It didn’t matter. Right from the start, the chances that things could have worked out between them had been slim. It had been foolish of April to think otherwise.
April taped up her box of books and scanned the shelves before her. There wasn’t much left to pack up. “Mind if I head off?” she asked Lexi. “I want to go see Eliza. She’s leaving in the morning.”
“Sure,” Lexi said. “Say goodbye to her for me.”
“Will you be all right with the rest of this?”
“Yeah, it’s not much. Once we’re done here, I have to clean out my side of the office, and that’s it.”
That’s it. Goodbye Oakmont Street. “I should get going,” April said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning to hand the place over.”
April hesitated. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her set of keys to the building. “Do you think you could handle it by yourself?”
“Sure.” Lexi took the keys from her.
April made her way to Eliza’s house, watching the neighborhood go by as she walked. Half of the buildings looked unfamiliar. Lexi had been right all that time ago. What happened to the library was inevitable. April had been naive to think she could take on a corporate giant like Oasis.
By the time April made it to Eliza’s house, she was a wreck. She tried to keep it together for Eliza’s sake, but Eliza could see through her.
She gave April a hug. “Come on in. I’ll make tea.”
April sat down at Eliza’s kitchen table. The house was almost
empty, save for some furniture and essentials. Soon, the two of them were drinking tea out of chipped, mismatched mugs and sharing stories about the library.
“Remember that guy who brought back those overdue books from the 80s?” April asked.
Eliza nodded. “He borrowed them when he was a teenager and forgot about them. They still had the old borrowing cards in the front.” She chuckled. “Do you remember when the computer system broke down and we had to use the card catalog for a week?”
“That was a nightmare.” April sighed. “I’m really going to miss that place. And I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
“I mean it. You’ve been such a big part of my life for so long, I just can’t imagine it without you.”
Eliza smiled. “You’ll be fine. And you’re welcome to come visit any time.”
“Thanks, Eliza,” April said.
They sipped their tea in comfortable silence. They were already onto their third cup. April was all too aware that this was the last time she’d get to sit at Eliza’s kitchen table drinking tea with her.
“Have you spoken to Vicki yet?” Eliza asked.
April stared down into her cup. “No.” Eliza had been sympathetic about everything that had happened with Vicki, but April couldn’t help but feel like Eliza thought she was being irrational.
“Tell me this,” Eliza said. “Are you angry at Vicki because she didn’t stop the library being shut down? Or are you upset with her because of how she handled everything?”
“Both,” April grumbled. She ran her thumb over the chip on the rim of her mug. “I guess I can’t blame her for what happened to the library.”
“What about everything else? If it wasn’t for everything with the library, would you forgive her for it?”
April crossed her arms. “I don’t know.”
“Just think about it,” Eliza said.
“I will.”