callmem0m:
Wanda knew she was going a little…. overboard….
She was the only person at the daycare who bothered to buy new books for the kids out of their own pocket, not to mention to do so frequently, but she just couldn’t help it, she didn’t have children of her own- yet- and having nowhere else to put her attention meant that all of it ended up being poured onto the kids at work
And could anyone blame her? They were so…. calm and peacefull during storytime, always staring up at her with those big curious eyes, like she was concocting the most incredible fable known to man- even if that “fable” was a Captain Underpants book
And really, it was the bookstore’s fault, the post-Mother’s Day sale had lured her in and she couldn’t be blamed for filling up her basket when they were all from the 30% Off table…
Unfortunately- or, fortunately, depending on how one looked at it- as she was veering off to the full-priced kids section, she turned a corner a little too sharply and bumped right into someone, causing her to drop her basket, books flying everywhere
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, trying to determine if the stranger had dropped anything due to her inattention
“Are you ok?”
He wasn’t sure what brought him here. Of course, he’d always been a man with an appreciation for literature. He could get lost in books for days, had a thirst for adventure and a more culturally rich life that books knew just how to quench. Yet here he was. Staring blankly at the kids’ section on his way out of the classic literature wing, as if there was something he’d forgotten.
He’d never had kids, never really made room in his life for relationships either. Didn’t think he’d ever even be the type of man who could enjoy that sort of domesticity. The sound of children crying was annoying more than anything, and he wasn’t sure he could ever bare to watch children’s tv. But an itch at the back of his skull had stopped him dead in his tracks.
Of course, he’d been standing here like an idiot with no kind of awareness of his surroundings, and he learned that quite quickly when a woman bumped straight into him, knocking the book he’d been holding directly out of his grip. The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers, landing directly on the hardwood floor. The regained his composure pretty quickly, straightened out his suit with practiced ease.
“I’m the one who should be sorry, it’s alright.” He smiled, his voice calm, collected— it carried a warm and friendly tone that would almost contrast the cold of his resting face from before the collision. “I… wasn’t paying attention.” A bit awkwardly, he went to pick the book he dropped, and a few he didn’t recognize. “I assume these were yours?”
“Honestly, neither was I,” Wanda confessed, already starting to regather her fallen basket, looking up a second later
“They are, yes, thank you,” she answered, gently taking the books to put back in her basket, her frayed nerves only just starting to settle, allowing her to pay a bit closer attention to the person who she had run into
He had been stopped in front of the children’s section, just like she had, and although seeing men there wasn’t as rare as old TV shows and gossip would have you believe, this one didn’t quite fit the usual vibe of exhausted single dads or committed house husbands that she usually saw though...
He was a bit more of an anomaly
“Were you um.... looking at anything in particular? With the.. kids books? I just.. I work at a daycare so I um... I guess I’m kind of... in the know about what’s popular with the under-six crowd, if you’re looking for a... gift or... something for your little one..?”
Why was she offering? ...Well... sometimes Wanda couldn’t quite help herself....
