you. Mind if I come in for a bit? I was on my way home anyhow.”

“Uh—”

“Hello, Chief.” Daniel came out, perfectly zipped and buttoned, not a hair out of place. “I, like you, also was going by and saw the lights. I worry about my fiancée. She’s so devoted to her job.”

“Fiancée?” both the police chief and Alice chimed in together.

Daniel put an arm around Alice and held her upright. “I know you wanted to keep it a secret until we told your mother, honey, but I just can’t resist spreading the word.”

Osborne squinted. “You’re that Merrill fellow, aren’t you?”

“Yep. Actually, I’m a descendant of the old reprobate who named this town. Alice and I are going to renovate the old family estate.”

“B-but Daniel—”

“I know, I know, it’s going to take a lot of cash, but I have plenty. Enough to add a wing onto the library besides. I know how your heart is set on making this library the best in the state.”

“Huh. Well, as long as you’re all right, Alice.” The chief turned to the door. “And congratulations.”