They ordered—wheat beer for Felix and gin martini for Jo—and paid, and then Jo pointed out an empty high table along the back wall. With the blaring music, it wasn’t much quieter there, but at least the cacophony of the bar top was farther away.
“What’s your question?” Felix asked as soon as they were seated.
“I’m confused about something,” she replied. “Most of the time you seem pretty buttoned up and reserved, and your emails are the most formal ones I’ve ever gotten. But then something will slip out, like a ‘fuck’ or a dig at your boss or a joke with Peggy. It throws me off a little.”
Felix took a sip of beer before responding. “You’re in medicine, right?”
“Yeah, I’m a nurse.”
“Did you ever go to grad school?”
Jo sat up straighter, and her entire body tensed. “No,” she said defensively. “I didn’t need to.”
“I’m not suggesting you did. I merely meant to establish a point of reference,” he said. She relaxed, but she didn’t quite look at him as she sipped her martini. “I don’t know the medical field, really, but I know there are aspects of it that are very competitive. Libraries are the same way. Getting into grad school is extremely difficult, let alone getting into your chosen specialty and finding a job on the other side. I got lucky: a couple of months after I moved to Ashville last year, a librarian retired. When Warren saw that he had a Rutgers MI in the candidate pool, someone who was already in town and didn’t need to be convinced to move to the middle of nowhere, I was a shoo-in.”
“You only moved here last year? You’re not from Ashville?”
Felix shook his head. “I’m from Tulsa originally, and then I spent several years on the East Coast. Jersey, most recently. I moved here when my grandma was dying so my grandpa wouldn’t be alone. Tito is one of those heart-on-his-sleeve old timers who’d been married so long he was incomplete without his wife. If I hadn’t come, and stayed, we probably would have lost him, too, after she was gone.”
He paused and drank deeply from his glass, remembering how hard those last few weeks of Lita’s life were.
“I don’t know what to say to that except I’m sorry about your grandma,” Jo said after a moment.
“Thanks.” He sniffed and cleared the lump from his throat. “Anyway, yes, libraries are competitive. And I eventually want to work in special collections at a university, which is even more insular and elite. I’m starting later in life than some people, and I never landed an internship, so I’m already a few steps behind. I need to be exceptional at my job to get glowing references and work my way up to where I want to be.”
“Hence the formality.”
“Exactly.” Felix raised his beer in mock salute. “I also can’t afford to lose my job. I can’t leave Tito, and there aren’t any other libraries in town.”
“Why would you lose your job?” she asked. “Based on the way you’ve treated MnM night, you seem very dedicated.”
“Because the county is considering pulling some library funding to put more cops on the street.”
Jo let out a “boo” so long and loud that people at other tables looked over at her.
“My thoughts exactly,” Felix said, unable to stop himself from smiling.
“Seriously, fuck that,” she said vehemently. “Is there a petition or something I can sign?”
Felix shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know about that, but my hope is that MnM will help the library become more relevant to the community and allow us to push back on the county’s recommendations. So thank you for your help there.”
“Oh, I can do better than that,” she declared. “We’re making MnM night the coolest place in town. It’s time for some guerilla marketing.”
“What—?”
Jo was on her feet before he could get another word out. She swept over to the table next to theirs. “Excuse me, have you heard of the game Monsters and Mythology?”
“Um, yeah, I think so?” said a very confused, pink-haired girl.
Jo launched into a spiel about the library’s upcoming event, making up details on the spot that Felix did his best to commit to memory so he could try to deliver on them. Then, she stood there and waited for the four people at the table to enter the information into their calendar apps. The last thing she said before she left them was, “I’ll see you there! I’m Jo, by the way. That’s Felix; he’ll be there too.”
Felix gave the table a wave and what he hoped was a friendly-looking smile. Jo hopped back up onto her stool and grinned at him. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a sound so small she probably couldn’t hear it over the music. He didn’t know whether to be impressed or slightly terrified.
“What?” Jo asked, all wide-eyed, adorable innocence.
“I…” Felix racked his brain for something to say. “Weren’t you following my lead on this?”
“Shit, you’re right,” Jo said, instantly deflating. “Sorry, did I embarrass you?”
“No, God, I was joking,” Felix said. “That was incredible. Maybe we need to come back with flyers and do that for real.”
Jo grinned shyly and finished off her drink. “Oh, I have another question for you.”
“Shoot.” Felix took a long drink to bolster his courage for whatever was going to happen next. Nothing about tonight was going as he’d expected, but fuck if he wasn’t having the most fun he’d had in months.
“Do you ever slip up and call your boss ‘Roarin’ Wigs’?”
Beer almost shot out of Felix’s nose. He managed to swallow before coughing into his elbow. Jo leaned forward and laid a hand on his forearm.
“Sorry, you okay? Do you need water?”
Felix nodded and coughed some more. Jo disappeared into the crowd and returned shortly with a small water glass in each hand. He took one and drank deeply.
“Run that by me one more time?” Felix asked, his voice rough from almost choking to death on alcohol and carbonation.
“Roarin’ Wigs,” she repeated. “Like, if you accidentally switch up the sounds. What’s that called?”
“Spoonerism,” Felix coughed.
