Evan's movie played; he wasn't really watching it. The fact that he didn't speak a word of Swedish didn't make it any easier. There were subtitles, and it was no problem at all to follow the plot.
The problem was that he was pacing the apartment. His eyes scanned the room. Evan felt like he had an itch he couldn't scratch. There was a voicemail on his phone from a number he didn't recognize. The voice in the message, though, was one that he did recognize.
As if he needed an introduction, Senator Burke had given his name, and not his title: Tom Burke calling, to speak to Evan Park. Get back to him at earliest convenience.
It was a surprise to hear from him. Evan had almost thought that after Colin tried to wreck his relationship with Dana, the terms of the bet were off. Apparently he'd thought wrong.
He turned and walked towards the patio door, and tried not to think too hard about it. He could call back, no problem. Just because he'd gotten the opportunity through less than wholesome means didn't mean that it was smart or fair to turn that opportunity down now. Two wrongs didn't make a right.
His eyes settled on the dinner table. He never ate at it, but he'd always had a dinner table before. There was a pile of books on it. He'd been meaning to return them, the way that everyone always means to return library books. Most people, though, didn't have a good reason to be avoiding the library.
He sucked in a breath. Three things he was avoiding now. It was like spinning plates. Eventually one of them was going to fall, and he knew that he needed to get them all moving as soon as he could. It didn't help, though, that he felt like he was having a stroke.
He picked up the books. He could sit down and watch the movie, but that was pointless. A way to avoid doing anything. He let it keep playing as he walked out the door with a bundle under his arm. He'd been sensitive to her feelings as long as he could. There was a limit to how much time he was willing to give her, and it was roughly eight dollars in late fees.
The car pulled easily into the library parking lot fifteen minutes later, as if it weren't passing any kind of barrier at all. The road turned off into a driveway and the tires drove up the concrete. Just like it was made to do.
He pulled into the first spot. There were two cars in the lot, but they were parked far enough away that it was easy to figure out that they belonged to the librarians, not to any patrons. For a moment Evan thought about pulling right back out of the spot and going home with his books. He could come back another time.
Instead, he grabbed the pile and tucked it under his arm, slid out of the seat, and started towards the door. The possibility that they were closed flashed through his head. Another excuse to walk away. He forced himself to keep moving. There was no harm in trying the door, and the outdoor book return was padlocked shut.
Evan tried the door. It came open easily. He stepped inside. All of the hemming and hawing fell away, and he moved to the desk. A pair of women stood behind the counter. The older one looked up at him. Looked over at Dana. Her lips pulled into a wide line, and then she turned to Dana and announced that she was going to use the lavatory.
Dana turned to her coworker first, to acknowledge that she'd heard it. If she'd noticed him come up, she didn't show it. If she'd noticed that he was the one who stood at the line, then she was better at hiding her surprise than he expected. Dana's eyes moved to the line, as the words 'I can help you' slipped out on reflex.
He smiled vaguely. "I came to return some books."
"What are you doing here?"
"I put it off as long as I could."
"You didn't…" Dana took a breath. Evan waited.
"If you want me to say I'm sorry, well, I'm sorry."
"I don't care."
"If you wanted me to say I moved on, well, I haven't. But I'll get over it. I won't bother you again if you don't want me to. But I don't need a debt collection agency calling me up because I never brought some library books back, all because I avoided the place for your feelings."
"I'm sure it's all very easy for you," Dana growled.
"Not really," Evan said. He shrugged.
She seemed to hear him for the first time. She blinked. Looked at him harder. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"I told you. I'll get over it."
She looked sorry. Which was a surprise.
"I'm going to go take a look around," Evan said. "Then I'll get out of your hair, okay?"
He did what he said. The shelves were tall and thick with books. He walked through them slowly. There was no reason to be here, he told himself. There was nothing here for him. He didn't care about cookbooks or bibles or biographies. He didn't care about westerns or fantasy or science fiction. He didn't care about the romance section, either, but he cared when Dana was standing in the aisle.
She was looking at him with a vague sense of curiosity, and was apparently not intending to shelve the books that she had in her arms. She set them on the shelf.
"You shouldn't have come here," she said. She stepped closer. She didn't look angry, which was a surprise.
"No?"
"No," she said. She was so close that he could feel his stomach threatening to do flips. The shelves were too close, getting into his head. He had made a mistake. He thought he could deal with being close to her, but he couldn't. He needed to leave before he said something he regretted.
Then she grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his, and all those thoughts ran out of his head.