The Lonely Librarian

Chapter 7

"Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge." -Plato

The next week was pure bliss. It was smiles from across the room, giggles, stolen glances, and kissing. Lots and lots of kissing. Millie felt like a schoolgirl again, she got butterflies every time she even saw Easton. Easton on the other hand was nervous. Every time he saw Millie he wanted to run away, yet he continued to gaze at her, and every time she kissed him, he'd melt a little more.

Millie had just shut down the computer for the night. Easton's hands were sweating as he approached her, his suit suddenly feeling so tight that he couldn't even breathe.

"I think it's about time I took you on a proper date," he smugly said.

Millie blushed, fixing the hem of her striped dress. "And where will this date be?"

"Dinner," Easton smiled. "Right now, I know a great place."

Eagerly, Millie took his hand and they finally left the library. Easton took her to the city. Not just any city, but London. She had seen nothing like it before, being cooped up in that lonely town. The city was swarming with people and buildings of all shapes and sizes that seemed to reach towards the sky and were brightly glowing. The whole area was overrun with civilians. The exhaust from a billion cars and the smells of street vendors filled the atmosphere.

He opened the door for her, and they stepped inside a large classy restaurant. Millie felt under dressed, but he assured her she looked gorgeous. As they slid into the booth, his phone began to rang. Easton glanced at it, scowled, and turned it off. Millie was impressed, she felt that maybe he did really care about her if he ignored a phone call.

He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. He rubbed her fingers over the bridge of knuckles, almost as if he was trying to memorize her hands. "I have to tell you something that may come as a shock to you," he mumbled.

Intense fear spiraled throughout her body. She drew her hand away from him and sipped her water to calm herself. "Tell me," she said.

"There's just no good way to say this," he cleared his throat, "I have a daughter, she's four."

Millie felt like laughing. She was anything but mad. She thought she would have reacted differently, maybe she would have screamed, or threw her wine at him, or started crying, but it was exactly why she was at the library all along, she knew exactly how he felt about keeping your kids from someone. She thought he was going to admit that he was leaving or something drastic, but a daughter? Well she had a son. Well, let her be more clear, had as in the past tense. Millie had a son.

She remembered the night so clearly, it was like watching a movie over and over again. She was not allowed to hold him, the doctors told her that he was too young, too fragile, too sick. "I'm sorry Ms. Allister, but your boyfriend, Daniel Dean is dead." The sentence played over and over again while the sickly sad look of the doctor seemed to mock her while she cried out in pain that the love of her life had succumbed to the car crash. She knew her son wasn't going to make it either, and she could not bear to loose him and their son all in one day. The crying, the screaming-

"You're not saying anything," he noted, a concerned look plastered across his face.

She smiled, pushing the thought of the crash out of her mind and said, "Can I meet her?"

He scratched the back of his neck, looking surprised at her calmness through the situation. "Are you okay with this? I mean it's a little crazy."

"I had a son," she softly smiled, "He was premature and had some life threatening issues so he didn't make it, but I understand."

Easton decided not to press her any further when he saw the tears in her eyes, but he could not help but ask, "Is that why you started working at the library?"

She pushed her salad around on her plate, not meeting his eyes, "Yes, I couldn't be around family and I didn't have my boyfriend or my son so I needed to get away. The library seemed like a good enough place."

He nodded, and to make her smile again he said, "Pipah, my daughter, well she'd love to meet you."