Page 48 of Hottie on Her Shelf
“Damn it, Hallie, I don’t care about that. I care about you getting hurt.” He took her hand, pushing up her sleeve, looking for any redness or wetness.
“Really, I’m fine.” Much softer, she added, “Thank you.”
Fitz forced himself to let go of her hand, yanked off a wad of paper towels and knelt to blot at the carpet and her shoe. “For what? I’m the one who made you spill.”
“You’re not exactly an axe-murderer in a Halloween mask. The library is open for business, and anyone could’ve wandered in. I overreacted.”
“I get the feeling your reaction was because it was me in the doorway. That you might’ve not even blinked at an axe-wielding maniac.”
“Well, this is a lumber town. It could happen…” Hallie offered him a wry smile.
He’d take it. Because it really didn’t sit well that she’d been so put off by his appearance. Proved that coming here to make amends was the right move. “Do you have a couple of minutes?”
“Sure. I am the boss, after all. I can give myself a break. Looks like you’ve done the same to come browsing at ten in the morning.”
“Nope. My Kindle’s fully stocked. I’m not here for books. I’m here for you.”
Hallie slowly walked around the carts to shut the door. She kept her hand on the knob as she turned back to him. Couldn’t have put off more of a keep away vibe if she’d wrapped herself in barbed wire.
Shit. He jammed his hands into his pockets to appear as nonthreatening as possible.
“Fitz, there was no need to step away from your duties as mayor to see me.”
“How and when I handle my duties is entirely up to me,” he snarled, and immediately realized how much of an asshole he sounded. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to snap at you. That was entirely aimed at my campaign manager.”
Her right eyebrow arched up. “Having a tiff, are you?”
“Ha. No.” A tiff sounded civilized and reasonable, easily resolved over club sandwiches. This was so much bigger, and not fixable. “Derek thinks he owns me, body and soul, during campaign season. Causes some, ah, friction. Like this morning. I told him I was stepping away. He’s been bombarding me with texts ever since.”
To his immense relief, Hallie finally stepped away from the door. Came all the way back over to him and retrieved her mug. “Aren’t you his boss? Can’t you tell him to dial it back?”
“No, and no. It’s complicated.”
She sat on a brown padded folding chair. “Too complicated for a librarian, a mere first-time candidate to comprehend?”
How had he put his foot in it again? Especially since he was here to apologize. “Not at all. It’s a family dynamics thing that will make me sound like I’m whining.”
“Everybody needs to vent, Fitz. Remember our rule? When it’s just the two of us, we aren’t opposing candidates. Simply Hallie and Fitz.” She toed out another chair from beneath the table. “So go ahead—let it out.”
It wasn’t why he’d come, but it was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. Everett was the only person in town he could open up to about this—and Ev was probably sick to death of hearing about it after all these years.
Fitz sat heavily, whooshing out a breath. “Derek’s employed by my dad. When my uncle quit as mayor, Dad told me it was my time to step up. That had always been the plan—hence the degree in public administration—it just happened way sooner than anticipated. I’d been away at school for so long. Dad knew more people, had the connections, got all the balls rolling. Derek was one of those balls.”
“Easier to go along than start from scratch yourself. It just happened to be one of those smart choices that didn’t turn out as well as expected. I understand.”
“Yeah, especially since I hate campaigning.”
This time, he was treated to a full, genuine, spotlight-bright smile. It turned out to be the pace car for rolling laughter that had her shoulders shaking. “After only one event? I’m right there with you.”
“See? Another thing we have in common.” This was going…better? A rocky start, for sure, but the prevailing winds had definitely shifted to favorable.
Fitz relaxed a little. When they weren’t fighting, talking with Hallie was…a combination of easy and invigorating. Like a shot of tequila with a lime and Corona chaser.
Hallie lined up the spines on the book stack closest to her. “I’ve lived here long enough to notice the power structure in town. Your father touches almost everything.”
“Yes.” Could’ve said a lot more, but that’d be opening a Pandora’s box. Fitz was immensely proud of how his family had shaped Swan Cove. How they’d thoughtfully expanded it over the decades. How they’d pivoted to bring in the more modern laboratory to not be dependent on the old standbys of lumber and tourism.
But he also hated that the Montgomery fingers were in every pot. Hated the automatic kowtowing. Hated the assumption that whatever a Montgomery said was true, the best way, the right thing, the only way.
