“Would you like more to drink, Meredith? I have more iced tea or water. I have orange juice if you prefer.”
“I’d love more tea.”
“I’ll get it.” Tucker shot up from his chair. With a forced smile he took her glass.
When he left, Meredith leaned over to me. “Is he okay? He seems a little grumpy. I hope everything is okay with your marriage?”
“He’s fine.”
“You’re not withholding from him? Are you?”
I cocked my head, not quite sure what she meant.
“In the bedroom,” she murmured low, like it was a secret.
For a moment I just stared.
“It’s important to keep you husband satisfied if you don’t want him to have a roaming eye.”
Seriously? “Things are fine there,” I assured her.
“You sure?”
I looked over my shoulder at Tucker who was drinking water at the sink.
I leaned closer. “Normally, yes, but before you arrived…he was little randy…and I…”
“Say no more.” She patted my hand. “How about we review your plans and then I can get out of your hair. A young man like him, I’m sure he keeps you busy all hours of the day and night. I almost envy you.”
I couldn’t believe it. I was talking about my sex life…or more accurately, my fake sex life, with Meredith Reynolds, the town’s matriarch.
Tucker returned with her iced tea.
“Meredith would like to review the plans now,” I said to him.
“Oh…okay. I’ll clear the plates.”
“Well that’s your job dear,” Meredith said to me.
“It’ll help him pass the time,” I said to her with a wink.
Tucker’s eyes narrowed like he knew we had a secret.
“Yes, of course.” She laughed; her eyes gleaming with mischief as she looked at him.
He watched us with suspicion as he cleared the table and I pulled out the folder with our plans.
I rolled out the mockup of the library. “One thing that I think would be wonderful would be to have reading nooks for the kids. If it’s raining or they’ve finished homework or something to have a comfy place will encourage them to read. And I’d love it if it was colorful nooks that looked like books or a fairytale place. Maybe something like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts—”
“This is a place of learning not play.”
I frowned. “Reading can be play for the imagination, which is crucial for critical thinking.”
“I was imagining places to study and be tutored.”
I nodded. “Yes, I had ideas for small rooms for that. They could also be used for small group lessons and demonstrations.”
“Demonstrations? This is reading, not science.”