It’s okay if it’s bad, she’d said to Beau, just a few days before.
Okay, okay.
When the timer went off again, Izzy shut the notebook right away. She was terrified to be writing again, but she still liked this idea.
Beau started to close his laptop, but she stopped him. “Did you save it? Preferably in more than one location, so you have a backup?”
A panicked look washed over his face. “I…you’re going to think this is stupid, but…”
“I bet I won’t,” she said.
He tried to smile but didn’t quite make it. “I thought about that, saving it, but I didn’t know what name to give it. It felt—it feels—too, I don’t know, official, to call it a book, or even a chapter.” He looked down. “I’m sorry, I’m being ridiculous.”
She grinned at him. “How about this? Call it ‘Isabelle made me do this.’”
He laughed. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” His hands flashed over the keys, and then he looked up at her. “Done.”
Izzy picked up the green juice to take the last sip, but it was all gone. She looked across the table at Beau, who had a very smug expression on his face.
“Admit it,” he said. “Admit the green juice is refreshing.”
Izzy set her lips in a firm line so she wouldn’t smile. “I will admit that it grew on me a little, in that same way mold does, but I admit nothing else.”
Beau laughed and stood up. “If I didn’t already know how stubborn you were, I would know for sure now.” He flipped his notebook closed and handed it to her, like he did whenever they left the library. “Same time tomorrow?”
She smiled on the way out of the library. “I prefer the word determined, thank you very much. But tomorrow is Saturday—I’m not going to make you work over the weekend.”
She expected to see relief on his face, but instead he looked disappointed for just a second, before that old angry look settled back on his face. “Oh. Okay. That makes sense.”
Did he want to keep going?
“If you want, we can meet over the weekend, too,” she said.
He shook his head, not looking at her. “I’m not going to make you work with me on the weekend, it’s your time off.”
She poked him with the notebook. He jumped and finally looked directly at her. “You’re not making me do anything. I’m offering. Beau, do you want to meet here tomorrow to work on your book?”
He looked down for a moment and then met her eyes. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”
She started to walk back to her room.
“Izzy.”
She stopped and turned around.
“I was wondering,” he said. “Maybe you’ve already watched some more episodes of This Provincial Life on your own, and if so, ignore me, it’s fine. But if not, tonight, do you want to have dinner and watch one or two?”
She did, as a matter of fact.
“That sounds great,” she said. “Meet you in the kitchen. What time?”
The tense look on his face relaxed. “How about seven? Kettle made lasagna. I’ll tell her I can handle putting it in the oven. I’ll grab us a bottle of wine.” He paused. “I don’t know if you want any, but…I don’t know if you noticed, this week was a little stressful for me.”
She burst out laughing. “You don’t know if I noticed? Do you think this week was stressful just for you?”
He laughed, too. “Okay, good point.”
When Izzy got down to the kitchen that night, Beau was already there, taking a big pan out of the oven.
“That smells amazing,” she said.
He turned and grinned at her. “You have no idea. Kettle’s lasagna is legendary. There’s salad and garlic bread, too, but this is the star.”
Beau dished out lasagna on two plates for them and set their plates on the tray, along with the garlic bread and bowls full of salad.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I already brought the wine in there.”
She laughed. “You read my mind.”
Izzy followed him into the TV room and sat down on the couch.
“Is red okay?” he asked her as he picked up the corkscrew. “I thought it would go best with the lasagna, but if you’d rather have white, I can—”
She took their plates off the tray. “Red is perfect. I’m not picky, especially not tonight.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you trying to tell me that dealing with a stubborn, ungrateful, difficult student all week has made you really look forward to some wine?”