Mrs. Abbott and the Doctor

Rain Drops and Book Marks

"The one day we have to lug our suitcases to the beach, has to be the day it's fucking pouring." Adella complained dragging her luggage to the front door.

Harvey not fair behind her countered, "We'll escape the rain once we get to the islands." He set his bags on either side of him before taking his disgruntled wife's face into his hands, "Can we make it till then, right?"

She nodded, "I guess." Her huffed turned into a giggle feeling his mustache press against her forehead.

Adella turns to find Marci standing a few feet away from them waiting to say her goodbyes. She gives her a tight hug for reassurance.

"I have Marnie's phone number on the fridge in case of emergencies, but don't hesitate to call her if you have any animal questions."

"What if it's a plant question?" Marci asked.

"Then you can ask Caroline or Pierre."

"What if—"

"You will be fine Marci," Adella grips onto her shoulders calming her down, "I feel confident in your abilities to take care of the farm while we're gone. We'll call you when we get settled in okay?"

Marci nodded feeling her stomach ease up.

"We'll be back before the season ends." Harvey affirmed, "We'll also check in with you to see how things are going."

"I would appreciate that." She smiled at him.

Marci watches them leave into the storm before putting on a few rain protectant layers to start her day. Luckily it's pouring so her tasks are reduced significantly. She makes her rounds tending to the animals giving them plenty of food and scratches.

She adores the cows, they are possibly the only animal she on the farm that Marci can take out her cuteness aggression on. She can squeeze them and they won't mind. Unless they start showing signs of irritation then retaliation and Marci would become a statistic of deaths caused by cows each year.

After giving the daily pets to the animals and checking up on the products in the machines, Marci finished her duties early and started making her way into town. She remembered Adella mentioning that there's a library and museum just by the hopefully soon-to-be closed Joja Mart. She figured she would have way better luck finding a book that wasn't a medical journal or about World War 2.

Stepping into the building, Marci was quite surprised seeing how big the collect is. Pelican Town is a considerably small town, at most she thought there be a few shelves containing The Farmer's Almanac, a few nonfiction titles, and some kids books. It's no Belle's library but it's a good amount of books.

She glanced out to several shelves of books trying to find the section labels. Apparently, she was staring a bit too long and got spooked by a deep gravelly voice.

"Morning miss, need help finding anything?" A man from behind the counter in a blue denim cowboy ensemble asked.

"Oh! Um, I was kinda looking for your fiction section."

"Right this way, ma'am." He walked out for the counter. Leading her to the requested section, he gestured to the specific shelves, "From here to the end of this case is fiction, ma'am."

"Thank you, Mister..."

"Gunther," he said tipping the brim of his hat, "Anything else I can help you with?"

Marci shook her head not thinking of anything else, "That should be it, thank you." She smiled.

"My pleasure miss, and you have a blessed day. Happy reading." Gunther grinned and made his way back to the counter.

Marci searched through the books to find one the piqued her interest. Once she settled on one, she found a spot by a window so she can also listen the rain outside.

Not realizing that she picked a quick read, Marci finished her book in 3 hours. She takes a moment to stretch before getting up from her comfortable position in the chair. There is a few more people in the library then when she first came in but not crowded.

She places her book on a return cart before heading back to the fiction section. In the distance she hears the front door open and a pair of voice break the almost silence.

"Alright Vince, make sure you return your book before picking out new ones."

Marci recognized that smooth voice anywhere. Peaking through the books, she can feel her stomach twist and turn seeing Sam's gravity-defying spiked hair. Even with a downpour his locks are staying perfectly upright.

His little brother skips towards her general direction and they make eye contact for a brief second. Marci whips her head back to the bookcase trying to act natural. She sees a little hand in her peripheral trying to reach a book on a higher shelf.

"Scuse me miss?" The boy called out getting her attention, "Can you grab that book for me please?" He asked pointing to it.

"Sure." She obliged handing it to him, "Here you go."

"Thanks!" He grinned, "Alright Sammy, we can go home now!"

"Shh, keep down, buddy. This is a library, other people are reading." Sam whispered.

Marci's heart kept in her chest. At least give a warning if you're going to stand behind her.

"Sorry." His brother whispered.

"Didn't expect to see you here." Sam smiled at her.

"Likewise." She sheepishly grinned.

"Oh! Before I forget, I don't think I introduced you to my little brother Vincent, yet." He remembered then looks at Vincent, "Vince, this is Marci. She's the Farmer Adella's cousin, she's watching the farm while she's away."

"Nice to meet you, Vincent." Marci smiles and waves at him.

"You too, Marci." Vincent smiles and start swaying. Eager to get home with his new book, "Can you read me this when we get home?" He looks up at Sam holding out his book.

"Sure buddy, anything you want." He takes the book then glances back at Marci, "We better get going, mom's making fish casserole for dinner and I need to help prep it."

"I won't keep you up then." She smiles.

Vincent grabs into his older brother's hand before they start to leave the library, "See ya around then." Sam waves but then quickly turns back towards Marci, "If you'd like sometime... you're welcome to stop by for dinner at our place." He offered feeling his cheeks get a bit warm.

Her heart pounded faster as blood rushed to her cheeks, "I'll think about it." Marci couldn't help but grin.

"Alright, cool then." Sam blushed, "See ya... see ya later then." He starts getting dragged out of the library by Vincent.

Marci faced the bookshelf once more, smiling to herself getting all those giddy butterflies out of her system. She easily overheard them talking to each other before they left the building.

"She's really pretty, Sammy."

"Yeah, I know buddy."