Broken Resolutions Read Online Free Page B

woman,” Jack said, “but I want to read with you. Only you.”
    To his surprise, he meant it. He’d been sitting in the cushioned chair, listening to the scenes everyone else had chosen. But he hadn’t looked at them. No, he’d watched her, at least when he’d thought she wouldn’t notice. Wondering what book passage she’d pick and what it might say about her. Wondering how her skin would feel under his fingers. It looked soft. Delicate, like her.
    Sure, he blamed her for planning this ridiculous event. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the view. And to be honest, the longer he looked at her, the less irritated he felt.
    “Oh, but I didn’t prepare anything,” she said. “I’m filling in for another librarian tonight, and I never imagined I’d need to participate.”
    “You’re in a library, dear,” Brenda said. “Go pick a book now, while our friends Julian”—she scowled at him—“and Courtney do their scene.”
    “But—” Penelope began again.
    “Run along, Penny,” said Brenda. “I’ll take care of things here.”
    Jack knew that tone. There was no use protesting. Clearly, the librarian realized it too, since she got up and walked into the stacks. Which reminded him . . . “I need to go get a book too,” he told his mother, beginning to rise.
    “No, you don’t,” Brenda replied. “I picked one for you.”
    “God help me,” he muttered, and settled back into his seat.
    Penelope reemerged with a hardcover in her hands several minutes later, just as Red Tie and Skintight Dress finished their scenes. As she sat back down in her chair, she glanced Jack’s way and caught him looking at her. Her cheeks flushed again, though she didn’t seem embarrassed anymore. She looked . . . confused.
    His eyes dropped to the book she held. The cover had . . . was that a flower on the front? It was. And it looked familiar. Too familiar. Fuck . In a library full of books, why had she chosen that one? Why had she chosen the debut novel of John Williamson, reclusive bestselling author?
    John Williamson. Christ Almighty . John Williamson, otherwise known to his friends and family as Jack Williamson. Divorced father of a four-year-old daughter named Casey. Son to a conniving mother. Reluctant participant in bizarre library games.
    Right now, she was holding a book he’d written in her small hand. The only question was: Did she know it? And if she didn’t, when would she realize it?
     
    “I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you,” Jack said, his voice deep and calm. “Especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame.... I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly. As for you,—you’d forget me.”
    Jane Eyre . Jane fucking Eyre. For his love scene, he’d somehow chosen one of Penny’s two favorite books in the world, alongside the one she held in her own hand. It wasn’t enough that his impassive green eyes burned through her. It wasn’t enough that the shifting of his muscles beneath his jeans mesmerized her. No, he had to go and pick Jane Eyre , the tale of a small, quiet woman with fierce inner strength and the ability to love with passionate loyalty.
    After Penny had discovered her last boyfriend’s infidelity, she’d printed out a quotation from Jane Eyre and taped it to her bathroom mirror. The sentences had echoed in her ears, resounded in her heart.
     
Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you,—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.
     
    For months, she’d looked at those pained, proud words. Every morning. Every