Firefly Hollow (15 page)

“He’s so handsome. There, I said it. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.”

Eliza agreed. “He is that. He looks very much like his father did at that age. The two of you would make lovely babies.”

“Mother! I’ve not even gone on a date with the man. It’s a little soon to be thinking about what your grandchildren would look like, don’t you think?”

“It’s never too soon for a woman my age to be thinking about grandbabies. Now, let’s go find what you’re going to wear tomorrow. I’m thinking something blue to match your eyes.”

Later that night, Sarah lay awake, staring at the ceiling. The way Owen’s muscles had bunched and tightened when he caught her, the solidness of his body when he held her, the warmth of the man, all made for an enticing memory. Heat settled in her breasts and between her legs as she thought about how he’d touched her.

Sarah knew about sex, both the crude descriptions her peers had come up with and the more accurate scientific data. Additionally, her mother had been frank and forthcoming when Sarah had reached a certain age. Eliza hadn’t wanted Sarah to have to learn about intimacy the way she had, on her wedding night. Her mother had explained things the summer Sarah turned fifteen, while they were canning green beans. Kathy had just gotten married, and Eliza felt the conversation was necessary, given that Kathy was already pregnant.

“I was very lucky that your father is the man he is,” Eliza had told her. “If I’d had to rely on your grandmother’s advice, I probably never would have had Kathy, much less all three of you. I’d have run screaming into the night when I saw my first aroused, naked man.”

Sarah had been very uncomfortable with the discussion at the time, but she appreciated her mother’s forthright attitude, especially after some of the descriptions her female classmates at college had given of the act. Her roommate during her last semester had obtained a book that would have shocked her mother had Eliza known about it. They’d devoured the book,
The Kama Sutra
, and her roommate had given it to Sarah when she’d left school in November.

Closing her eyes, she let her hands drift down her body, imagining Owen’s hands doing the touching. As she let her fingers rest on her breasts, her nipples tightened into painful points, and she moved restlessly under the sheets.

She tightened her legs against the ache building between them. She tried to ignore her arousal, but images from the erotic book kept dancing through her mind. Sarah’s imagination was vivid, and she could all too easily picture Owen doing the things depicted in the book. After a long, uncomfortable time, she gave in and touched herself intimately. It didn’t take much for her to achieve completion. She hid her face in her pillow as sensation overtook her, and finally, she was able to drift into sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Two

W
HEN SARAH GOT TO THE library the next day, the first thing she did was find Shirley and pull her aside. She had woken up in a panic at five that morning, unable to get back to sleep as she realized what implications dating Owen might have for her job.

“I need to ask you about the non-fraternization policy. Does it apply if you knew the person prior to starting work here? Even if you barely knew them? Like because they were your neighbor?”

Shirley frowned. “Who are we talking about?”

“Owen Campbell. He asked me on a date.” Sarah bit her lip nervously as she waited for Shirley’s response.

The older woman winced. “Oh, Sarah. When did this happen?”

“Last night. He came down to the house, and we went for a walk, and… I don’t want to lose my job, but he’s, well…”

“He’s Owen. I understand. I honestly don’t know. Let me talk to the director. When is this date?”

“He’ll be here today doing research, and we were going to have lunch together.”

“The boy doesn’t waste time when he moves, I’ll give him that,” Shirley remarked dryly. “Let me see what I can do. You might have a tough decision to make here, though.”

Sarah nodded her acknowledgement. “I know.”

For the rest of the morning, Sarah waited on tenterhooks for Shirley to let her know what the decision was. She’d again been assigned to the children’s department. Owen had arrived an hour earlier and gone straight to the genealogy room. His smile had been a little more personal when he signed in, but he didn’t mention their lunch date. Sarah was grateful. She hadn’t wanted to explain the situation to Nellie. When the phone rang at ten-thirty, she jumped.

“Children’s desk, this is Nellie.” She shot Sarah a questioning glance. “Oh, okay. I’ll send her down. The director needs you downstairs,” she said as she placed the receiver back in its cradle.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Sarah stood and thanked her. She hurried downstairs, but stopped at the bottom, taking a minute to send a quick prayer heavenward. Shirley was busy at the front desk, and Sarah couldn’t read her friend’s expression. She reached the back of the library and went to the director’s office. The door was open, so she knocked softly.

When the woman looked up, Sarah asked, “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, come in. Close the door and have a seat.”

After Sarah was perched on one of the chairs in front of her desk, the director took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I understand that you’ve been asked out socially by one of the library’s patrons, Ms. Browning.”

“Yes, ma’am. I have been.”

“Shirley tells me that you and the young man in question are neighbors? That you had a previous association because of that?”

Sarah hesitated. “I knew of him, and he’d seen me out and about. But we did meet for the first time here. I won’t lie about that.”

A little smile appeared at the corner of the woman’s mouth. “Shirley told me you’d be honest. I’m happy her faith in you wasn’t misplaced. Still, that leaves us with a bit of a predicament. The library has a no fraternization policy, which I am told you are aware of.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Mr. Campbell is a frequent visitor to our facility, and he’s been a very generous benefactor at times. I don’t want to endanger that relationship, either by forbidding you from dating him, or from having your romance go sour. You see the problem this presents, I hope.”

Sarah swallowed and had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I do.”

The director heaved a sigh. “That said, I spoke with Mr. Campbell when he came in a little while ago. I expressed my concerns to him. He made it very clear that he would not be deterred, unless you also agreed that was the best course of action. He also emphasized how unhappy he would be if you were to lose your job because the two of you are seeing each other. I don’t like being put in this position, Sarah. I don’t like it at all.”

Stunned, Sarah couldn’t speak for a minute. “I’m sorry. I didn’t ask him to do that. I’ll talk to him.”

“That’s up to you. In the meantime, here’s where we are. You need this job, I understand. Shirley and Nellie both sing your praises. Even Callie hasn’t been her usual critical self. As far as I’m concerned, you and Mr. Campbell knew each other from being neighbors, and the romance, if that’s what it turns out to be, was well underway prior to your starting this job.” She stopped to take a sip of coffee. “Whatever happens with this relationship, you do not let it interfere with your job or this library. If you do, Owen Campbell’s preferences be hanged, I’ll fire you. Otherwise, keep your head down, do your job, and we’ll go on as we are. Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes. Thank you. I wasn’t expecting this to happen. I’ll do my best not to let you down.”

“You’re excused, Ms. Browning. Leave the door open when you go.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sarah left the office and went back down the hall toward the main room. She ducked into the women’s restroom and stepped into a stall. For a couple of minutes, she stood there, heart pounding, and let the relief wash over her. If the director had forbidden her from dating Owen, she didn’t think she’d have been able to keep that promise.

Chapter Twenty-Three

O
WEN WAS A NERVOUS WRECK as he waited for someone to show up in the genealogy room and let him know what was going on. Shirley had waylaid him as soon as he walked in the door and taken him to the director’s office. The woman explained the library’s policy, a barrier Owen hadn’t been expecting. Though he felt he’d made a good case for why he and Sarah should be allowed to see each other, he wasn’t certain the director agreed.

Finally, after he’d been there an hour and hadn’t heard anything, he left the room and went to the desk. Sarah was gone, and for a moment, his heart stuttered.

Before he could ask anything, Nellie said, “She’s downstairs talking to the boss. Should be back soon, I’d imagine.”

Owen’s brow furrowed. “How did you know…?”

Nellie smiled. “I’ve worked here too many years to not be able to read people pretty well by now.”

He leaned against the desk. “I don’t want to get her in trouble or get her fired.”

“Hopefully, it won’t come to that, son.”

When the elevator dinged, Owen straightened and took a step to the right so he could see who was getting off.

The rolling cart emerged first, and Callie stepped through the doors. The buxom blonde smiled wryly when she saw him. “Gosh, I don’t know when someone’s looked at me with such disappointment. I feel like I kicked your puppy.”

“Sorry. It’s not you. I guess I’ll head back into the genealogy room.” Once there, he tried to concentrate on his research, but he couldn’t focus. After a few minutes, he stood up again and started pacing the small room.

“Why hasn’t she come back here? She should know something by now.”

Just when he had himself worked up and ready to go track Sarah down and demand answers, a tap sounded behind him.

“Hey,” Sarah said. “Are you ready for lunch?”

Owen caught his breath. “You’re okay? You aren’t in trouble?”

“No. The director isn’t happy, but we are officially authorized to see each other, if that’s what we want.”

He stepped closer to her, but kept a proper distance between them. “And is that what we want?”

Sarah smiled. “I do, yes.”

Blowing out a long breath of pure relief, Owen returned the smile. “Thank God.”

“Are you coming back here to work more after we eat?” she asked as he packed his bag.

“I thought I would. Unless you dump me over lunch, in which case, I’ll slink back home and cry.”

“Well, I can’t rule that out, but if you’d like to put your satchel in my locker, you can. Where were you thinking of having lunch?”

“The drugstore has a good hot plate special. If that’s okay with you.”

“Sounds good.” She led him to the employee lockers, where she got out her purse and let him stash his bag. They left the library and walked down the hill to Main Street.

“I didn’t realize you might get in trouble for seeing me,” Owen said. “I’m sorry.”

“Yes. The director isn’t really happy, but from what I understand, you didn’t leave her much choice in the matter. I’m not sure how I feel about that, to be honest.”

He stopped her on the sidewalk outside the drugstore. “I probably came down a little harder than I should have. But I wanted you to be able to make the decision to see me or not, without having to worry about losing your job in the bargain.”

She studied him closely, her dark blue eyes serious. “I appreciate that. And after I’ve had some time to really think about it, I imagine it won’t bother me quite so much. But I don’t want you strong-arming people to make my life easier.”

Feeling properly chastised, Owen gave her a little salute. “I promise I’ll do my best to respect your wishes. Or at least talk to you first.”

She touched his hand. “Okay. Now, let’s get some food. I’m starving.”

Lunch went quickly, too quickly from Owen’s perspective. He was pleased to discover that not only did they have a lot of common favorite authors, their tastes in movies and music were also similar. They both hated musicals and loved Buddy Holly. They weren’t in agreement though, on the rock ’n’ roller from Memphis, Elvis Presley.

“I much prefer Sinatra. Elvis is a little too flashy for my tastes.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Half the girls at Berea were head over heels in love with him. More than half.”

“Were you?”

She dipped her chin and looked at her nails. “Not really. I like his music, but he doesn’t hold much appeal for me beyond that.”

“So I don’t have to worry about you wanting to see his movies, I take it?”

“No,” she said, laughing. “Not only do I not like his acting, his movies are mostly musicals, which we both agreed we hate.”

“What about country music or bluegrass?”

“Jack’s more into country and western,” Sarah said, wrinkling her nose. “He and Daddy loved listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. I don’t much care for the music, but I do miss that family time.”

“Mom was a fan, as well,” Owen said. “And she loved the radio serials,
The Guiding Light
, especially. My father bought her a big stereo a couple of years before he died, and she listened to that thing so much she almost wore the dials out.”

“Did you all have a television?”

He shook his head. “No. But I’ve been thinking about getting one lately. You all?”

“Nope. Daddy said if we got one, we’d spend less time being a family. Though I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind having one from time to time. We had one in the girl’s dormitory at Berea, and it was fun to watch every now and then.”

Owen paid the check and placed his hand at the small of her back as they left the drugstore. “So have I scared you off yet? Or do you still want to go out?”

“I’m not scared.”

Relieved, he took her hand in his and squeezed. “Then what would you like to do?”

“They’re re-running
North by Northwest
at the theater this weekend. Have you seen it?” Sarah asked.

Owen confessed that he hadn’t. “I don’t get out to the movies too often. What about you?”

She shook her head. “No. I wanted to see it last year when it came out, but there was school, and then Daddy got sick, so I didn’t get to.”

“Well, then, I think we should definitely plan on seeing it. What about dinner? Any preferences there?”

“No, not really. Why don’t you pick, since I chose the movie?”

“I think I can handle that. So, what day? Friday? And what time should I pick you up?”

“Why don’t we say six? And you should come down the mountain. We can take my car, and that way you won’t have to drive all the way around. As close as we live, it’s ironic that the road takes so long to travel.”

“If you’re sure, I have no objections.”

“I’ll even let you drive, if you like,” she teased.

He waited while she switched out her purse and his bag, and then walked her back to the desk in the children’s section. “I’ll see you before I go today?”

“Sure. Holler if you need anything.”

Looking around first to make sure no one was watching, he picked up her hand and planted a quick kiss on the back.

“You shouldn’t do that,” she scolded, her smile belying her words.

“But it’s so much fun.” With a wink, he straightened and went back to the genealogy room. Once he was alone in the small room, he let out the grin that had been struggling to break free. It might be ridiculous for a grown man to feel the way he did, but he couldn’t help it. He was giddy, both with excitement and relief.

Later that night, he’d have to write Eli and update him. And maybe ask for some advice on how to proceed with what would be the first courtship Owen had ever conducted.