Birdie by M.C. Carr Read Free Book Online Page B

frosty and she doesn’t look up from the paper she’s scribbling on. Yvette turns from the pile of books on the desk and gives me a warm smile.
    “Wesley,” she welcomes me. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you in here before.”
    Yvette used to come over to our house when I was much younger. She used to date my oldest brother but that was years ago in the past. Yvette and I wave to each other when we pass on the street now, but she’s right. I haven’t so much at glanced at this library and I walk by it on a daily basis.
    I shrug like it’s no big deal. “I just got off work. I, uh…need a book.”
    “Which book are you looking for?”
    I pause. Which book? I don’t answer for a moment because I don’t have a title prepared. I shrug again. “Not sure. I just need something to pass the time when the diner gets slow. Any recommendations?”
    Yvette laughs. “You don’t want any from me. I’ve been knee deep in children’s books since I took this job. Side effect from being the Children’s Librarian. Miss Shirley?”
    Miss Shirley grunts and peers at me through her small, square glasses. “New girl,” she says, before returning to her scribbling.
    Yvette’s eye light up in understanding. “Ah, yes. Birdie is always reading. She can probably find something you’d like. She’s a whiz at that kind of thing.”
    Yvette leads me around some shelving to the back of the stacks. The girl from the diner sits there, surrounded by a pile of books. The shelf in front of her is halfway organized. Right now she’s squinting at one of the paperbacks in her pile and shaking her head.
    “Just because it’s a Nora Roberts doesn’t mean we should keep it,” she mutters. She glances up and waves the book towards us. “There’s mold on the spine, Yvette. Mold .”
    Yvette nods in agreement. “This has been something the collection has needed for ages. I’ve been swamped with children’s programming. Miss Shirley was smart to hire you.”
    Birdie sighs. “Well I feel like I’ve made zero progress since I started.”
    “Why don’t you take a break from this? Miss Shirley asked if you could help him find a book. He needs a recommendation.” Yvette jabs a thumb at me as she says this, then pats me on the shoulder and returns to her task out front.
    Birdie cocks a head at me as she studies me. I cock a head back.
    So it’s Birdie. Now that I have her name, her odd flighty name, I am shocked at how well it suits her. It wraps around her like a snug blanket so much so that I know if I ever meet anyone else with that name, it would be so jagged and wrong and so out of place on them.
    She stands from her work and walks over to me. She is so near I can smell her shampoo. I resist leaning in. Girls smell so good. Her hair smells like rain.
    After a short appraisal with her eyes, she turns and beckons me to follow. I do.
    “What’s the last book you read that you really loved?” she asks as we head over to what looks like the sports section.
    My mind flits to when I had actual, glorious free time and the title comes easily to me. “ The Watchers by Dean Koontz.”
    I went through a golden Labrador period after mine passed away and Clay swiped the book off his dad’s nightstand for me based on picture alone. He figured I’d like it. I tore through all of Koontz’s books that summer. 
    Birdie stops short and I almost crash into her. Her fresh, rainy scent fills my nose. She looks at me with new eyes and cocks her head again. We do an about face and she heads towards the back of the library, pushing through a large door that reads STAFF ONLY above it.
    I follow, curious.
    She reaches the round lunch table in the staff room. A to-go box with cheeseburger meal leftovers sits open on it. She snags a cold fry and munches on it absently while she shifts through another pile of books on the table. Finding her selection, she holds it out to me.
    “The Andromeda Strain,” I read. I take it from her and flip it over to