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Book Haven, Tuesday

Evan was feeling pretty darn good on the job at the bookstore today. He'd put the new books out on a display, and then he'd gone around tidying up and restocking shelves. And now, because he was curious, he was looking up what books were coming out soon on the internet. New Pratchett was on the way, and new Robert Jordan, and...

... Mostly a bunch of kinda iffy-looking romance novels and some cookbooks. Evan tilted his head at the selection, and then made a note to just keep an eye out for the books he was interested in when they were finally released. Either that, or else start taking notes for a romantic dinner for Sholeh. Really, both options were a win.

[Open, OCD-free!]

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Evan had been working at the store for weeks and Sholeh had yet to come in and visit him! That made her both a bad girlfriend and a bad bibliophile.

To make up for it, she brought a pair of sandwiches and two bowls of baked potato soup to share with him for lunch.

"Hello?" she called, ducking into the store. "Evan? Are you here?"

"By the counter," Evan called back, smiling up from the book list he'd been going over. "Sholeh! Come in!"

It was the bookstore, Sholeh! He worked here! Here, in the bookstore!

HOW AWESOME WAS THAT.

SO UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME.

"I brought you some lunch," Sholeh said, holding up her bag of goodies. "And some for me as well, if you don't mind having company."

She didn't think he'd mind, but he might be right in the middle of a great book he'd been planning to read during his break!

They had the best priorities.

These were indeed the priorities that should matter in life!

"I'd love the company," Evan replied, giving her a warm smile. "And that smells amazing! Is that potato soup?"

He had a pretty keen sniffer when it came to fantastic soups. He did have a book to read, too, but it could wait until after his shift let out.

"It is!" Sholeh said with a happy smile. "Does that mean you like it? I wasn't sure, but it sounded the warmest and the homiest and I thought you might appreciate both of those today."

November was getting chilly!

"I love potato soup," Evan replied, nodding and smiling and reaching to pull out a seat so that she could make herself comfortable at the counter. "M-- I remember having it all the time on chilly nights after doing chores."

Mentioning Ma wasn't going to happen. But talking about things he remembered, that was... less painful. Memories were memories, lies or not.

Sholeh caught the break there, and brushed Evan's cheek with her lips. That was okay, right? A quick kiss when he was feeling down?

Either way, she was bright red and very intent on unpacking all their food after it. "We had it a lot growing up, too," she said. "It's a good winter meal because it's all root vegetables. Ours are usually less creamy, though. And we had big, crusty bread to eat it with. I thought ham sandwiches were close enough, you know?"

"They're close enough for me," Evan decided, the corners of his mouth twitching a little after that kiss. It did make him feel a little better, actually. "They look great, thank you."

He watched her unpack the food for a moment, and then leaned over to help wherever he could.

"How have you been?"

"Busy," Sholeh said, ducking her head. He'd probably guess that she meant 'busy reading,' right? "I don't really know where the time goes sometimes. Sometimes I feel like I wake up and a whole week has gone by! Maybe it's the weather. Urges to hibernate, you know?"

Sholeh wasn't fond of the winter. She always felt like a big gust of wind would blow her away. Also, curls were hard to manage when it was blustery out.

"And you? Settling into your new job, I see."

"Surrounded by books and getting paid for it," Evan enthused. "Here and at the library... Are there any other jobs on the island that might involve this many books? I can't think of any, but I'm pretty sure I'd take them, too."

"Are you actually getting paid for this job?" Sholeh teased, finally taking the seat he offered her, with lunch properly unpacked. "Or are you just taking it in free merchandise instead?"

"Getting paid in books would cut out that middle step," Evan mused, looking entirely too thoughtful for a moment. "It's tempting, you know. But I'm running out of space in my room as it is..."

This wasn't going to stop him from bringing home more books all the time anyhow, it should be noted.

"You could always start storing books in my room if you really need," Sholeh said, eyes wide and innocent, really.

"Well," Evan mused, "I suppose just so long as I know they're in good hands. Will they be properly appreciated in your room?"

Evan was totally sneaky, wasn't he? 'I'll let you keep my books if you promise to read them?'

"I suppose I could agree to that," Sholeh said slowly, as if it were some great hardship. "You may need to stop by my room from time to time to make sure I'm upholding my end of the bargain."

"I think I can manage to make time for visits, considering the favor you'd be doing me," Evan laughed. "At least a few times a week, I think. Not that I don't trust you, but taking care of books is a very important sort of duty..."

And he'd take any excuse to visit his girlfriend. And books.

"No, no, I think you're exactly right," Sholeh said firmly. "They might start to think you abandoned them if you never came to visit!"

Which would have been more of a joke if the library books hadn't cried at her the last time she'd missed a shift.

They tended to just scold Evan for being irresponsible. All the guilt, half the molted pages!

"And I could never do that!" He smiled, and then leaned forward to give her a quick peck of a kiss on the cheek, now. He was getting bolder, see? "Well, then I would be happy to keep some of my books in your room once mine starts filling up, since you offered so nicely."

Predictably, Sholeh flushed scarlet, but she gave Evan a happy smile and didn't seem as inclined to hide behind her hair.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I think time sharing books and visiting sounds just right."

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Book Haven, Tuesday

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