Book of Love Read online

  He punched the answer button. “Yes, Alexis.”

  “Hey, Dad,” Alexis replied quietly, and then he asked, “What are you doing up so early?”

  “I’m working. What are you doing up this early?”

  “I can’t sleep,” Alexis said, almost a whisper.

  “Where are you?” Chris asked.

  “Outside your back door.”

  “Here at the shop?”

  “Yeah,” Alexis said.

  “Well, come on in. I’ll open the door.” Chris walked to the back door and opened it up just as Alexis got out of his truck. When he entered the shop, Chris asked him, “Do you want some coffee?”

  Alexis nodded. “Yeah.”

  Chris got a cup out of the little cupboard he had in his office and poured some coffee in it and handed it to Alexis.

  “What’s wrong?” Chris asked as he sat back down in his chair behind the desk.

  Alexis shrugged. “I guess I’m in deep, and I need help, Dad.”

  “What kind of help are you asking for?”

  “What you offered before,” Alexis said quietly.

  “Okay.” Chris sat watching his son for a few minutes. “Are you on a lease at your apartment?”

  “No. It’s month to month.”

  “Well, give them the month’s notice. You’ll need to sell your furniture, your extra snowmobile, and your motorcycle, and all the other toys you’ve got. Put them on eBay if you have to, or sell them outright. Gather your clothes and personal belongings and move back into your old bedroom. I don’t expect you to pay rent, but I do expect you to help around the house—mow the yard, shovel the walkway, and so on. You can stay however long it takes for you to get out of debt and be able to move into something you can afford and live comfortably with. Does that sound reasonable to you?”

  “Yeah,” Alexis answered.

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “I’m tired all the time, and I got behind on a few bills. I would just like to not have to work so much overtime.”

  “Okay. I think you can do this, Alexis.”

  “I’m hungry, Dad. I haven’t eaten in three days.”

  “Let’s go to Kellie’s and get something to eat.” Chris looked at his son more closely and noticed that it looked like he had lost a little weight.

  “That sounds good,” Alexis said quietly.

  They got up and went to Kellie’s. Cheryl was working early that day and greeted them at the door. “Get us a couple cups of coffee, and take our orders and skedaddle. We have things to talk about,” Chris explained to his daughter.

  “Okay, Dad.” She stuck her tongue out at Alexis and led them to a table in the corner where they could have some privacy. After taking their orders, she left.

  “Do you think you need help selling some things?” Chris asked Alexis.

  Alexis thought for a few minutes. “Would you mind if I put my snowmobile out in front of your shop?”

  “Sure, you can do that,” Chris responded. “You know, it’s not as much about giving up the pleasures as it is about living in moderation and within your means.”

  “I know.”

  “Now, about your drinking...” Chris wanted to get this addressed as he didn’t want Alexis to think he could go out and drink every night just because he was living at home.

  “I haven’t had a drink in five days. I’ve been working overtime, and I’m too tired to drink or do anything else,” Alexis said before Chris could continue.

  “Well, you get your finances under control and you won’t have to work those extra hours. But I am concerned about your drinking. I just hope you don’t become an alcoholic. I’m pleased that you have come to me with this. I’ve been worried about you for several months now.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Alexis said.

  “It also says a lot about you that you are man enough to come to me wanting to change it. Do you realize that?”

  Alexis perked up a bit. “I didn’t think of it that way.”

  “You’re a wonderful son. I wouldn’t trade you for anything. I just want you to live a long time, find someone to settle down with and have children, and be happy. You understand that?”

  “Yeah.”

  After they finished breakfast, Chris drove back to the shop and sat in his office, recalling the conversation with his son. I hope I did enough to help him get back on track. What if he can’t control his drinking? What if I was too hard on him, expecting too much from him too soon? Is he really ready to accept responsibility and try to turn his life around? God knew he loved the boy.

  * * * *

  Janice received a call from Dr. Merck’s office that her MRI had been received and he wanted to meet with her. He had his secretary schedule her for later in the day.

  When Janice arrived for her appointment she signed in at the desk and took a seat in the waiting area. After a ten minute wait, the nurse called her back to Dr. Merck’s office.

  “Have a seat. Dr. Merck will be with you shortly.”

  “Okay,” Janice said nervously.

  Janice sat in one of two chairs in front of Dr. Merck’s desk and looked around. He had several certifications on one wall, and on the other wall was a bookshelf filled with medical books and journals. Behind his desk, there was a picture window that looked out to an immaculate landscape of green grass with a few aspen trees.

  His desk was a dark wood, and off to one side was a large computer monitor. He had stacks of patient files at the other end, and a name plate with an expensive ink pen well was in the middle of the desk.

  Janice had tried not to dwell too much on this visit and what Dr. Merck was going to tell her. It seemed like hours went by but only five minutes passed before Dr. Merck walked into his office and greeted her. “Good afternoon, Janice. How are you doing today?”

  “Okay, I guess. I’m a little nervous about what you’ve found on my MRI.”

  Dr. Merck sat down behind his desk and flipped through the file he had in his hand and then looked to his computer. “Well, what I’m seeing is a small spot at the base of your tongue going down into your neck. It’s very small, and it’s in the center of the raw spot that you indicated was sore.”

  “Is it cancer?” Janice asked, her voice trembling.

  “We won’t know if it’s cancer until we do a biopsy and send it to the lab for analysis.”

  “So, I have to have surgery?”

  “I need to send you to an ENT to have it removed. Fortunately, we have an excellent doctor right here in town. Dr. Bedford. I’d like to schedule an appointment for you to see him, and he can determine how to proceed. For something this small, he may be able to remove it in the office or in an outpatient setting.”

  Janice left Dr. Merck’s office with an appointment with Dr. Bedford scheduled for next Tuesday. So, I have all weekend to fret and worry about this, she mused.

  Later that day, as she sat at her desk reviewing the work schedule, Robin poked her head in. “Janice, the principal at Pine Ridge Elementary, Ms. Sheila Pietroski, was wondering if she could have a few minutes of your time.”

  “Sure, I’ll come right out.” Janice got up and walked out of her office and up to the counter. She held out her hand. “Hello, I’m Janice Meyers.”

  The woman shook her hand. “I’m Sheila Pietroski, principal at Pine Ridge Elementary. I know this is unexpected, but I was wondering if I could have a word with you.”

  “Come on into my office,” Janice said. They went into Janice’s office, and she closed the door. She sat down, facing Ms. Pietroski. “How can I assist you?”

  “I don’t know if you know this or not, but our school doesn’t have a student library. As a result, we can’t get the students to read as much as they should because all they have to read are textbooks.”

  Janice remembered that Lillian had told her the school didn’t have a library. She thought about all the children’s books they had, some of them brand new and never read.

  “I’d like to see if I can w
ork something out with you so we can have each grade visit the library once a week to read or check out books to read, and then we can build in a curriculum to have the children give book reports to enhance the school’s reading program. Would something like this be doable?”

  “Absolutely. I think it’s an excellent idea. Which grades were you looking at?” Janice asked.

  “First grade to sixth grade. I was thinking along the lines of having first grade on Monday mornings, second grade on Monday afternoons, third grade on Wednesday mornings, and fourth grade on Wednesday afternoons, then the same for fifth and sixth grades on Friday. Would that be too much?”

  “I don’t think it will be too much. Will the teachers be with the class?”

  “Yes, the teachers will be staying with the students to keep them quiet and help them with their school work.”

  “How many students are there in each grade?”

  “The fourth grade is the largest group, and there are thirty students.”

  “That is completely manageable. We have a lot of children’s book.”

  “This is wonderful. It would be too late to start now, but I’d like to have the program in place to start this fall. How about I schedule a meeting with you and all the teachers so we can work out the details and answer questions and concerns and so on, sometime in July?”

  “Okay, that would be excellent.”

  Chapter 8

  Janice went to the human resource department to talk to them about hiring another assistant. Afterward she wrote a detailed report, explaining the expansion plans the library was undertaking and the justification for an additional full-time employee. Later that day, Robin and Janice took the time to write up the proposal for the restoration of the books in the basement, to get rid of the rats by an exterminator, and to install a climate-controlled environment. Janice had looked over the rooms within the library itself, and found that there was sufficient space in the Mining conference room. The Centennial conference room would be used for the computers they were planning to purchase within the next year.

  Janice finally asked Robin, “How do you think Chris would vote on this?”

  “Well, he’s a conservative. He may vote against it. What we would need to do is explain the circumstances as they are now, and what will happen in the future if these requests are not met. Even then, I’m not sure what he would say.”

  “Do you think I should approach him before the meeting to talk to him about it?”

  Robin thought for a few minutes. “You should call him and ask him to come over, and show him the basement, and explain what you want to accomplish. He just might go for that.”

  “Okay, I can do that. Thank you, Robin.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome.”

  Janice took both the report and the proposal to the mayor’s office and gave it to his secretary to put on the agenda to discuss at their next Wednesday meeting.

  Janice saw in the special events section of the town’s newspaper that there was an art show coming up in June, and she told Robin, “We should talk to Barb Wickman and see if we can get in that show to sell some of the paperback books we have and to raffle off some of the other books. Maybe we can even muster up some money to buy an e-reader to raffle off. When we can get people to buy books and support the library, we will get a lot of money that way.”

  “That’s a great idea. I would be willing to work the show with you,” Robin replied.

  Carly happened to be walking by and heard the conversation. “I’ll help too,” she offered.

  Janice called Barb Wickman and made an appointment to have lunch with her the next day.

  Later that day Janice called Chris’s shop.

  “Colstrip Auto Care,” Chris said into the phone.

  “Hello, Chris. This is Janice.” There was silence on the other end. “I was wondering if I could get you to stop by the library. I’d like to talk to you about something.”

  “Well, is it really necessary?” he asked.

  “It’s important, I think,” she replied.

  “Okay, I’ll stop by after I get out of work today, about five. Is that okay?”

  “Yes, that would be fine. Thanks, Chris.” She hung up the phone.

  He sounded like he did not want to meet with me or talk to me. She knew she’d made a vow that she wouldn’t bother him again, but this was important to her and she needed to get him to vote for her proposals.

  She had butterflies in her stomach as five o’clock came and Chris arrived at the library.

  “Hi, Chris,” Janice said.

  “Hello. What’s this all about?” he asked pensively.

  “I wanted to take you downstairs to the basement and show you something,” she said.

  They walked down the stairs, Chris following Janice. When she turned on the light a rat slithered across the floor, and she let out a shriek. Chris looked around the room.

  “We have all these books here,” Janice said. She lifted one of the old books and opened it to the pages and within where some were eaten away. “The vermin and bugs have been attacking these, and in some cases, the books have disintegrated. See here? This is a book about Colstrip back in the 1800s and we can’t even open the book to read it because it has totally disintegrated inside. Some of these books are real gems. This is one of a first edition, Samuel Clemens, do you know of him?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “His pen name is Mark Twain. He wrote Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.”

  “Oh,” Chris replied.

  “Look at his book. It’s totally destroyed, and it would have been worth a lot of money now, if it had survived.”

  Janice went over to the ladder and stepped up on it to show Chris the books on the top shelf. The ladder gave way, and she came crashing down. Chris caught her before she fell to the floor.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, concern in his tone.

  “Um, yeah, I think so.” She put her feet on the floor and turned, facing Chris, her breasts against his chest. His arms were around her waist, holding her tightly. His breath mingled with hers, and he was looking down at her lips.

  Oh, she wanted him to kiss her. Please, please kiss me. The sweet, intoxicating musk of his body overwhelmed her. He bent slightly toward her, and his lips touched hers softly. She kissed him back, lingering, savoring every moment. She felt the kiss all the way through her body as she put her arms around him. A loud rustling noise broke their kiss with a start.

  Chris looked around and saw that there were rats in the corner rattling paper. He turned back to her. “Are we finished here?”

  “Yes, I think we are.” Janice hoped she had convinced him that there was work to be done in the basement.

  When they went upstairs, he turned around and asked her huskily, “What was the purpose of our little meeting, Janice?”

  Janice thought about how she should answer the question then said, “I submitted the request to the mayor’s office for several things, and I heard that you would probably be the one person that would oppose spending any money for the project I’m suggesting, so I wanted to show you the benefit of my proposal and the problems we are faced with currently.”

  Chris had a gentle smile on his face as he looked at her. “Good persuasion, Janice. Does that include the kiss too?”

  Janice looked down at her feet, embarrassed. “No, the kiss was not part of the persuasion. At least, not on my part.”

  He put a finger under her chin and brought her face up to look at him. “You’ll probably get what you want, but I’d also include in your proposal to have an exterminator come in and get rid of the termites,” he said, with a slight smile. He turned and walked out.

  Janice watched him dreamily as he walked down the sidewalk, across the street, and got into his truck and drove off. She could still feel the tenderness of his kiss on her lips.

  “How did it go?” Robin asked.

  Janice was embarrassed again. “Um, I think it went well.”

  * * * *

&n
bsp; Janice met Barb Wickman for lunch the next day. After they had placed their orders Barb said, “So, tell me, Janice, to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting with you?”

  “I understand that you’re the promoter for this year’s art show in June.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Great. I thought, if it’s possible, and not too expensive, that we could have a booth for the library and promote the library, the books, and the computer technology, and everything we have to offer, like the literacy program and the children’s program, and maybe we could raffle off some prizes to get people interested. The point being, of course, to also raise some money.”

  “That would be an excellent way to promote the library.”

  “Yes, I think it would,” Janice said.

  “I think it could be arranged. And because it’s a non-profit organization, I would waive the booth fee. Do you have a booth canopy to set it up with?”

  “Um, no. We don’t have anything really.”

  “Well, we do,” Barb said. “We have canopies to set up at the food section and at the children’s art area. I’ll have the volunteers set one canopy aside for you to use, and we’ll see how it goes. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

  “Thank you, Barb. I’m so glad we can do this. There are two other things I’d like to mention. I submitted a proposal to the mayor’s office, which I understand will be reviewed this Wednesday at the council meeting. The money we raise at the art show could also go toward the basement and the recommendations that I submitted in my proposal.”

  “Okay, I’ll be sure to take that into consideration.”

  “Thanks. The other thing is I submitted a report explaining the expansion needs of the library and our justification for hiring another person.”

  “What are some of the expansions coming up?”

  Janice explained all the extra work the library was taking on, including the school program coming in the fall. When Janice was done, she knew she had Barb Wickman’s support and felt fairly confident that she would get what she had asked for.