Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Amused at his discomfort like any younger sister who loved her brother would be, Tiffanie turned in her chair to have a direct line of sight to his table. Ivan’s creations looked so cute. She would definitely pause to see them. Tiffanie crossed her fingers, hoping the woman who’d enjoyed those library books would stop to meet him.
An orange blur caught her eye. Marmalade, who had roamed through the chaos of everyone moving their boxes of display and sale items into the large space, raced past her and halted at Ivan’s table. What was he doing? He settled on his hind legs before launching himself up onto the tablecloth.
Tiffanie jumped to her feet and rushed over as the cat systematically knocked one carving after another off the table, as if he were playing hockey in the Stanley Cup. Goal! Goal! Goal!
“Marmalade! Stop that!” she called. The pesky fuzzball didn’t hesitate but kept whacking Ivan’s creations off.
By the time she reached the table, only two remained. Tiffanie reached for Marmalade, and as her fingers settled around his torso, the cat struck again. “Will you cut that out?” she asked, hoisting him into air jail.
“Meow!” Marmalade wasn’t bothered in the least by his behavior.
“What happened?” a quiet voice asked from behind her.
“Marmalade spread his normal chaos, that’s what,” Tiffanie said, turning to face a softly curvy woman with her hair in braids before sending Marmalade a dark glower.
“He seemed like such a good kitty. He’s come over to talk to me several times. Is anything broken?”
“Hopefully not. This is my brother’s table. Would you help me pick them up?” Tiffanie set Marmalade down and patted his bottom firmly to send the cat on his way.
“Of course.”
The two women ducked behind the table and retrieved the carvings from the floor. “I haven’t found any damage,” the helpful show participant said a couple of minutes later.
“What happened?”
Ivan had returned. Tiffanie peeked over the table. “Hey. Marmalade stopped by. He jumped up and methodically knocked the carvings off.”
“He was so fast!” the woman next to her said, placing the last of the carvings on the table.
“Thank you for assisting,” Ivan said, his eyes locked on the newcomer.
“Of course. I was heading over to check out your work when the cat karate chopped everything. These are adorable,” she said, picking up one depicting a basset hound. “This reminds me of Droopy.”
“You have a dog named Droopy?” Ivan asked.
Tiffanie held her breath. His gaze focused on the newcomer as if she were made of the finest gold. What was going on here? She sealed her lips closed, unwilling to interrupt.
“Kind of,” the woman answered, and a tinge of pink appeared in her cheeks. Tiffanie guessed immediately that she had something other than a live dog named Droopy. A stuffie? Could she be the reader?
“I’m Ivan. Thank you for coming to my rescue.” Ivan spoke carefully, as if afraid to scare her off.
“Oh, I don’t think you need help often,” the woman blurted, checking out Ivan’s muscles carved by physical labor.
Tiffanie placed the last figurines in her hands on the table and eased back from the conversation. She didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. She also didn’t wish to leave.
“Everyone needs support from time to time. Can I ask who you are?”
“Are you okay, Princess?” Phineas whispered in her ear.
Tiffanie nodded. “We need to leave.”
Phineas didn’t ask questions. He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided Tiffanie through the row of exhibitors to her chair. “What’s going on?”
“I think that’s the other lady who reads those books.” She waited for him to react and confirm her guess. Nothing. He was like Switzerland. Totally neutral. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Nope.”
A piercing whistle sounded through the ballroom. Tiffanie whirled around. Zander stood at the door. He stepped to the side with an elaborate bow to Essie as everyone quieted down and paid attention.
“Hey, everyone. Thank you for joining the public library and Ferguson’s Folly in the first Blue Ribbon Knowledge Fair. Kudos to the library director, Phineas Green, and my amazing decorator, Tiffanie Clarke, for imagining this event and making all the arrangements come together so beautifully.” Essie waved a hand toward Phineas and Tiffanie.
Tiffanie smiled. Essie was gracious in sharing praise. She appreciated the acknowledgement of her efforts but loved that Essie reminded the town of how lucky they were to have Phineas at the helm of the library.
A round of enthusiastic applause sounded from the participants. Phineas tightened his arm around Tiffanie’s waist, hugging her against his hard frame. He nodded and called back, “And thank you to everyone who has used the library to unlock new knowledge and who agreed to take part after I begged you relentlessly.”
Scattered, delighted laughter circulated around the room. Tiffanie smiled at her incredible Daddy. His community would do anything for him.