17. Everly

Chapter 17

Everly

“ S end me the GPS, honey, so I can start my journey because I’m ready,” Anne Marie calls as I walk in the main door to the library that’s quiet and not bustling with patrons yet. She nudges a cup of coffee my way and sits behind the desk, ready for me to fill her in on all things Nash.

I bite my lip and grin as I slide into the seat next to her and pull my jacket and scarf off, setting it aside.

Picking up the mug, I hold it to my lips, breathe in, and close my eyes. “Mmm, coffee first.” I just dropped Willow off at school, and neither of us wanted to get out of our warm and cozy beds today. Plus, I’m delaying telling her what’s going on with Nash. I don’t even know what to do about him. I’m still processing everything .

Anne Marie sits back and waits with her mug and says, “I haven’t got all day, honey. People will be in here soon, and we won’t have a minute to dish, so spill.”

“Okay, okay, fine. He says he loves me.”

“And?” she prompts excitedly.

“He likes Willow, too,” I murmur as I pinch the bridge of my nose, still wrapping my head around this. I feel excited, and nervous, and a slew of other emotions entangled together.

“Ohh-wey. That boy is a good one, and he waited for you,” she says, slapping the counter with a grin. “So hot!”

“I don’t know that he waited for me,” I protest as I look at her sideways.

“I have never seen him date anyone, Everly. He’s like a monk living above that pub.” She raises her eyebrows at me, sipping from her mug.

This surprises me, and I realize I had assumed so many things that weren’t true about Nash. It makes me want to get to know him even more now.

The library door opens, and Hayley comes in carrying a box of donuts under her arm and a drink carrier of coffee cups.

“You didn’t start without me, did you?” she calls as she sets the drinks and box down.

“Yeah, you got to hear this, honey. Your brother is something ,” Anne Marie says as she fans herself, her ruby-red lips pursed.

“Well, whatever you did, he seems to be in a good mood, and I’m thankful. He’s not as moody and broody,” she says as she slides coffee in front of us .

I drain the mug of the rest of the coffee that Anne Marie brought and reach for a donut. “Ooooh, this pumpkin?”

“Yeah, they’re so good. There are apple cider donuts in there, too. Come on, tell me what’s up,” she pleads with excitement. As an afterthought, she reminds me, “Just don’t tell me anything gross. He is my brother.”

“Your brother loves Everly,” Anne Marie says between bites.

Hayley waves her hand. “We all know that. What else happened?”

“ We all did not know that. I didn’t know that,” I say as I purse my lips.

“Well, you do now. Then what happened?” She leans in, excited to hear more.

I cover my face. “I can’t believe we’re talking about this. But if you must know, nothing happened. Nash is a gentleman. We spent some time together. Ate dinner at my house and talked. Really talked for once. It was really nice,” I admit.

“Bummer. I thought the tea would be piping hot. But I’m so glad, honey. You need to leave Willow with me more often. That kid is a hoot. You need to go out and do young people things, and she needs to spend time with her Anne Marie,” she says, talking about herself in the third person, which makes me smile at her.

“I did have fun. And thank you for watching her. But I think Willow had more fun than you did,” I say as I take one of the fresh coffees Hayley brought and take a sip, closing my eyes at the sweet pumpkin flavor. Perfect.

“Impossible. I love having her. It made my day. Let’s do it again this weekend. You need to spend time with Nash,” Anne Marie says as she wipes crumbs onto a napkin.

“I was fine with my life,” I insist. “I have a good life. I love Willow. I never knew how badly I wanted to be a mom until I had her. I want to focus on her. I don’t need to go out, and I don’t need a man to feel complete. I can do this on my own. Nash and I just aren’t the same people.”

Hayley weighs in. “You can still have a life and be a good mom.”

“You and Nash are two souls meant to be, always have been,” Anne Marie points out.

“Are you two just going to offer solutions for everything I bring up?” I ask with a little shake of my head.

Before anyone can say anything else, the doors swing open, and Richard Sullivan Sr. and his son, Richie, stroll in. Instant dread washes over me. My stomach knots with tension and anxiety, my palms clammy and clenched tight. I set my donut down, no longer hungry.

Hayley looks over and says dryly, “Oh, look, a satchel of Richards just walked in.”

Richie glares at her and narrows his eyes. “Don’t you have a little sleazy bar to run…” Before he can finish, he breaks out in a fit of coughing.

Hayley inches away from him and wrinkles her nose in disgust. “Can you go die somewhere else?”

Richie glares at me as if it’s my fault, and I should give him sympathy. “I’m sick.”

“Not my problem,” I say with disgust as I notice his hand is swollen and his knuckles scraped from hitting Nash. I shake my head, angry and upset that he’s even here. I see Hayley looking at them too. This isn’t going to go well.

Richard, who hasn’t said anything, has been quietly looking around the library like he’s calculating something. A feeling of uneasiness comes over me. They always have an ace to play. I’m just waiting for it.

“Can I help you?” Anne Marie asks but not in a friendly way. She doesn’t like them, either, and she knows they are likely here to start trouble. There’s no other reason for them to even come in here. They aren’t usual patrons of the library and never have been.

“What do you want?” I shake my head, already tired of him being here in my space, at my job harassing me.

“Careful who you trust. Salt and sugar look the same, dear,” she says with disdain at the Sullivans standing over us at the desk, trying their best to look intimidating.

“You need to come home. You’ve been messing around here long enough. And you need me. This job is not supporting you, and I’ve heard you’ve been struggling,” he says like he’s delivering news and talking to me like I’m stupid. As per usual.

I snort. “No, what you’ve heard is I’d rather struggle than be with you. We’re divorced,” I remind him. “And stop calling me your wife, for the love of God. I am not your wife!”

Anger fills me, and I’m just so tired of this.

“You have no business coming into her place of work and harassing her,” Hayley points out to both with obvious disgust. “ You need a restraining order, Everly.”

“Hey, now. We came here just to have a friendly little chat. Can you give us a minute, old girl? My boy and I need a word with his wife,” Richard says as he leans back, looking bored in his golf polo shirt and perfectly ironed golf pants. He looks absolutely ridiculous if he thinks he’s going to win over Anne Marie with his charm. He probably needs to get to his tee time and doesn’t want to be here for whatever nonsense Richie has dragged him in here for.

“Did he just call you…?” Hayley asks as she looks between them and us with disdain.

Anne Marie looks innocently between Hayley and me, ignoring them. “Oh, I love it when people are rude. Because, oh my gosh, my turn ,” she says as she turns and glares at them.

“What do you assholes want?” Hayley bites out, beating Anne Marie to it.

“I need to speak to my wife ,” Richie parrots what his dad said, no doubt trying to show off in front of him.

“I’m not your wife, so please leave,” I grit as I hold up my hand in a warning.

“You stay out of Bookers. You hear me?” he grinds out and points at me. “And away from McCreedy. I don’t want that trash around you or my kid.”

And there it is. He came here to manipulate, cause a scene, and throw a tantrum because of his behavior last weekend. And I’m so sick of this.

“Get out,” I say sharply.

“This is your warning. If I see you there or around McCreedy, you won’t like what happens. I’ll make sure my daughter isn’t being raised by the town whore and drunk just like her dad. And look how you turned out.”

I stand from my chair. “How did I turn out? I have a master’s degree in library science. I have a job and a home. I think I turned out fine.”

“Out,” Anne Marie demands. Standing, she’s folded her arms over her chest and doesn’t look much happier. I need them to go. They’re embarrassing me in front of my friend and boss, and the patrons are starting to trickle in, seeing this unfold but pretending not to watch.

They don’t get the hint, and Richie only seems to get more agitated. According to Anne Marie, the town has been buzzing with what happened with Nash and Richie at the pub. And Richie can’t get past this one now. Nash made sure of it, and it seems like it’s escalated Richie even more.

“What do you even bring to the table, Everly? You’re a part-time library aide. How is it that you think you’re qualified to take care of our daughter?” He hisses at me with a sneer as he threatens, “Maybe we should go back to court and change that.”

I see red. I have worked so hard for the past six months to get my self-esteem back, and I won’t tolerate this anymore. I’ve worked too hard on my peace to take his crap for even one more minute. It’s time to send the memo.

I’m done.

I hold up my hand and stare him straight in the eye. “Richie, I am the fucking table. You just don’t get that because you’re not even a fucking chair. Get out!”

The room becomes silent. Mainly because I usually don’t talk like this or stand up for myself. But when I’m done, I am done. I won’t be disrespected like this. Ever again.

Richie and Richard look at each other, and Richard nods. And here comes their ace. I’ve been around this family long enough to know that they always have an ace to play. Always.

Richard looks at me and says, “We came to let you know that you’re being downsized to a part-time library with part-time hours until the library is phased out. Your budget and your funding have been halted. And by the end of the year, we’re closing the library and tearing it down to make room for a newer and more profitable business for the town.”

“We’re building a new hockey arena,” Richie says with a smug grin. “It’ll also be a big concert venue as well.”

These words shred me, and I feel Anne Marie tense up next to me, but neither of us waver.

Richie looks smug, and Richard looks bored. Neither care about this library and how much it means to our town. Both have something to gain by this.

I glare at both of them, saying nothing until they both finally turn and leave. I watch until they get into Richie’s ridiculously large SUV, which is parked illegally in front of the library, and it drives off too quickly.

“Can he really do that?” Hayley whispers in horror as she stares at both of us .

Anne Marie looks worried, but she puts her hand over mine. “Over my dead body. I will be contacting everyone I can, and I will figure it out.”

“This is the first I’m hearing about this,” Hayley says. “And everyone talks about everything in the pub.”

I close my eyes and blink back tears of anger and embarrassment. I look over at Hayley and say, “We have to fix this. He can’t do this.”

“Of course not. We’ll figure this out. The Sullivans don’t have as much power as they think they do. They won’t get away with this.” Hayley adds.

“Now don’t get too worked up until I’ve talked to a few people,” Anne Marie says as she whirls her chair around to her computer and gets to work.

I sigh. “I’m going to call Richie’s mom. She’s not my favorite person in the world, but she is more reasonable than they are. Maybe she can talk to them and call them off. This is going too far.”

Anne Marie looks over at us. “I’m going to keep the library open until I hear differently from someone from the town that isn’t an asshat Sullivan.”

She mutters, “An ice hockey arena, what the hell? This library was donated to the town and can’t just be torn down. It’s a historical building.”

I look at Hayley. “This is my fault. They wouldn’t be coming for the library if I didn't work here.”

“You’ll be okay. The people in this town won’t tolerate this when they find out the intentions of the Sullivans. I have no idea who is behind all this, but it won’t hold up.”

“And what happens if it does?” I ask, exhaling a deep breath.

She just looks at me and tilts her head. “You really think everyone will sit back and let this happen? The hockey arena is huge. That means all the local businesses around us are in jeopardy as well.”

True. That brings me some peace of mind. People around here aren’t going to stand for this. Hopefully.

“Nash is not going to like this either. And we are business owners in this town. We can get people to rally and back the library. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to bode well for the satchel of Richards,” Hayley says as she puts an arm around my shoulders.

“Thanks,” I say. “I’ll figure out what’s going on here and get with you about the baking schedule.”

She stands. “Don’t let them see you sweat. That’s what they want. And Everly, one more thing. Richie never understood what you brought to the table until he saw you at another table.”

I nod. This is what Richie does. Destroys everything for me. He doesn’t stop until there’s nothing left. And now that I’ve built a good life here for me and Willow, he’s coming for that, too.