Page 64 of Hottie on Her Shelf
“The Montgomery family must protect the town. No one else can safeguard it as well as we can, with, yes, our wealth and care and decades of knowledge passed down.” He used a stentorian tone that sounded far more like his father than Fitz. Overlaid with a tinge of…bitterness? “It’s a legacy, a duty. Not something I had a choice in at all.”
Hallie mulled over that. Given her hand-to-mouth upbringing, she’d never once considered wealth to be a burden, or a millstone of responsibility. She’d, yes, made assumptions that the Montgomery money made everything easy.
It was a good reminder that nobody truly had it easy. That her viewpoint was just as skewed coming from Crow Harbor as Fitz’s might be from growing up in Swan Cove. And if she really was going to try to lead this town, she needed to open her eyes and drop her preconceived notions about its citizens.
Geez. Had she been a reverse snob this whole time? Holding a grudge against Fitz and his family because of their wealth?
That stopped right now. “I’m sorry. I never thought about how it could constrain you or limit your choices. How your family determined more than your last name. It sounds…difficult.”
“It’s a privilege, for sure. But yeah, not my dream. First world problem, though. I have a job in a place I love. Grass is always greener though, you know?”
“I’m beginning to.”
“I wanted to do a stint in the Peace Corps.” Fitz rubbed his palm over his forehead, as if burnishing the cherished dream. “Roll up my sleeves, really dig in, and give the kind of help where you see immediate results at the end of every day. Dig an irrigation ditch that transforms a village. Help administer vaccines. Rebuild homes after an earthquake.”
That was…uncanny. “I did too. It was my dream all through high school. I read books about explorers and missionaries and memoirs of humanitarian aid trips.”
“Why didn’t you join?”
Just like that, Hallie felt a kinship with Fitz. “My parents. My mom’s a school bus driver. Dad’s a fisherman. They had a blue collar, hardscrabble life. Their whole aim was to make sure I didn’t have the same. Every decision in my life, and theirs, was about whether it would lead to my getting a stable, good job with benefits and the guarantee that I’d never struggle financially. Two years with essentially no income—even to make the world a better place—would’ve been a, well, selfish choice for me, after everything they gave up to help me get my Master of Library Science.”
“I get it.” Fitz turned off the main road at a street that was barely more than a mile marker.
“Why didn’t you join?”
“My parents.” He grinned at her as he echoed her reply. “They told me it’d be selfish of me to go off and give my time and energy to strangers when the inhabitants of Swan Cove needed me.”
The coincidence was almost laughable. They had so much more in common than she’d ever imagined. “Maybe we should abandon the campaign right now. Run off together and join the Peace Corps. That’d show everybody.” Hallie was joking, but the thought of running off with Fitz wasn’t that hard to build out in her mind. Not anymore.
“You’d really run off with the enemy? With your competition?”
“Not with just any enemy, or any random competition. Definitely not with Sandra Gurlick. She’s been angling to win Best Small-Town Library and wants to rub my face in it.”
“You haven’t won yet. I’d remember if Swan Cove got that award.”
“No, not yet. But it’s on my radar—as is Sandra.” Hallie marshaled her courage. “I did run off with you today, though, without knowing where we were going. It isn’t Namibia for two years, but consider it symbolic.”
“I do. I was nervous as hell you’d turn me down, but the Peace Corps is a big commitment, and you and I already have jobs.” He stopped the car behind a row of peony bushes bursting with pink and white blooms. They clumped along the back of a tiny cottage. “So, can we put a pin in that idea? Because I had a different plan for tonight, one that took a not inconsiderate amount of effort.”
Hallie waited while Fitz came around to open her door and, thankfully, pull her up from the low-slung seat. “This trip—I thought it’d just be us having dinner at your family’s cabin I’ve heard about.”
“I don’t want my family anywhere near you—not even in picture frames. Besides, I wanted to give you an experience that’s more special than my usual weekend getaway.”
Anticipation tingled from the soles of her feet all the way up her legs. This was getting more exciting. “You mean you didn’t drive an hour away just to avoid the possibility that we might be seen together?”
“This location isn’t about hiding. It’s about giving you a special night. A custom-made-for-Hallie night.”
Oh.
Fitz hadn’t just made an effort. He’d made an effort personalized for her. That was…pure romance. The kind that filled four shelves in the back of her library. Hallie was gobsmacked that he’d gone to whatever trouble this all was. For her.
What on earth had been the catalyst for all this? All she’d done was…debate him. Engage in a delicious back-and-forth exchange of facts and wits that had left her panting and her pulse pounding.
Had Fitz experienced the same effects?
The strong salt tang to the air told her she’d see the Atlantic as soon as they rounded the side of the wood-shingled cottage. “I’m a librarian. What could be so special for me?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Fitz grabbed their bags and led her up the oyster shell path to what was clearly the back door. “Pick up that lobster in the flower bed. There should be a hide-a-key in its belly.”
