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The woman held a keycard and a small keyring toward her.
Paige offered her a confused glance. “Those aren’t mine.”
“They are now. Welcome to the Shadow Harbor Public Library. You are the newest librarian.”
CHAPTER 2
Paige stood in stunned silence at her words. She pressed her lips together, her eyebrows pinching. Her glasses slid down her nose, and she inched them back up. “I–I–I’m sorry. I think I may have misunderstood what you said. Did I get the job?”
Veronica skirted around her desk and grabbed Paige’s hand, turning her palm up. She pressed the keys into her hand and pushed her fingers closed. “You got the job, Ms. Turner.”
Paige tugged her eyebrows tighter together. “How?” she asked before an expression of shock took hold of her features. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry. I mean thank you. Thank you. This is… Well, it’s fantastic. A dream come true, really. I just…given what you said moments ago, I’m shocked.”
“I’m sorry about that. I missed a few lines on your application. I need new glasses.”
Paige crinkled her nose at the statement. She didn’t wish to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the woman had literally told her she was underqualified for the position when compared with the other applicants, then offered her the job on the spot.
“We should get you to HR,” Veronica continued. “The paperwork with those folks is endless.” The woman glanced up and down Paige’s outfit. “Oh, unless you’d prefer to change and come back.”
“Oh, right,” Paige said, glancing down at her disheveled attire. “I don’t normally show up for work in this condition. I just had a terrible morning.”
“Sounds like it. Well, I hope your luck is turning around. Do you live close?”
Paige nodded as she clutched at the handles of her bag. “About a fifteen-minute walk.”
“Well, that’s perfect. I’ll get the information down to HR while you run home and change. By the time you get back, they should be ready for you. Be prepared to sign, sign, sign!”
Veronica looped her arm through Paige’s and led her toward the stairs. “When you return, come straight up to my office, and I’ll take you down personally to HR. Oh, and don’t ditch the bracelet. It’s your lucky charm.”
Paige glanced down at the silver charms dangling from her wrist before flicking her gaze back to Veronica and nodding. “Okay. See you soon.”
She plodded down the stairs, wobbling on her heels and glancing behind her at the woman standing at the top. She swallowed hard as she stepped onto the penny-tile floor at the bottom, worried that she should have declined the offer to change her clothes.
Would she come back and find this was all a horrible joke? She glanced down at her closed right hand. A set of keys and an electronic keycard peeked from between her fingers. It couldn’t be a joke. She had the keys. She had the job. After a final glance and tentative smile at Veronica, she pushed through the door and into the crisp fall air.
As she descended the stone stairs, her gaze flitted around the city. A broad grin formed on her face. For the first time in a long while, she smiled at the world. The bright oranges, reds, and yellows of the trees dotting the city’s sidewalk smiled back at her. A few leaves drifted from their branches and collected on the stairs as she descended them.
Paige picked up an orange maple leaf, twirling it in her fingers by its stem. She tossed it in the air, eyeing it as it flew, limned against the crisp blue sky before it floated downward in a slow waltz to the ground.
As she watched the leaf dance, she took her final step down to the sidewalk. Her heel caught, and she wobbled for a moment, flailing her arms. It proved a losing battle, and she toppled to the ground, sprawling against the concrete.
Her glasses flew off, skittering across the ground and hurling toward the street. Her tote bag landed several feet away, its contents spilling across the sidewalk. She hit the ground hard, scraping her left knee and her right palm. She winced as she stared at the angry red scratches, her hand almost pressed against her face as she struggled to see.
“Are you okay?” a man inquired.
“Huh?” Paige asked, squinting as she searched for who spoke. Without her glasses, the world blurred into an unidentifiable mess. “I lost my glasses. I can’t see a thing.”
A figure squatted in front of her, sliding a mangled pair of glasses back onto her face. “Sorry, they got a little damaged before I got them. I think a truck ran them over.”
Paige blinked a few times. A spiderweb crack obscured part of the vision in her right eye.
She inched the glasses a little higher. “That’s okay. I have another pair at home. I break them continuously.”
She offered a nervous chuckle as she flicked her gaze at the stranger.
Dark eyes stared back at her from a tanned face. Full lips with a slight curve formed a smile as he smoothed a lock of wavy, dark, cheek-length hair back toward his ear. The lock failed to catch, springing forward again and dangling in his face, touching his long, dark lashes.
Paige stared at him for a moment too long, admiring the handsome, chiseled jaw, the high cheekbones, the deep-set eyes that bore into her. Her heart thudded against her ribs as he held her gaze. Was he flirting with her?
