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I was about to begin a third chapter when my mum appeared around a bookshelf.
“There you are, Rose. Minnie said you were back here.”
It was the first time in my life I wasn’t pleased to see my own mother.
Mum’s gaze darted between me and the boy, narrowing as she took in his obvious height and width and probably assuming he was way too old for me. Although, in her eyes, everyone was way too old for me. I was still her baby.
“Come on,” she said, hurriedly. “I said we’d meet Jeff for a coffee.”
Ah, Jeff. The new boyfriend.I nodded obligingly. I would go and see Jeff to appease Mum, but I wasn’t planning to get to know him. Most often, the moment they heard she had a teenage daughter, they ran a mile.
I stood, reluctantly pulling away from the warmth of his arm. I felt his hot eyes follow me as I placed the books back on the shelves. I paused with my hand still attached to the one I’d been reading to him. I didn’t have a lot of my own money but the way this boy had made me feel, I would spend my entire life savings on a book that might just help me relive this moment again and again.
I turned, holding the book to my chest. His expression had darkened.
“See you around, Rose.”
My name dripped off the edge of his tongue like the caramel he smelled of. I so badly wanted to see him around but I wasn’t stupid enough to think he meant it inthatway. I was a child. Barely pubescent. But no one had ever made my stomach flutter before. No one had made me feel so heavy it was like I was glued to the seat.
Instead, I asked, “Do you live around here?” I’d never seen him before. I would have remembered.
He smiled, a ghost of sadness hovering behind it. “No. I don’t.”
The next words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. “That’s a shame.”
He stared back at me, unblinking, until I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned to follow Mum out of the shop when he called me back.
“If you remember one thing about us meeting, make it this:Were it not for the shadows, there would be no beauty. Question everything, Rose. Don’t let the light blind you.”
I repeated his words over and over in my head the entire way home and every day since. I would always remember that encounter as the first time I felt like the woman I was destined to become.
“Areyou really going to do it Rose? Sleep with a total stranger?”
Remi’s question drew me back to the uncomfortable present prospect I was going to do exactly that.
I shrugged. “People do it all the time. Isn’t that what a one night stand is?”
She tipped her head briefly. “Well, yes, I suppose. But there tends to be some measure of attraction and lots of alcohol.”
“I’m sure I can manage the latter,” I deadpanned.
“Okay, so how does it work exactly?”
I settled into my seat. "I had to post pictures of myself on the website – all angles, scars included. Apparently, if you aren’t truthful about your appearance, you can forfeit the auction.”
“And what if you’re not a virgin?”
“Oh, you have to provide medical proof.”
"Rose," she said, her skin paling by the second. "How does one prove one hasn’t been tampered with?"
I cocked my head. "What’s with the ‘one’ all of a sudden?"
"Just answer the question, Rose."
I sighed. "Private clinics test for that sort of thing," I said with a shrug. "It was super quick, in and out, job done."
Remi stared at me for several long seconds. "Mm. Here’s hoping."
