Chapter 9

                                    

                                          
"Come on, Jax, you're going to love it. I promise." I cracked open the truck door a little wider, creating enough room so I could get squeeze in closer to him. 
He wrung his hands together on his lap and avoided my eye contact. Placing a comforting hand on his small shoulder, "If you hate it, we can leave. I promise." 
He still didn't look at me. 
"Little pal, what happened? You were so excited 10 minutes ago," I gently squeezed his shoulder to try to get him to glance at anything but his lap. 
I waited a few seconds before checking my watch. We still had plenty of time to get inside and find the story hour. The Chatham library wasn't as big as I pictured it to be, so it shouldn't be too hard finding the room.
I was thankful we were able to find parking close to the building. For a Thursday morning, Chatham was busting at the seams with what looked to be tourists, vacationers, and summer house dwellers. It was a beautiful July day for Jax's first time leaving the property for something other than the doctor's office or tagging along on Clarence's errands. 
He had spent the entire drive looking out the window, pointing out every widow's walk we passed. He had been practically bubbling over with excitement about going to the library today. Now, all of his bubbles seem to have popped. 
"Jax, look at me," I gently lifted his chin so he had to make eye contact, "I know this is new for you. I know you're nervous. You just have to remember that I'm here for you. You say the word, snap your finger, belt out an opera, and we will leave, got it?"
He let loose a giggled, "I don't know any opera."
"Well, then you'll just have to pull me out by my tie; how about that?" 
He giggled again and pushed my hand away. "Okay." He took a deep breath and unbuckled his seat belt. I helped him hop out of the truck and grabbed his backpack from the truck bed. The thing weighed so much that it would probably anchor him to the sidewalk if I let him carry it. Clarence had gone overboard on the supplies for today's outing. It was chock-full of 'just in case' and 'you never know' items that we would never need—especially the dehydrated food and iodine droplets. 
I hoisted the backpack onto my shoulder, locked the truck, and reached down for Jax's hand. He gripped it harder than anticipated. We crossed the street, making our way up the small hill and towards the front entrance. The library was a stately, red brick building with a sizable archway leading to an old wooden front door. 
We slipped into the small migration of other families heading inside. I noticed that a decent number of the kids around us seemed to be Jax's age. This was good. It means that all of the emails and nearly getting fired over them were going to pay off. 
We made it to the lobby when Jax pulled on my hand, forcing us to stop. I looked down at him, "What's the matter, Jax?"
"There are so many of them..." he trailed off, eyes fixed forward. 
"I know there are a lot of people here today, but that's a good thing! That means this place is cool," I comforted. 
"Not people," Jax glanced back at me, "books." 
His unique eyes were practically glittering with excitement. He tugged on my hand, pulling me deeper into the building. We crossed into the main section, and I had to hand it to Jax; this was one of the better libraries I've ever been to. With the rich wooden architecture, spiral staircases, cast iron railings, and warm lighting, I think I might have fallen in love with a library too. 
"I didn't know there could be this many books..." Jax whispered, eyes darting all over the room in wonder. 
"Actually, there are more than this little pal. Millions more," I smiled. He pulled on my hand again and started to weave us between the stacks, his index finger tracing the spines of the books as we passed. I let him explore the entire section before I realized what time it was.