AllFreeNovel
Share Us
10
Lena
Ilove my job. As a child, the library was a safe place I could escape to. I’d curl up in a corner with a book and get lost in stories for hours, until Rhys would find me. He’d tell me it was time to go home, looking like he was coming to walk me to the executioner's block. That’s how it felt sometimes, too. The reason I ended up becoming a librarian was because this was my happy place. There was nothing more I wanted to do than surround myself with the means to escape this world, and to share that joy with others.
I know there are a lot of people who aren’t as lucky as me. They don’t love their job like I do, and I shouldn’t complain, but today is one of those days where closing can’t come fast enough. Someone threw up in the reading room twenty minutes after I arrived, then someone else dumped a full cup of coffee in the return slot. To top it off, a bird flew inside when some clueless patron stood with the door open for ten minutes, chatting with a friend on the threshold. In or out, buddy. What the hell?
It took me, my part-time worker, Destiny, two helpful citizens, a bucket, and a broom to wrangle the damn thing back out a window. By the time we were done, I was sweating up a storm, and there was bird poop all over the classics section.
A look at the clock over the checkout counter tells me it’s only six, and I nearly cry. We’re open until eight tonight, but I’m tempted to tell everyone they have to get the hell out and close up early. Destiny left after the bird poop incident, and Frank, who basically just reshelves books, is off on Saturdays. He’s almost ninety years old, and honestly, even if we didn’t pay him, he’d still probably show up and work, because that’s just what he does. He doesn’t talk much, but I find his presence comforting. Knowing that he’s tooling around in the stacks, slowly putting things back to rights, is calming.
There are a few teens in a back corner, giggling and shushing each other, and a couple that has been making out for the last hour and a half in the reading room. I have an internal chuckle as I think about how close they’re sitting to the girl’s puke from earlier this morning. That’s when I know I need this night to be over. I don’t usually begrudge the people who come to the library.
A chill whip of wind bites through my shirt. The weekends are usually more casual for me, but I felt like dressing up this morning. I need the extra layer between me and the world. Lately my skin feels too thin. I went with a tight black pencil skirt that stops just below my knees, and a cream sweater with a pair of black patent pumps that I’m regretting right about now. I smooth the fabric of my skirt, my mind drifting to Archer, and wondering what literary character he’d think I dressed like today.
“Excuse me.”
I lift my head from the computer where I’m working on an order of new releases for next month. There’s a man leaning his hip against the counter with a slick grin on his face. He’s one movement short of planting his butt on the checkout desk and fully sitting down in front of me. I don’t recognize him, which is unusual. We don’t get many tourists in the library. It’s mainly locals who come in, which makes sense since the tourists can’t get library cards here.
I haven’t heard of anyone new moving to town. Although, now that I think about it, Archer is usually the one who tells me stuff like that. He knows more gossip than a sewing circle, but he’s been acting weird since the other night. In the stacks. When he… when we… Ugh. So not important. He’s still showing up every day to walk me to and from work, even if he is acting all stiff and formal.
“Hi, how can I help you?” I force a tight-lipped smile. I am just not in the mood for any human interaction today. The man looks like he’s in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, and his sandy brown hair swoops over his forehead in a way that’s a little bit too boy band for me to handle. He’s tall and fit, but with a willowy frame that I can’t help but compare to someone else’s muscular build and rippling muscles.
“I’m new to town. Just arrived this past week, and I wanted to check out all the local highlights.” His tone is flirty, and his eyes sparkle with a mischief that should be playful, but there’s something darker there.
On another day, I might have been friendlier, or even flirted back, but not tonight. I blink, making my contacts shift, and I can’t tell if they’re the problem, or if I’m simply too tired to function. My contacts settle back into place, and I still see it. A golden glow outlines his body, the edges tainted with black that reminds me of spilled oil.
This day can be over any time now. I am going to file this away under the do not touch drawer until a later time. For now, I’m going to pretend everything is fine. Great. Perfect.
“Would you like to set up a library card?”
“I don’t have a permanent address yet, so I’m afraid that will be a problem.”
“Yes, sorry. Please feel free to come back when you have that information, and someone can get you set up in the system.” I nod briskly and take a step back, trying to signal that I’ve got other stuff to do, even though I really don’t.
“Actually, I have to admit something.”
I press my lips together to keep from expelling the loud sigh building in my throat. “Yes, what’s that?”
He ducks his head, and then peers up at me, his eyes half-lidded. My eyes dart around the room looking for that damn couple that’s been making out, or for someone who might need help, because I’m feeling awkward as hell.
“When I said I wanted to check out the local highlights, I didn’t specifically mean the library. In fact, I’ve heard a lot about the town's beautiful librarian. I have to say, I am not disappointed.”
My face flushes with embarrassment. Not because I’m flattered by his words, but because I’m so damn uncomfortable. Who the hell is this guy?
“Oh, um…” God, I can’t even think of an appropriate response. I’m at work, so it would probably be unprofessional to tell this guy to leave me the fuck alone.
“Lena.”
I nearly close my eyes at the deep voice that I know better than my favorite song. Archer saunters up to the counter next to my new fan club, looking like sin and all my fantasies in his dark blue suit. It fits him to perfection. The crisp white button up under the jacket highlighting the golden hue of his skin.
“Ah, Colton Zima. We meet again.”
My eyes flit between the two men. I wonder when Archer met this guy, and why he didn’t mention anything. Oh, right, because we’re having an existential crisis over our friendship.
“Archer, wow, I didn’t recognize you looking so civilized.”
Archer dips his head, his smile full of a sharpness that I rarely see from him. “If you’ll excuse us, I need a moment with the librarian.”
