Calling It (26 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Nate had woken up that morning knowing he needed a plan—especially given what she’d said in the middle of the night. It had gotten to him, he had to admit: she was possibly the one woman in the world who not only didn’t want any of the things he could give her but actually held them against him.

Yeah, the Boston trip had backfired all right, although not just in the ways Nate had considered. He’d wanted to show Dorie that he could handle her family, that he could give her things no one else could. What he hadn’t anticipated was how much deeper
he’d
fall. Because the truth was, he’d loved that they couldn’t have cared less who he was. Loved that it hadn’t given him an automatic pass, but instead was as much of a strike against him for them as it was for Dorie. Loved that Dorie gave it right back to them, teasing and goading them instead until they’d completely forgotten about whatever plans they had to test Nate, and were back to teasing her. It was quite the cycle.

He loved it so much, in fact, that he’d even spent an afternoon helping Sean hang cabinets in his kitchen. Which in itself had been fine—in the big-brother-interrogating-the-man-sleeping-with-his-sister way, of course—right up until the moment when Sean had said, “She’s been in love with you since she was thirteen. Every asshole from here to Cape Cod fell in love with her but the only one she ever had eyes for was you. Which worked at the time.”

Nate had been thinking that, yes, he was trying to make it work for him now, too, when Sean had gone on to say, “My
point
is that she’s never been in love before. Not for real.”

And it had struck Nate that maybe the real issue was that, beyond her slipup that day in Chicago, Dorie had never even come close to indicating that she was, actually, in love with him. The real him, as Sean had so helpfully pointed out.

But as Yogi had said, it ain’t over ’til it’s over. Dorie wanted him just as much as he wanted her—he believed that a hundred percent. She just couldn’t get her thoughts around the logistics of it all. And as he’d gotten into the shower that morning, he’d decided that he wasn’t going to make it easy for her to walk away. Not that he was going to pressure her into something she didn’t want; he was just going to show her that he wasn’t going anywhere. Not for good, at least. Pitchers and catchers, yes. Obviously. But he had every intention of coming back.

Then she’d been there with him, a vision he hadn’t been entirely sure he hadn’t conjured up just from pure desire. Of course then she’d told him she’d gone out for a run alone and it was clear it wasn’t a vision at all. If it had been, then she wouldn’t still be running away from him—literally—whenever he got too close. So he was pretending that it hadn’t bugged the shit out of him. That it was just like any other day in the world rather than two days before what she’d decided was The End.

And here they were at the library where she was buzzing around making last-minute adjustments—straightening a picture here, plucking a book off the shelf and displaying it on the table there—as the clock counted down to four thirty. At the moment, she was biting into one of Jules’s chocolate-covered strawberries, laughing as the chocolate broke apart into pieces that she lightly brushed off her sweater where it hugged the curve of her breast.

“Oh, my God,” she said to Jules, closing her eyes as she licked the strawberry’s juice from her lips. And then she had to go and add, “That’s orgasmically good.”

“Mmm,” Jules murmured, the sparkle in her eye well known to Nate as an indication of nothing good. “Speaking of orgasms, when are you going to—”

Oh
,
shit
,
no.
“Where do you want these tables?” Nate asked loudly as he came all the way into the room. The last thing he needed right now was for Jules to decide that if she couldn’t fix her own happily-ever-after she’d work on Nate’s instead.

Blushing furiously, Dorie gratefully answered, “Right over there. Let me help you.” Before he could stop her, Dorie lifted up one of the six-foot tables folded up against the wall and hoisted it over her head.

With a glare thrown back over his shoulder at Jules, Nate went after Dorie. “
Help
,” he stressed, reaching over her and taking it out of her hands. “The intention being that two people are involved.”

“And yet here you are, going all he-man on me.” She folded her arms in front of her chest, a hint of a smile in her eyes. “So what’s my part in this?”

“You tell me where to put it.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s just too easy.” The smile broke out into a full-out grin. “You know exactly where I want you to put it.”

Hell, yes, that was too easy. He put the table down on its edge, using it as a screen as he backed her up into the wall. Pressing up against her, he bent down and nuzzled her ear in the way that made her curl up into him. “Don’t tempt me, woman.” It made her giggle, too.

He loved it when she giggled.

She nudged him away with her knee even as she pulled his head over to kiss him square on the lips. A playful nip that turned into something a whole lot deeper when she tilted her head just so. Still holding the table upright with one hand, he used the other to draw her knee up and wrap her leg around him.

“Mr. Hawkins, this is not proper behavior for the library.” She ran the tip of her finger down his chest, coming to a stop at his waistband, a mere inch away from his dick.

“You’re right,” he said, unable to keep the huskiness out of his voice as he ran his hand up underneath her skirt, right up to where he was cupping the curve of her sweet ass. “But just the other week the librarian was a whole lot friendlier.”

Her chest heaved as she took in a deep breath of air, and then she closed her eyes and grasped his shirt in both hands. With one hard yank, her mouth was on him, her tongue claiming his. Her kiss was as hard and hungry as his was, and when she finally tore her head away, they were both breathless.

After a minute she put her finger to his lips. “Hold that thought.” Then she slipped out from under his arms and, smoothing down her skirt, walked away.

Shit.
Nate let his head clunk against the wall. When he finally managed to get his bearings again, he pulled away the table to see that, not only was Jules still standing there, she’d been joined by Fitz and Wash. And now all three of them were just staring at him.

“Not a word,” he snapped. He wasn’t out of the woods yet. He’d done everything he could possibly think of and yet he wasn’t out of the goddamn woods. He
had
to get her to talk to him tonight. If he had to tie her down to make her listen to him, he would.

Although, to be honest, that sounded good regardless of the circumstances.

The night was spectacular.
She
was spectacular. She welcomed everyone as if they were an old friend, even those she hadn’t yet met. Every child who walked in got a hug or a high five, and every family got handed a big shiny Mylar balloon. “The other kind isn’t safe for the littlest ones,” she’d said, shrugging. “And I got a good deal on the framing; I had money left over.”

“Bet you’ve never had a girlfriend who bargain-shopped,” Jason had teased after that.

He still didn’t, unfortunately. Not by a long shot. But Nate just smiled as if he was entirely okay with the state of their relationship.

Though Nate couldn’t honestly say he’d spent much time in this building up until these past few weeks, even he could tell that what she’d done was transformative. Everything looked like the balloons: big and shiny and new. But at the same time, the rooms were as solid as they’d always been. As though the building itself knew that it was one of the few that had been there from the founding of the town itself. One of the beacons of hope that had remained standing while over half of the rest of the town lay in shambles around it.

And seeing everyone come out reminded Nate of how much he loved Inspiration. Not just because it was one of the few places on earth where no one really cared who he was—as long as he kept bringing in bags of ice and unloading trays of food for Jules, at least. It was more that everyone showed up. That everyone wanted to be there—wanted this to be a success, whether it was the basketball team or the reopening of the library.

There was the sound of someone clinking on a glass and Nate, along with everyone else in the room, turned to see Fitz standing on the newly polished and gleaming circulation desk. Once she had everyone’s attention, she jumped down to the floor.

“Thanks, everyone, for coming tonight. In a few minutes you’re going to hear from our newest addition to Inspiration. But before we introduce her, Mama Gin would like to say a few words.”

Nate leaned back against the wall, unable to take his eyes away from Dorie.

From the other side of Wash, Deke laughed softly. “So is this just a temporary thing, or do we make sure everyone else is hands-off even after you’re down in Mesa with all your groupies?”

“
Boys
,” Mrs. Bellevue hissed.

“Sorry, Mrs. Bellevue,” they all chorused.

Nate was actually more than happy to be scolded into silence. He knew what his answer to that question was, but he still wasn’t sure that Dorie agreed. And anyway, his mom was talking.

“...tonight. Before she begins, however, I wanted to...”

There was a rustle in the crowd behind Nate as people parted to make way for a new group of arrivals. For some reason, this group had attracted more attention than usual and even his mother looked up. From where Nate was standing he couldn’t see who it was, but a look of surprise came into Dorie’s eyes, and then a radiant smile over her face as she blinked as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Then she whispered something to Fitz who, in turn, said something into his mom’s ear.

Curious, Nate leaned forward in order to see who the new arrivals were: Claudia, Christopher, Seamus and Mrs. Donelli.

Well...
shit
.

The irony of it was almost enough to bring a smile to his face.
Almost.
They were here because of him. Because he’d told them about tonight when they’d been in Boston—Dorie hadn’t, as crazy as that had seemed to him. But he’d known how important it was to Dorie and he’d done everything possible to make sure her family knew it, too.

But their being here meant that he wouldn’t have this one last night with Dorie. This one last night to make his point—thoroughly—that this didn’t have to end.

Jamming his hands in his pockets, Nate was glad as hell he’d spent years perfecting his game face.

“I understand that some of Dorie’s family members have just arrived from Boston,” his mother was saying with a smile. “Welcome. I’m so pleased that you’ve joined us.” Taking in the rest of the crowd, she continued, “As you all know, the library has unfortunately fallen into a bit of disrepair over the past few years. For a place that means as much as it does to us, we just haven’t been able to give it the love it deserves. And when Aunt Laura came to me and said that we’d need to shake things up a little, my original idea was that we might have to look as far as Ames, maybe even Des Moines.” There was a ripple of laughter. “Imagine our surprise when this came in the mail.” She held up a piece of paper and then turned to Dorie and smiled. “Yes, dear, I’m afraid I’m about to embarrass you a little bit.”

Leaning back against the wall, Nate could see the deep breath Dorie took in before throwing an apologetic glance his way. That was interesting. Brave, actually, especially as she probably had no idea that his mother would never do anything of the embarrassing sort. Still, Dorie straightened her shoulders and glared at him when he smiled and turned his full attention to what his mother was saying.

“‘Your community has meant so much to so many people,’” his mother began reading. “‘I can’t even begin to explain what it meant to us halfway across the country watching five boys our own age take hold of a nation. Through teamwork and dedication and plain old hard work, they ignited a fire inside of us—inside of a thirteen-year-old
me
—and showed us that even if everything you’d known lay in ruins around you, or if you’d never quite built up anything beyond that foundation to begin with, that it didn’t matter.’”

Nate could feel Wash shifting uncomfortably next to him. It was always odd to hear about those years from someone else’s perspective, even when they had something nice to say. But hearing Dorie’s words from months ago—from before they’d met—just made it sink in even further. She got that it was about the five of them, about what they’d done
together
. About taking that fire and making it work for you. For something good. Which may have been why the only thing that had bothered him about that shrine of hers was how many pictures of Deke had been included in it. There was something about her that ran deeper; he might not have been able to put words to it so quickly, but he’d known it from practically the moment he saw her. Once she’d put some clothes on, at least.

“‘Because a dream doesn’t need walls or a pretty coat of paint. It needs the barest of foundations, a friend (or four), and a spark just strong enough to ignite the flame.’” His mother looked up, gave Nate a hard stare for whatever reason, then smiled as she started reading again. “‘I know that most people wouldn’t compare the story of The Iowa Dream to a now thirty-year-old girl’s love of libraries. But I’m not most people. If it was The Dream that ignited the fire inside of me, it was my library that fanned the flames. The stories there showed me how to lay that foundation and how to build those walls. The stories there inspired me, and it’s where I learned to dream.’”

Another look as his mother flipped over the page before continuing, “‘I realize that you may not have expected any applications from Boston, and I’m sorry to say that, despite my affinity for all members of The Dream, I am—and always will be—a Red Sox fan through and through.’”

That statement got some loud laughs, and there was more than one person who turned back to look at Nate. “Sorry, buddy,” one guy called out. “You can’t get all the girls,” said another.