Henry continued west on Oakland Park Boulevard, moving more slowly now. He was still out of breath from his meeting with the Amazon.
Finally the library came into view. The double doors slid open and he crossed into the welcome air conditioning. He spotted Grace immediately. She was sitting at the reference desk, reading something on a computer. Her thoughtful look and the glasses she wore over her brown eyes made her look really smart. A spasm of self-doubt overcame Henry. He paused. How should he approach such an intelligent woman? Was he really the one for her? What if she wasn't interested at all?
He stood there so long considering that she finally looked up and saw him. To Henry's relief, she smiled. She remembered him from Marcy's Fourth of July party. She motioned him over to her desk.
"Hi Henry," she whispered, her low voice reminding Henry that they were in a library. "How are you? What brings you here?"
Henry froze. It was the moment of truth. Should he act like he was just looking for a book, and had run into her by accident? Or should he be honest about his reason for being here? Henry was surprised to find his hands sweating; he wiped them on his trousers.
"Do you like bowling?" he blurted out, his heart pounding.
Grace smiled. It was a beautiful gesture, spreading from her mildly crooked white teeth up through her graceful cheekbones with the dainty little mole on the upper left and into her deep brown eyes, the skin crinkling around them in delight. Even her dark slim eyebrows participated, arching upward first in surprise, then relaxing in contentment. "Of course," she said. She gestured at the seat in front of the desk. "Why don't you sit down?"
Henry sat down and smiled back at Grace, feeling a bit awkward sitting there and staring at her with another woman's saliva still drying on his dick.
"Are you busy right now?" Henry asked. He didn't want to be a bother.
"I have some time to talk," Grace said, leaning forward with her elbows on the desk. "How have you been? I haven't seen you since Marcy's party."
Henry nodded. "Usual work routine. Not much else happening. How about you?"
"The same, I guess."
There was an awkward pause. Henry realized that he hardly knew anything at all about this woman that he had just invited on a date.
"I could pick you up," Henry offered. "Would 8 o'clock be all right?"
"Eight o'clock is fine."
Grace wrote down her address and passed it to him. There was another awkward pause, and she looked away. For a moment Henry wondered if he had disappointed her somehow. But it was just a library patron who needed help with a research project for school.
"I'll leave you to your work," Henry said, standing up. "See you tonight."
Grace nodded. "See you at eight." She turned back to help the young student.
