Page 134 of The Librarians

Everyone else must go back inside to their duties, but Hazel, who isn’t on the clock today, has the luxury to linger for a few minutes.

Go on. Start a new life for yourself, Nainai had told her before her first day at work. At the time Nainai’s exhortation had seemed much too lofty a goal for Hazel, who was only trying to get through the day.

Have a wonderful life, Conrad once inscribed those words to her. Thatday on Madeira she hadn’t the least idea how to live a wonderful life, hadn’t even believed in the possibility.

Now she has a new life and she is beginning to wonder how one might go about achieving a wonderful one.

And she still doesn’t know how to do that. But maybe, she can learn to have wonderful moments instead.

A wonderful moment is her standing by the bike rack before the library, her shadow stretched out before her in the light of golden hour, breathing in the scent of live oak and green grass, a muted roar of traffic rumbling across the overpass eight hundred feet away.

Her grandparents’ health, her mother’s happiness, the longevity of her brand-new relationship, the state of the country, the fate of the world—the potential for future distress is endless.

But in this moment, she is happy for her colleagues and she is happy for herself. In this moment she trusts in the kindness of others and the kindness of the universe. In this moment she does not need anything beyond the air she is breathing and the peace in her heart.

In this moment, she has a wonderful life.