Thank you all for your reviews and sorry this update took so long! I've rewritten the story a little so it makes more sense, so I'd start from the beginning. The book mentioned in this chapter is Dora's Mystery of the Missing Shoes by Cristina Ricci.
Robin's revelation on the day he gave Regina the maze ran through his mind constantly over the next few days. He couldn't possibly have feelings for either Regina or Roni. After all, Roni had once been a figment of his imagination and Regina would have to open up to him more for him to truly know her.
To that end, he decided that his next step was to spend time with each of the women in a setting where he would get to know both of them better. The question was: what would that ideal setting be?
For Roni, the solution seemed simple. Because he lived with her, he knew her well already, so he had no shortage of ideas for ways to spend time with her. He knew that she loved to cook, so he asked her one day if she would like to go to a cooking class. While she was already a skilled chef (she did work at Granny's, after all), Robin knew that there were always new recipes and techniques to learn. And he was sure that he could benefit from the classes as well. He cooked out of necessity, so the quantity of recipes that he was able to follow easily was not as numerous as it could be.
Regina, however, would be more of a challenge. He finally discovered an idea one day as he was talking to Marco, who was both the assistant manager and the library's children's librarian.
As he entered the library that day, Marco directed him to the circulation desk, where a flyer was taped to the countertop. Brightly colored pictures and large, bold letters advertised the library's next storytime. "You should bring your boy to this. Normally, I do them, but Regina will be the librarian leading this one because we are starting to do regular bilingual storytimes."
Robin couldn't help smiling, both at the idea that Marco thought Roland was his son and knowing how much hosting a storytime likely meant to his favorite librarian. "That sounds wonderful. I'll look into seeing if I can have him with me that day."
He looked at the date. It was late in the afternoon on a Thursday, but doing the math, he knew that Marian and John would typically be working that day, so Roland would be in just getting out of school and to daycare at that time. He would have to make sure he didn't work as well, so he would have to talk to both his boss and Roland's parents to convince them to let him take his godson for the afternoon. He didn't imagine that Marian would approve of the idea of him using Roland for this purpose, though. He could only imagine the look of irritation on her face, the flash of fury in her eyes. He would have to tread carefully in order to bring Roland, because while he could attend the storytime on his own, it would be much more comfortable for everyone involved if he had his godson with him. If he used the fact that it was a bilingual storytime, Marian may be more willing to allow him to have her son for the event. She was always looking for ways for her son to experience a part of his native culture. While she was Belizean, she also had Guatemalan ancestors.
He nodded, confident in his plan. "I'll talk to his mother, but I'll do my best to be there."
"Excellent!" Marco replied with a knowing smile. He patted him on the back and went about his day.
When Robin got home, he called Marian. "I have a proposition for you."
"Oh no," she groaned. "I know you, Robin. Any conversation that starts that way doesn't necessarily mean something good. What exactly are you planning?"
Knowing that he had to begin with the part of the plan that would appeal most to his friend, Robin informed her, "There's a bilingual storytime at the library this Thursday. I was wondering if you might let me pick Roland up from school that day so I can take him."
He could practically see her raised eyebrows. Her tone was brisk as she asked him, "You know I trust you, Robin, but what's the catch? You've never wanted to pick him up from school in the middle of the week before. And besides, don't you have work?"
"I'm a freelance writer, I can work whenever I want to," he reminded her. "Besides, I'm going to call Gold next anyway. He may want me to write about it."
She laughed, asking skeptically, "And you really think he'll view this in a favorable light? From everything you've ever told me about him, I highly doubt that, Robin."
"I'm a freelance writer," Robin reminded her. "I only write stories for the paper every so often. Besides, If I do an article for the event, they can use it in the paper. It's unique, so Gold's bound to want an article on it."
She sighed. "Yes, but Robin… just be careful. I don't want you using my son as a way to get to this girl, and I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate it either, if she knew about it. Make sure you spend some time alone with her at some point too."
Properly chastised, Robin nodded, even though he knew his friend wouldn't see it. "I know, and I will, I promise. But this seemed too perfect, so I wanted to seize the opportunity."
"All right- again, just make sure this doesn't become a habit," Marian warned.
"I won't," Robin promised. He knew that she was right, that he needed to get to know Regina without using any external influences, but he wanted to see her in an environment that would likely bring out her best qualities, and showing up to a children's event without a younger friend in tow would be strange- no, more than that: pathetic.
The question was: how would she react to them being there? And would the experience really bring them closer together? He couldn't wait to find out.
The next call he made was to Gold. Gold had never been Robin's favorite person, and he was fairly certain that the feeling was mutual. However, the editor would acknowledge that he was a good writer, and when Robin told him about the bilingual storytime, he asked him to write an article about it for the paper, just as Robin suspected.
The day of the bilingual storytime had arrived. Robin picked up Roland from school as planned, and the two of them headed to the library.
When Robin told Roland where they were going, his eyes lit up. "We're going to see Miss Gina?"
Robin couldn't help grinning. He loved that his godson seemed as enamored with both incarnations of Regina as he was. "Yes, we are. But remember, we can't tell her about Miss Roni, or she might not like us anymore, and we wouldn't get to see her again."
"Okay!" Roland readily agreed. "What story is she going to read, Uncle Robin?"
"I don't know," he told his godson. "We'll just have to wait and find out."
When they got to the library, several parents and guardians were already there with their children. As Regina greeted each patron, Robin once again noticed the difference between her interactions with the children and adults. She was polite around the adults, yes, but it was nothing compared to her interactions with the younger members of her audience. She greeted every one of them by name, including Roland, who happily greeted her with "Hi, Gina!"
"Hi, sweetheart," she responded, bending her knees so she was at his eye level. Glancing up at Robin, she asked Roland, "Did your Uncle Robin bring you to listen to a story today?"
"Yes! I can't wait, Gina!"
"Me either," she assured him before standing and turning to greet a family that had entered the children's area after them.
Once everyone entered, the storytime began. First, Regina sang a song with the children, telling them the words and then singing it with them twice before she began the story.
Robin knew that the library's collection of bilingual books (and books in languages other than English in general) was small, but Regina had managed to find the perfect book, in Robin's opinion. It was a Dora the Explorer book, and although he noticed that it was written entirely in English, Robin saw pictures for each word that his favorite librarian translated into Spanish, and he had to remember to commend her for her selection afterwards.
As Regina was about to turn the page, Robin heard a stone-cold voice behind him. "What exactly do you think you're doing, Miss Mills? Let Marco finish the storytime, and come with me."
Robin turned, and sure enough, there was Ms. Blue, standing at the back of the crowd with Marco running up behind her. Rage rose within him. How dare she? Not only was she interrupting storytime, but she was doing so in a way that he was sure would humiliate Regina and in the process, not be good for the library's reputation if she did it in front of patrons. He supposed that was why she had asked Marco to take over, but in Robin's opinion, the damage had already been done.
It seemed that Marco agreed with him. He reasoned with the manager in a calm, quiet voice, "Afina, let her finish. She'll have plenty of time for other things afterward. And in the meantime, you're upsetting the children."
Looking around him, Robin hated to see that Marco was right. The library's youngest patrons all had frowns on their faces and one or two of them were starting to cry, including Roland.
"Uncle Robin, that lady's being mean to Gina," he whispered through his sniffles, and Robin had to agree.
"She is, but it'll be okay, you'll see," Robin reassured him, praying that he was telling his godson the truth.
The library's manager seemed to have noticed the same thing that Robin had, and it seemed that one of the few things that could move her were the tears of the children. "Very well. But the minute this is over, you need to go straight back to work. Is that understood?" she asked, her eyes daggers when she turned to Robin's favorite librarian.
Regina nodded, and at last, the woman that always seemed to be the true villain of the story in Robin's opinion walked away, leaving destruction in her wake that he was determined to help Regina fix until it was nothing more than a bad memory. Parents were still soothing their children, the children themselves wiping tears from their eyes.
Robin watched as Regina collected herself and cleared her throat. She clapped five times to get the children's attention, and they all turned to her, echoing her claps with the same rhythm. Robin supposed that Marco must use an identical method for restoring order. "Sorry about that, friends," she apologized. "Let's get back to our story now. Let's take a vote for whether we should start the story over again or not. Raise your hand if you want to start over. Make sure you vote so I know what you think."
Several children, more than half the room if Robin had to guess, raised their hands. Once Regina had counted the number of children who wanted to restart the story, she told them, "Now raise your hand if you want to start reading where we left off. Remember that you can only vote once, so if you already voted to start over, put your hand down please."
Again a few children, less than half of those assembled, raised their hands, and Regina's next words confirmed what Robin already knew. "All right, that settles it. We'll start the story from the beginning."
She opened the book to the first page and began reading. Like the children around him, Robin was lost in the story, Regina's voice a soothing balm for the chaos that Ms. Blue's interruption had caused. She led them on Dora's quest through the cave and across the pond to the field where they found the missing shoes. At the end of the story, the adults started clapping, reminding the children that as her audience, it was polite for them to clap for Regina as well. The applause (which was well-deserved, in Robin's opinion) made her smile. She led the children in another song, and then the storytime was over.
As parents took their children by the hand and prepared to leave, Robin told Roland, "Why don't you go play while I talk to Miss Regina for a minute?"
"Why can't I talk to her too, Uncle Robin?" his godson asked.
"It's a grown up conversation, you'd think it was really boring, I promise," Robin assured him. "Playing in the igloo sounds like much more fun, don't you think?" he asked, pointing him toward an igloo made of milk jugs that was situated in the far corner of the children's area.
An adorable little frown was his godson's only answer before he finally conceded. "Okay. As long as we talk to Miss Gina before we leave."
"Of course," Robin assured him. "We have to tell her how much you enjoyed storytime, don't we?"
"Yeah!" Roland nodded emphatically.
Grinning, Robin assured him, "Then we will, I promise, but first, I need to talk to her alone."
Roland nodded and scampered off to play with pillows and blankets, leaving Robin to focus his attention on Regina. She was saying goodbye to the last of the attendees, Marco by her side. As Robin approached, he heard him mutter, "Are you all right, Regina?"
"Of course," she answered quickly, the words leaving her so fast that Robin didn't believe her- and judging by the look on his face, Marco didn't either. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I just know that she's hard on you," the children's librarian acknowledged. "And I do what I can to stop her, but I don't know if I was entirely successful. You've been looking forward to this, I know you have, and I want to make sure it was all you wanted it to be."
She nodded. "It was, with the one obvious exception."
"Well," Marco suggested with a sly grin, his eyes directly on Robin, who was standing just behind Regina. "I may know someone who is perfectly willing to erase any bad memories of how she interrupted your storytime. Right, Robin?"
He nodded as Regina spun to face him. "Of course. Whatever you need, anytime."
"Why do you always have to be here when everything goes horribly wrong?" she demanded. It was clear that her walls were up. He would be getting nowhere with his relationship with her today if her tone and crossed arms were any indication of her current mood.
He shrugged in answer to her question. "I don't know. I'm glad I am, though. Regina, I don't know why she doesn't want you to do children's events, but-"
"Any events," she corrected bitterly. "She never wants me to do anything, and the reason why is a mystery. I've worked so hard for who knows how long, and she never gives me an opportunity to plan any programs or anything else that would indicate that I've been here for so long and can do much more than she'll ever give me credit for."
Robin looked in Marco's direction to see if he could shed any light on why the manager ran the library the way she did, but he was nowhere to be found. He was left alone with Regina, and while he was sure that the older manager and children's librarian had disappeared on purpose to give them time alone, he couldn't help but feel frustrated by the gesture at this particular moment. How was he supposed to handle this? What could he possibly say to make Regina feel better?
"Who does she like most?" he asked. "Maybe you could ask them to vouch for you."
"Mal," she responded bitterly. "And she's as much of a dragon as Ms. Blue- maybe even more so."
Robin grimaced. Would she never have allies who held power within her work? "Maybe you could try to befriend her?"
She snickered. "I can tell you haven't met her. Mal is… let's just say the dragon moniker suits her well. We're all lucky she doesn't char us to a crisp on a daily basis."
"Are you sure that she's the only one who can char coworkers to a crisp?" Robin asked, smirking. "Seems to me there's someone else who has that fiery spirit as well- and she's standing right in front of me."
"Flatterer," she muttered, and he couldn't help chuckling. Only she would see that as a compliment.
"I see nothing wrong with saying it as long as it's to your face and it's the truth," he unashamedly told her.
Her eyebrows rose. "And what, pray tell, do you say about me when I'm not around? How can you even have anything to say about me to anyone else in the first place?"
"Rest assured, I have plenty to say. I can tell them how strong you are, how you light up whenever there are children around. In addition to those things, now I can tell them that you run storytime better than anyone I know."
"Have you even watched any of Marco's storytimes?" she asked skeptically, one eyebrow raised.
"Well, no," Robin admitted. "But you're a mother, so I'm sure raising Henry has given you lots of practice."
"Marco has a son as well," she informed him- and it was only then that Robin remembered hearing about Marco's young son August.
"True," he acknowledged. "But there's less of an age difference between you and Henry than there is between Marco and August. Besides, don't tell Marco I said this, but you're younger, so you'd be able to relate to that age more even if you didn't have a son."
She chuckled at that, covering her mouth to stifle the sound. "Oh, I'm definitely telling him you said that. We'll see how much he likes you then."
"Do your worst, Ms. Mills," he replied, smirking. "I'm confident that Marco, good-natured gentleman that he is, will have no problem with that."
Her only response was to shake her head and walk away. On impulse, he reached out and grabbed her hand. "Wait."
"What is it now, Robin?" she sighed, her exhaustion from the day's events evident in her tone. "I have things to do, you know that. I can't just sit here and listen to your pathetic attempts at flirting all day long."
"I'm not doing this for me, I promise," Robin swore, holding up his hand in a gesture of surrender. "Roland wants to say goodbye to you before we go."
She sighed. "I can't keep Ms. Blue waiting any longer. Play with him for awhile or read to him and I'll come back later."
Robin nodded, and with that, she was gone. He walked over to Roland, who was, unsurprisingly, playing in the area's toy kitchen. It made Robin smile because he thought he knew what his godson was doing. "Are you cooking just like Roni? I thought you wanted to play in the igloo?"
"I already did, Uncle Robin!" the kindergartener informed him matter-of-factly. "Now I own a restaurant just like the one Roni works in!"
"Do you?" Robin asked with a smirk. "Might I ask what your best dish is?"
"Pizza and ice cream and lasagna!" Roland exclaimed excitedly.
Robin grinned. Pizza and ice cream didn't surprise him in the slightest, but lasagna was new. Although he had a sneaking suspicion how that meal had been added to the menu, and to confirm that he was right, he asked Roland, "Is lasagna something your restaurant makes because it's one of Roni and Regina's favorites?"
His godson nodded eagerly. "Uh huh! If Miss Gina and Miss Roni like it, it must be yummy!"
"Oh, and Miss Roni and Miss Regina know more about food than me, do they?" Robin teased, even though he knew what he had just said was the truth.
"Of course, Uncle Robin!" Roland informed him. "Roni even works at a restaurant!"
"True," Robin acknowledged. "What's your favorite thing Roni makes?"
"Hmm…" Roland pondered, his little eyebrows furrowed as he thought. "I like everything!"
"Me too," Robin chuckled. "Although I don't like-" He stopped as he saw Roland running over to Regina.
She seemed more tired than five minutes earlier, but that didn't stop her from holding her arms out to Roland as he leapt into her arms. "Did you enjoy storytime, Roland?" she asked, her eyes full of apprehension. Robin made a mental note to expel every trace of self-doubt going through her mind. She was truly stunning, and he didn't know how others didn't see it.
"Yeah!" his godson replied with enthusiasm. "Come see the pizza I made, Gina!"
As she went to follow him, Robin put a hand on her elbow. "How'd it go?" he whispered. He wanted to check on her, but didn't want Roland to overhear their conversation if it didn't go well (which he suspected would be the case).
As he knew they would, her shoulders sagged, a clear precursor to what her answer would be. "As well as you'd expect. I've been banned from doing programs for the foreseeable future."
"Did she give you a valid reason why?" he asked quietly, his temper rising. He had never gotten to the bottom of the mystery why the director disliked Regina so much, but he had a sneaking suspicion that even if he did, he wouldn't understand it.
"A reason? Yes. A valid one? No, of course not," Regina scoffed. "What made you think she'd do a reasonable thing like that? I thought you knew her better than that by now."
"I do," Robin admitted. "But I was hoping that I would be wrong just this once. She may be the manager, but as a human being, she had no right to be so rude to you."
"Yes, she did," Regina muttered. "As I'm constantly being told, it's her library, so she makes the rules."
"Maybe, but she's still a person just like the rest of us, so she should show empathy and compassion."
Regina threw her hands up in the air. "What exactly am I supposed to do? It's not like we have our own way to evaluate her, it only ever happens the other way around."
"Hmm," Robin mused. *That's actually a good idea. You could have patrons fill out customer service surveys. Maybe then, Ms. Blue will be forced to change her ways."
"It won't work," Regina stated doubtfully. "She's always on her best behavior for patrons."
"It's still worth a shot, I think," Robin encouraged. "You never know, someone might have picked up on something like I did."
"No one's as observant as you, and I'm guessing that that was only because of me, she pointed out. "Am I wrong?"
"Well, no..." he admitted reluctantly. "But the children noticed today, you know they did. Poor Roland was crying, and other children were too."
Her expression was soft as she contemplated his godson. "He likes me as much as you do, though, so that's not surprising at all."
Roland chose that moment to come running up to them. "Come on, Gina!" You promised you would play with me!"
"I did, didn't I?" she murmured, smiling brightly down at the child before them. "Let's go then! What are we going to bake?"
Robin followed them to the kitchen set, his thoughts spinning as he watched Regina and Roland set up their own restaurant. By the time they left, he had a fully formed plan to ensure that the customer service survey wouldn't fail. All he would need was a few friends to help him...
Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think!