Song: "Story Of My Life" by One Direction

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I was late for work Monday morning ; it's a good thing no one saw Harry dropping me off at the curb or I would have never heard the end of it. When I walked in, Gabby noted my delayed arrival by glancing at the clock, but she didn't say anything. I had only been late one time before, in all the time I had worked there, so I wasn't too worried about the security of my job. Still, I made up a fib to throw her off. "I'm sorry. I was out with my sister after the Lions game last night. I guess I didn't hear my alarm."

"Mmhmm." That was the only sound she made and it wasn't accusatory; more like a mumble of I don't care now get to work.

I hardly expected Gabby to notice, but I knew I'd have a hard time hiding my smile from Beth. She didn't know much about Harry, apart from seeing him in the stacks and then when he came to the front desk to say thank you. That was it. She didn't know yet that he had rescued me from the drunk and that I had spent the day with him after that. I had no idea what she would say when I told her that we kissed.

I took care of the book return and re-shelving and I was back at the front desk by 10:30, which was pretty impressive for the fact that it was a Monday and I had been late. But I was more excited about today than usual, not only because of my fantastic time with Harry the night before, but because it was Halloween. We had all sorts of activities going on throughout the library today, one of which was pre-school story time. I ducked into the bathroom to reapply my kitty cat make up, and then I donned the cat ears. I hadn't had enough time to do it before leaving my house, so I had thrown everything in my purse on the way out of my apartment.

When I tried to leave the bathroom, I collided with Beth. "Hey!" She gushed. "You look adorable."

"Thanks, so do you," I smiled. Her face was painted light green and she had a fake wart on her nose. Topped with a black pointy hat, she was the perfect library witch. We had decided on minimal costumes so that we wouldn't scare the small children who would be crowding our halls today.

"Did you see the game yesterday?" She asked.

"Of course," I stated. "Just because I don't like football doesn't mean I don't pay attention."

"You're weird," she said.

"Yep," I agreed and left her to do her business.

Preschoolers filed in to the children's section just before 11:00. Beth and I helped them to find places to sit on the floor so they weren't all crowded together and so the taller ones were near the back so the smaller ones could see.

I welcomed the kids and sat on a small chair so I was close to the ground. I started by reading It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; always a classic. Then I read Goodnight, Goon, a parody of Goodnight, Moon. Finally, I read a Clifford Halloween story. Those three selections seemed to entertain everyone present, but by the time I finished, the kids were ready to move. Beth showed them the various crafts at different tables and I showed them the reading corner where there were plenty more Halloween books to choose from.

Once the kids dispersed, a tiny girl by the name of Madeline came up to me. She had been at story times before, and I couldn't help but admit that she was my favorite. Today, she was dressed as Madeline, the book character; that made her double my favorite.

"Look at you!" I gushed. "You make the perfect Madeline, Madeline!"

"Thank you, Miss Regan," she said, but not being able to pronounce her r's, it sounded more like Miss Wagon.

"Do you know why Madeline is my favorite?" I asked. She looked at me expectantly. "Because she has red hair just like me."

Madeline giggled and then asked if I could read her the Madeline story. I took her into my lap and read to her, glancing up on occasion to make sure the other kids were occupied well.

After we had said goodbye to the kids, Beth practically pounced on me. "Okay, spill it!"

"Spill what?" I asked innocently.

"There's something up with you. You're walking on the clouds while the rest of us are kind of just wallowing on the ground. So let's have it."

"It's Halloween and you know I love story time."

"Bullshit!" She whispered loudly.

I hesitated, not knowing if I should tell her the whole story now or wait til after work. "I've been hanging out with someone."

"Really?" She squealed. "Who?"

"Promise you won't freak out?" I said.

"Girl, the only reason I would freak out is if it was Malcolm, and I know it's not him," she said.

"No, it's not Malcolm," I laughed. "I'd never do that to you."

"So who is it?!" She practically shouted.

"Harry."

"Harry?"

"The guy who was hanging out upstairs for a while."

"The bum?!" She hissed. "Are you insane?"

"You said he was cute."

"So, he's a cute bum. That doesn't mean he's dating material.

"I'm not dating him!"

"Then what are you doing with him?"

"Okay, just listen," I began. "He's not homeless. He's a widower; he wasn't doing well when we first saw him because it had just passed the one-year mark since her death. But you saw him that night he came to say thank you. He was cleaned up and at least he shaved, right?"

"He was still dressed like a bum," she grumbled.

"Not when he rescued me," I said.

"What are you talking about?!" She demanded.

"The night that I was attacked, Harry was still here. He was the one who called the police." That was all I had told her about the incident so far. I wasn't ready to tell her or anyone else about him at the time. I could see from the expression on her face that she expected more now, though. "After the police left, he drove me home and I invited him up to my loft." Her eyes widened. "And he spent the night."

"You're messing with me now," she snapped. "There's no way you slept with a guy just because he rescued you from being attacked."

"I didn't say I slept with him!" I snapped back at her. "He slept on the couch because I was still feeling on edge. But then he spent all day Friday with me. We just played board games, listened to music, etc."

"Et cetera?" She asked. "What exactly does that entail?"

"Nothing. At least not on Friday."

"Regan, so help me, if you don't tell me the whole story right now, we can no longer be friends!"

"Okay," I laughed. "After he left on Friday, I realized I didn't have his phone number or anything but I figured I'd see him here. But he never came to the library last week, so I assumed that was the last I'd see of him. Until he came to my place last night. He wanted to ask me to dinner but I had plans to meet my sister and her new boyfriend after the game, so I invited Harry along. He said yes, we had a great time, drank a lot of wine, and then...we kissed. Back at my place, after Lauren and Scott left. We kissed, like, a lot."

"Dude," she said slowly, almost reverently. "So he likes you, huh?"

"I guess so," I said, shrugging. "He said he doesn't really know if he's ready for anything yet since it's only been a little over a year since his wife died. So we just agreed to just start out as friends with the potential of it turning into something more."

"Just be careful," she warned.

"Careful of what?" I asked.

"What if he's, like, crazy or something? I mean, he looked pretty scary when I first saw him here."

"I told you that was because of the anniversary of his wife's death. He's doing much better now."

She finally relented with her nagging and told me that I had better introduce him to her soon so she could get to know him.

The library stayed open late that night so we could hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. I voluntarily stayed because I loved children and it was always fun to see their costumes. Living in an apartment building, I didn't have much opportunity to hand out candy there anyway.

On my walk home, my mom called to ask if she and dad could come into town some time during the week so we could "talk." That sounded...foreboding, like they wanted to talk to me about something serious. We agreed on the following evening.

When I got into my apartment, I decided to snap a picture of myself and send it to Harry, just because. I captioned it Cat Costume, Reprise.

He sent a message back within a few minutes: Prettier than last time I saw you.

I texted back: Staahhp

He texted me: It's true!

Me: How was your day?

Harry: Slept for a while. Your couch was comfy but I didn't sleep well last night.

Me: Did you hand out candy?

Harry: Nah, maybe next year

Me: Are you ever coming back to the library? It's lonely in the stacks without you

As soon as I sent that, I cringed, thinking it sounded too clingy.

Harry: The stacks?

Me: Third floor / Archives. We call it the stacks. It's creepy up there

Harry: Nice and quiet, though. Good place to have a little mental breakdown

Me: LOL, I'll remember that if I ever have one.

I set my phone down and went to wash the cat off my face. Then I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, sat down with a glass of milk and looked at my messages. There were three in a row from him.

From Harry: LOL.

Trying to clean my house. It's a pig sty.

How do you put out a grease fire?

I called Harry frantically and asked, "Are you okay? Did you put the fire out?"

He had a good laugh and said, "There was no fire. I just wanted to see if you were still there."

"Don't scare me like that," I scolded him with a laugh.

We chatted for a few minutes and then said good-bye. I didn't want to put pressure on him, but I couldn't wait to see him again.

The following night, my folks came as planned and we went out for dinner. We decided on a restaurant in Greektown. Once we had sat down and ordered our food, my mom began. "So Lauren told us that you were attacked by a homeless man at the library and now you're dating him."

My jaw dropped. "What?!"

"Is any of that true?" Dad asked.

"Oh, my gosh, no," I said, laughing rather hysterically. "She was wasted when I saw her on Sunday; she has no idea what she's talking about!"

"What?" My mom asked. "She was drinking?"

"Ooops," I said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Didn't mean to tattle, but come on. I have better judgment than that. Don't you trust me?"

"Of course we trust you," Dad answered. "We were just worried about you."

"Okay, so here's what really happened," I said. The waiter delivered our food and we started eating. "I met a guy at the library. His name is Harry and he actually rescued me from the guy who attacked me."

"Why didn't you tell us that you were attacked?" Mom asked, almost sounding hurt that I had kept it from her.

"Because," I said, as if it was obvious, "You would have freaked out, like you're doing now." I explained the nature of the attack, that it was just some drunk guy who didn't know what he was doing and he ended up grabbing me, but that didn't convince her. "Really, Mom, I'm fine. I didn't know Harry was still there but he was, so he called the police, shoved the guy outside and locked the doors. Then he waited til I was done talking to the police and he gave me a ride home."

"So, Harry isn't the one who attacked you, but he is the homeless guy you were talking about, the one that kept coming to the library?" Dad asked, still very confused.

"No," I said, getting impatient. "I mean, yes, he's the guy from the library, but I found out, finally, that he's not homeless."

"I thought you said he was," Dad countered.

"I said I thought he was."

"Then why did you think he was?" Mom asked.

"Because he was dressed in really shabby clothes and he hadn't showered in weeks. And he kept hanging out at the library all day every day," I explained, but then I mentally smacked myself because I was making him sound like a real loser.

"And yet you still went out with him?" Mom continued. "It sounds like he was stalking you."

I threw my head back in exasperation. I knew my parents loved me and I knew they always had my back, but damn it all if they weren't maddening sometimes. "Harry is a widower. His wife died just over a year ago. He had a rough time of it when the anniversary of her death came around and he got a little stir crazy at home, so he came to the library every day for a while. He just sat there and read books all day. He didn't even notice me until I started to bring him breakfast in the mornings because at that point, I still thought he didn't have any other place to go. But as we got to know each other, I found out he has a proper house and he's really nice and we get along very well and we're not dating because he's not ready and he kissed me and I liked it, all right?!"

"All right, calm down, kiddo," Dad said. "No need to get all worked up."

"Does he still dress that way?" Mom asked.

"What does that matter?" I asked, incredulous at the non-stop questions. "And no, he doesn't. He gradually came out of his funk or whatever and he dresses like a normal person and he's actually quite handsome."

"If he's been married and lost his wife, he must be older," Dad remarked, but I knew it was actually a question.

"He's 25. They married young, I guess."

"So are you dating him or not?" They asked in unison. Must be a result of being together for so long.

"No!" I said and shoved a giant forkful into my mouth. My food was getting cold because I'd been too busy trying to explain all of this to my parents. They resumed eating as well and we were all silent for a little while. Finally, I said, "We've spent some time together. He came with me to meet Lauren and Scott on Sunday because he had stopped by my place to hang out. But no, we're not dating. I mean, we're both interested, but we actually talked about it and we're taking things slow because as I said, it's only been a year since his wife died."

"That sounds like a good idea," Mom said.

"That's the first time all night you showed any faith in my judgment," I grumbled. "I've been safe all these years on my own, haven't I?

"Of course, honey," Dad said. "You have a good head on your shoulders. We were just concerned, that's all.

Obviously, I thought. But I didn't say it out loud.

"But wait, so if he was in such bad shape when you first saw him that you thought he was homeless, does that mean he had some kind of...episode? Like a mental breakdown?"

I remembered that Harry had texted me that same thing, that the third floor was a good place to have a mental breakdown. But if he was doing well enough now to say that, he never really lost touch with reality, I assumed. "Would you please stop with the questions already?" I said, more than just a little bit annoyed. "We're not getting married or anything. Just let me get to know the guy without the third degree."

We finished our dinner quickly after that and I said good-bye to my parents when they pulled up to my building to drop me off. It might have been a little bit rude, but I didn't want them to come up just so they could badger me some more about Harry.

I was more than frustrated by Beth's negativity and now my parents' skepticism, and I knew what would make me feel better.

Harry.

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Have you ever tried explaining something to your parents and they just keep getting it wrong? It's maddening, lol!