One Step Away (A Bedford Falls Novel Book 1) (17 page)

“Yeah, right. I’m wearing glasses. That’s
kind of librarian-like. Do I need blue hair?”

Alex couldn’t believe the way she responded
to him. Damon was a genius! “Listen to you: ‘working with my
hands;’ calling me ‘naughty;’ saying we should ‘do it here.’ You’re
pretty forward, aren’t you? Maybe you take the ‘guidance’ in
‘guidance counselor’
too
literally.”
Be willing to walk
away
.

He got up and backed away from the table,
noting a look of momentary anxiety cross her face.
Take the
lead
. He held out a hand. “Let’s go. And bring your paddle. I’m
going to beat you pretty bad.”

An hour later, Cassandra opened the door to
her apartment, flicked on the light in the hall, and said, “Can I
get you a drink?”

Unpredictable
. Alex booted the door
closed behind him. Just as she turned to head into the kitchen, he
grasped her wrist and pulled her toward him.

She fell into his arms. And waited. Her lips
parted, breath coming quick. A lock of hair rested against her
eyelashes.

Alex felt her rapid heartbeat beating in
time with his own. He reached up and brushed away the hair from her
eyes and, lowering his hand, swept his fingertips down her cheek.
Sliding his other arm around her waist, he pressed her tighter
against him. He stepped forward so that her back tapped the wall
behind her, then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

Hearing her sigh as she kissed him made him
realize that she felt his erection straining against her thigh. He
clasped both her hands, drew them up over her head, and pinned them
to the wall, letting his lips travel to her earlobe, lingering
there for a moment before moving down to her neck.

She threw her arms around his neck and
rocked against him as barely audible sounds at the back of her
throat claimed her. Then a few moments later, she pushed him back
with a lustful expression. “You are in so much trouble.” Grinning
with wicked delight, she ran back into his arms, running her
fingers down his chest until she grasped his hand.

Jarred by the double-whammy of getting
pushed away, followed by her comment, Alex came to a halt. Just
now, he realized that, while kissing Cassandra, he’d imagined that
he was embracing Marisa.

Of course, closing his eyes made that
easier. But since the moment he stepped into her apartment, he
hadn’t looked into Cassandra’s eyes once. He’d focused on her body,
carrying out the fantasy he’d envisioned hundreds of times of
taking Marisa and having his way with her.

Hearing Cassandra’s words, which sounded
like something Marisa might say, broke Alex’s self-indulgent
illusion. He now met her gaze, disappointment lining his face at
seeing someone other than his soul mate. Never before had he felt
so rotten, so ashamed of himself.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, trying to pull
him towards the living room. “Come on, I’m totally into this.”

Alex looked elsewhere as he shook his head.
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“Why not? It’s been amazing. What’s the
matter?”

If he said that he imagined someone else
standing in her place, she would be humiliated, and since he
thought that in other circumstances, they might have made a great
couple, he didn’t want to hurt her. If he told her that he was in
love with another woman, she would feel bad for not picking up on
his feelings. It seemed that no matter how he might respond, Alex
would in some way hurt Cassandra’s feelings. But having sex with
her would be the ultimate insult, and he had no intention of
letting things get that far, if that’s what Cassandra had in
mind.

“This doesn’t feel right for me,” he
said.

“It’s never felt more right.” She tugged his
wrist.

He didn’t budge. It seemed she wouldn’t
accept no for an answer, so he had to be blunt. “I’m in love with
someone. I can’t. I’m really sorry.”

Confused, she released his hand. Her
exhilarated expression transformed into one of seething anger. She
pointed at the door. “Get out,” she said in a harsh tone. “Get your
ass out. Now!”

Feeling horrible for causing her such pain,
Alex turned around, grasped the doorknob, and opened the door. From
behind, he felt Cassandra push against his shoulder blades, shoving
him through the doorway. He shot into the hallway.

“Asshole.” The door slammed behind him.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Due to the unfortunate events with Cassandra
over the weekend, Alex had a difficult time smiling during his
first day as Library Director of the Vista Heights Public Library.
It didn’t help that many of the staff members welcomed him with a
heavy degree of wariness due to the long-standing tension between
their library and the Bedford Falls Public Library. Their
defensiveness told him that he would need to improve their library
before he earned their respect and trust.

He spent the day visiting each department
and meeting each staff member, matching names and faces with their
discussions and stories, so he would remember every person. He
wanted each of them to know that everyone, no matter the position
or pay scale, played an important part at the library and that he
wouldn’t overlook their contributions.

In the afternoon, he met with the department
heads and got caught up to speed with Vista Heights’ procedures and
initiatives, since he’d already memorized their policies ahead of
time.

By the end of the day, Alex realized that he
faced a problem that would not go down smoothly with staff: he
needed to cut expenditures, increase productivity, purchase newer
technology, and engender more support from the community by
offering better materials and programming for children, teenagers,
adults, and senior citizens. With so much work on the horizon, he
didn’t know where to begin. But he knew he would need to make tough
decisions that wouldn’t always please the staff. People often
fought against change, because, it sometimes meant short-term
discomfort for long-term benefits.

Having put in over ten hours each day during
that first week, he left work mentally drained and didn’t have
enough energy to practice riding. By the time Friday morning rolled
around, he couldn’t wait to get home and get a good night of sleep.
That morning, he’d spent a few hours working with his
administrative team to determine the direction of the library by
examining their long-range plan. Afterwards, the sound of the
ringing landline telephone beside his computer made him think twice
before answering it.

The extension registered an outside line.
Anyone could have dialed his number: a board member, an old
colleague, an upset patron. He didn’t want to pick it up but duty
called. He lifted the receiver to his ear. “This is Alex Lawford,
how can I help you?”

“Hi, it’s Lance. How’s the first week been?
Everything you’d hoped?”

Hearing his old library director’s voice
elevated Alex’s mood. “It’s been…exhausting.” Hearing Lance laugh
on the other line made Alex do likewise. “We’ve got a lot of work
ahead of us.”

“I expected that. I wish this was a social
call but business intrudes. At our department head meeting this
afternoon, our main topic was Vista Heights.”

“Really?” Alex got a squirmy feeling in his
stomach. “How so?”

Lance’s line was silent for a few seconds.
“I think it’s better if we meet. How does the rest of your
afternoon look?”

The squirmy sensation morphed into one of
trepidation. “I’m free. What’s going on?”

“Not something I’d care to discuss over the
phone. Why don’t you stop by as soon as you can?”

Panic made his breath come quick. “Already
on my way. See you soon.” He hung up, shut down his computer,
turned off the lights in his office, and told Greta Darling, his
administrative assistant, that he needed to attend a meeting at
Bedford Falls. Mention of his former employer garnered a
questionable glance from the fifty-eight-year-old grandmother of
thirteen, who looked nothing but kind and charming.

But Alex had already discovered that her
soothing appearance disguised an individual who spread malicious
lies and instigated numerous issues due to her thirty years of
service; she knew everything about everyone and didn’t hesitate to
use that knowledge to bend others to her will. She made Esther
Rollins, her gossipmonger counterpart at Bedford Falls, seem quaint
by comparison.

Alex had no doubt that Greta would send an
email to everyone on staff but him, alerting them of his traitorous
behavior. Never mind that since Bedford Falls and Vista Heights
shared patrons, managers from both locations often remained in
close contact to ensure that they treated their customers fairly.
He ignored Greta’s questioning glance, anxious to find out what
Lance considered so important that it couldn’t wait until next week
to be discussed.

*

Marisa, sitting alongside Lance Albrecht,
sat at the oak conference room table, looking over the packet of
statistics that explained why her boss called for a meeting with
Alexander. The stats were quite shocking, and while she agreed with
her colleagues on how they should handle the issue, she didn’t want
to deliver the bad news to Alexander, who might take their decision
as a personal assault.

Not only that, but she hadn’t seen him in an
entire week. It had been hard enough not talking to him during his
last two weeks at Bedford Falls, but not even hearing his voice
over the past week made her feel miserable. She needed him in her
life; she needed to feel the connection that came so easily between
them yet was so out of reach with others.

All week, she’d walked past his office,
knowing that he wasn’t inside, but she found herself wanting to
relive the memories of days gone by. She could get over losing him
while at work, but given that scenario, she needed to have him in
her life in another capacity.

She reminisced about Russell and Jorn and
the length of time it had taken to get past those heartbreaks. She
hadn’t gotten intimate with Alexander. But upon greater thought,
when excluding the physical, their entire history together was
nothing but intimate. And no matter how much time passed until they
saw each other socially again, it would still be too long.

Alexander entered the board room with a
nondescript expression, keeping his eyes on Lance, not even
acknowledging her existence. Marisa felt a stab of pain in her
heart. She took the blame for the way he treated her; she’d hurt
him, not the other way around. So if anyone should be hurt, it
would be Alexander. To disguise a guilt that made it difficult for
her to breathe, Marisa scanned the figures once more.

Alexander approached the table, removed a
chair from the table opposite her, and sat down. “Is everything
okay? What’s going on?”

“First off,” Lance said, trading glances
between Alexander and Marisa, “whatever is going on between you two
must end now.”

Marisa raised her head from the document to
look at her boss. Heat scorched her cheeks. How humiliating! How
long had he known? She hadn’t expected him to address their
falling-out. The two weeks leading up to Alexander’s departure had
been uncomfortable to say the least, and when her colleagues
suggested that she was angry with Alexander for leaving, Marisa
didn’t correct them because she didn’t want her personal life
conflicting with her career. She knew how ridiculous that sounded,
considering that Alexander had acknowledged that they were a
couple, but still…

So how had Lance found out? He stayed in his
office all day and hardly walked about the building. Some said that
was due to having bad hips, but Marisa guessed that Lance had
fallen out of love with the direction libraries were taking in the
digital age, and he didn’t want to infect other staff members with
his grumpy attitude. So if he rarely left his office, who would
pass him regular rumor updates? His administrative assistant. Which
meant that the entire organization would be buzzing with
speculation now.

Marisa nodded at her boss.

“Good,” Lance said. “Because you two will be
working on this together.”

“What?” she snapped. “But—”

Lance silenced her with a wave of the hand.
A reflective smile chased away his burdensome frown. “I’ve been
saying for years now that I’m going to retire. With this, I might
just make good on my threat. I’m too old to deal with this. Add in
Facebook, Twitter, tablets, the rise of eBooks, and the library
doesn’t look like the place I’ve loved for so long. If Alexander
had an assistant director, Marisa, I’m sure given the issues you
two seem to be having, you’d be working with that individual. Since
Vista Heights doesn’t have the budget for that, you’ll have to work
with Alexander, unless he decides to delegate this matter to
another person.”

Marisa caught the distaste Lance used when
noting Vista Heights’ budgetary concerns. Of course, having worked
with his former boss, Alexander knew that Lance disliked everything
about Vista Heights: their board of trustees, their staff, their
patrons, their facility, and their community. But she expected her
boss to have more respect now that Vista Heights had hired one of
his former staff members. But it seemed Lance had no intention of
letting change alter his view of the Vista Heights Public
Library.

She also heard the urgency in Lance’s voice
when he described how the rise of social media outlets had
disrupted the bygone days of public libraries. He’d held these
tools and materials at bay for far too long, which had already
begun to affect Bedford Falls’ reputation among their community.
And his aversion to addressing these issues made it clear that,
unlike past lighthearted claims of retiring, he now considered it
not only inevitable but imminent.