I watched Maven squish his face around, and she giggled when he crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue.
"Are you sure? Mary didn't seem—"
His face hardened. "Don't worry about Mary. If she gives you trouble, just let me know."
"Thank you, Charlie. Really."
"You're welcome, Elliot," he said as he set Maven down. "I'm working from home today, so I'll get the kids from school."
I nodded and took the kids by the hand. "All right. Just let me know if you need me back and I'll be here."
"We'll manage. Have a great day, you three."
The kids waved, and I offered another smile of thanks before we headed out into the chilly winter morning. The school was only a few blocks away, on the way to the bookstore, and we made our way, jumping over cracks and waving at dogs as they walked by. I felt a little lighter, largely in part to Charlie, who had given me a solution, an out. I'd felt very much alone for a moment, and to know at least someone was there to back me up made a difference. Usually it would be Sophie, but now she needed me far more than I needed her.
A little while later, I walked into the bookshop, surrounded by that magical combination of scents that made my heart flutter — books and coffee. I waved at Cam behind the bar, my tiny, spunky little boss who never failed to make me smile. She trotted around from the back of the bar, smiling as she approached.
"Hey, Elliot."
"Hey," I answered.
"I just wanted to check on you after the other day. Is your friend's dad okay? He had a stroke, right?"
The clamp around my heart squeezed until I couldn't breathe. "He … no. He's not okay. They found out it was cancer."
Cam's hands flew to her lips, and we slowed to a stop just outside the office. "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," was all I could say.
"Well, what do you want to do?"
My brow quirked. "Pardon?"
"About work. Are you okay to work? Do you need some time off?"
I blinked, surprised. "I don't know. I hadn't thought about it."
She eyed me. "You were just going to come in and work every shift without asking for any time off?"
"Well … yes. It's my responsibility to be here. And I love being here."
"I get that, I just know he's important to you. He's the poetry professor, right?"
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
"Elliot, I'm serious. If you need time, we can cover for you. Three days a week is nothing."
I swallowed and reached for her arm. "Thank you, Cam." I paused, considering her offer. "I need this place. It's my escape from all the rest of it."
She smiled sadly and placed her hand over mine. "It's mine too."
"But Sophie's going to need a lot of help, and we … we don't have very much time left with him. So maybe, if it's all right, it wouldn't be a bad idea to cut back to just a day or maybe two rather than three?"
Cam nodded once, standing up a little straighter, seeming relieved to have contributed. "That'll be just fine — let's do one day, and you can pick up if you need to get away. Any preference on days?"
"No, whenever you need me most is fine."
"Deal. And if you need to take off, just let me know."
I smiled. "Deal."
We parted ways, and I headed into the back to put my stuff in my locker, then clocked in, picked up a box of books at the register, and began walking around the store to put them away. It was a quiet morning, as mornings there usually were — afternoons and evenings were the busy times. I'd heard, at least, since I was always at home with the kids. Cam threw themed singles nights to try to mix up the comic book boys and romance girls, and they were a smash. She'd been trying to get me to come to them since she'd hired me, her requests bordering on relentless. It made me smile — I thought she might actually die of happiness if I found a boyfriend at one of her events.
Thing was, I didn't really want one. I should take that back — I wanted to eventually settle down, get married, have kids of my own. But for the time being, I was too busy and unsure of what I wanted out of life to commit to anyone, not that anyone had caught my eye.
I slipped Jane Eyre back in with her sisters and checked the next book, heading to its shelf, thinking about Wade.
It would be a lie to deny that he had something to do with my loneliness. With me. With everything.
But it wasn't that I hadn't been asked out by other guys— I had, even recently, perils of working in a bar, even if it was a bookstore too. But secretly I compared everyone to him, and no one could measure up. The way they made me feel, the things they'd say, it was just never right, never even close to what I'd had. Every date I'd been on ended up being all wrong. Or maybe I was all wrong.
I'd thought so much about why I couldn't move on, what it was about him that I couldn't forget. I didn't know that I believed in soulmates, but I believed in compatibility and chemistry. I believed in the feeling of being so tied to another person that you didn't want to be without them. I believed in love that doesn't die, mostly because I'd lived in that hell for seven years, regretting all the reasons we were apart, wishing for forgiveness, wishing I'd made different choices, used different words, just … wishing I'd done it all differently.
But wishing and hoping had given me nothing, only prolonged my loss.