“All though, nothing could be as scary as the time Fitz and the governor were shot there,” Ronan said, before having some of his soup.
“You were shot?” Spencer asked, his eyes wide.
Fitzgibbon nodded. “Twice, as a matter of fact. Once while working with Ronan on a serial killer case. Ronan actually saved my life. The second time was at a fundraising gala when someone came into the shelter and started shooting. Ronan saved my life that time too.”
“Are you sure Ronan wasn’t the one who caused you to get shot in the first place?” Jude asked with snarky grin.
“Bite me, asshole,” Ronan muttered. “Do you have any idea what organization you’d like to donate to?”
“Your daughter was talking about her school library not having enough copies ofGreen Eggs and Hamby Dr. Suess. Could I give them money to buy more books?” Spencer asked. “Or could we buy the books and donate them to the school?”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Ronan agreed.
“Is that little Christenson kid still taking that book out every week?” Jude asked with a snort.
“Yup!” Ronan agreed. “He turns the book in when library time starts. It gets reshelved during story time and he always manages to race to the stacks to grab it before anyone else can.”
“Why doesn’t someone just buy a copy for Christmas or his birthday or something?” Fitzgibbon asked.
Ronan shrugged. “No clue, but every single Library day Everly comes home in a snit because she couldn’t take the book out of the library.”
“Why don’t you just buy her a copy?” Jude offered.
“We’re trying to teach her about money not growing on trees and encouraging her to get books through the library. Although, to be honest, I’m about at my breaking point. Today is library day. Maybe I’ll run out and grab her a copy.”
“If toady is library day, why don’t we go buy a ton of books and bring them to the school?” Spencer suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Ronan said. “How much are you looking to spend?” Ronan grimaced at his question. How much Spencer donated was really none of his business. Effy Lou hadn’t stipulated an amount to donate in her will, so the decision lay with Spencer.
“One thousand.” Spencer’s gaze was on Ronan, as if he were waiting for the detective to give him a yay or nay.”
“That’s great. Why don’t we head to the bookstore now?” Ronan finished the rest of his soup and got up to throw out the trash.
“Let’s do it.” Spencer turned to Fitz and Jude. “You guys wanna come too?”
“If we hurry, we can buy everything and be to the school in time for the kids’ library time,” Jude said. “I want to see the looks on everyone’s faces.”
“Me too,” Fitz said. “I’ll drive.”
Ten minutes later, everyone was loaded into Fitzgibbon’s SUV heading for the closest book store. Ronan had sent a quick text to Miss Fowler, the kids’ new first grade teacher to let her knowwhat was going on and also called the librarian to let her know about the donation. Lastly, he messaged old friend Principal Max Preston to give him a heads up as well.
When they got to the store, Spencer jumped out of the SUV with obvious excitement. “Aunt Effy Lou always bought me books for my birthday and Christmas. I always thought they were stupid presents because I wanted action figures or video games, but she really wanted the best for me.”
“We buy our kids books all the time and spend about a half an hour or so before bed reading to them,” Ronan said.
“Everly sounded excited for story time the night I had dinner with you guys.”
“She can read on her own, but still loves listening to me tell stories. It will break my heart when the day comes that she doesn’t want me reading to her before bed. We also talk about our day or something we’re looking forward to the next day. I think it keeps us close.” If Ronan kept going on about this, he was going to start bawling in the middle of the bookstore. He held the door open for everyone and grabbed two baskets before leading everyone to the kids section.
It didn’t take long before all the baskets were full.
“This was a lot of fun,” Spencer said, lugging his load toward the cash registers. “I feel good knowing that we’re doing something to help the kids.”
“I thought you’d feel that way once we got into the spirit of things. The best thing about being an adult is being able to do anything we want whenever we want to do it. We can be completely selfish because the only person we’re affecting is ourselves. All of that changes when you get married and now you’re looking out for someone else, wanting them to be happyand to feel safe. It all changes again when you become a parent. Everything you do is for your kids. If Everly needed a heart, I’d cut my own out of my chest for her. You’re growing up right before my eyes. Aunt Effy Lou would be proud of you.” Ronan patted Spencer’s shoulder.
“Do you think she’s here with us right now?” Spencer turned to look behind him, as if he expected to see Effy Lou standing in line with an armload of romance novels.
“I hope so.” Ronan grinned. “It would be a shame for her to have gone through all the trouble of asking you to do things in her will and not be here to see your moment of triumph.”
