"And he huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house down!" Jennifer read, the small circle of children in front of her saying the words together. Some of them fell dramatically as they read "down."
The head librarian came in and nodded towards Jennifer. Jennifer smiled back, nodding at the librarian.
She stood and and closed the book, turning her smile to the kids, "Alright kids, story time's over for now. I'll see you all next week."
The kids erupted into noise, all laughing and talking over each other to each other. Jennifer smiled at them all, nodding when they tried to talk to her, when one little girl, her name was Zoe, came up and hugged her leg, "Hi Ms. Mason!"
Jennifer stooped to pull Zoe off her leg and held her hands, "Well if it isn't my favorite little reader? You missed story time!"
"That would be my fault." A voice just behind Zoe said. Jennifer looked up to see easily the most attractive man standing there. Jennifer blushed at him, as she stood.
He smiled at her and offered his hand for her to shake, "Hi, I'm Duke Crocker, Zoe's dad."
She smiled nervously back and shook his hand, "Hi. I'm, uh, Ms. Mason, I'm the—"
Duke nodded, "Oh I know who you are. My little lady here will not stop talking about her favorite librarian."
Zoe grabbed Jennifer's hand again and tugged, making her look down at her, as she said, "Daddy got up late this morning. We didn't get going until 11,"
Duke sighed back at Zoe, "And I have been apologizing profusely all morning."
Jennifer giggled next to Zoe and squeezed her hand, "How about we go find you a really difficult book for your Daddy to read to you?"
Zoe beamed up at Jennifer, "Okay!"
Duke groaned jokingly, "Oh now what did I ever do to you, Ms. Mason?"
She smiled at him, "Oh, please, call me Jennifer."
Duke smiled at her, "Jennifer."