“Trust,” I supply, craning my neck as I follow the signs pointing me to downtown New Hopewell.“I’m like ten minutes away from the place.”
I’m excitement and nervousness all wrapped into one jittery mortal coil.My nose crinkles.What a gross mental image.
“Your new home,” she says forlornly.
“I can call you back once I figure out parking,” I tell her, not wanting to be rude to my oldest friend.But my heart is pounding with nervousness, my palms sweaty on the wheel.
“I just, I know this sounds weird, but—” She pauses, and I hold back a sigh because I know her well enough to guess where she’s going with this.“Just be careful, okay?I…” Ivy trails off.“Things there aren’t what they seem.”
“I’ll be careful,” I tell her gently, trying not to let my impatience and anxiety show in my voice.“Thank you, Ivy, I gotta go so I don’t rear-end someone or end up at the wrong house.”
“Don’t worry.There’s only one house you’re going to end up in,” she says miserably.“Bye.”
With that, the phone line goes dead, and I do my best to brush off Ivy’s bizarre (though normal for her) warning and focus on getting my ass (and my car) safely to my new abode.
I’ll have to figure out whatever the hell she meant later, once I’m unpacked and have the apartment as clean as I can get it.
Until then, I’m sure there will be plenty of things to worry about that have nothing to do with another one of Ivy Romantic’s so-called premonitions.
* * *
The GPS leadsme through the adorable town square, where several safety-vest-clad crews sweat in the late summer heat.One balances on a ladder, hanging a fabric pennant from one of the old-fashioned lampposts lining the street.Market lighting hangs between the old brick-façade buildings, glass glittering in the sun.
Someone honks at me, and I swear under my breath and tear my attention back to the road.
Green light.
“Right turn ahead,” my GPS says.“Your location is in one hundred feet on the right.”
I squeal in excitement.
Home.
This is going to be my new home.It’s in the downtown area—which, of course, I knew because I am a very proficient Googler—but seeing it with my own eyes is better than any blurry Google Earth picture could be.
I park carefully, happy to find a spot right in front of the little white-washed brick three-story building, and sit in my car for a long moment, staring at it.
It’s everything I’ve dreamed of, and more.Too good to be true, a little voice nags in my head, but I shut that bitch up faster than the eighteen-wheeler that nearly ran me off the six-lane highway an hour ago.
An aged wooden sign hangs from an iron post, the dark engraving simply stating “Books”.Brown butcher paper is taped inside the dusty floor-to-ceiling windows, which will require some serious cleaning, but the door…
The door is gorgeous, a dark wood affair with a cathedral-style stained-glass window in deep purples and ocean teals and ruby reds.
My mouth twists to the side.
Alright, it’s filthy, just like the windows, and the pock-marked sidewalk desperately needs a good power wash, but it has potential.
It has promise.
And it’s all mine.My heart gives a little jump of excitement, and I finally turn the car off.The heat immediately becomes unbearable, and I tug my old red JanSport over my shoulder and hustle out of the car before it bakes me alive.
Not an ideal way to go.
The keys one of the legion of lawyers gave me are already in a place of honor on a newly purchased keyring.It is, without a doubt, the most frivolous thing I have ever purchased for myself, and a familiar rush of guilt grips me before I let the tinkle of its enamel books soothe the feeling.
“Five years,” I say out loud.“Five years is nothing.I’ll have this place up and running in no time, and then the trust will be mine.”I get a stipend too, which is the only reason I splurged on the bookish keychain.There’s space for more charms, and I told myself that once I hit certain business milestones, I’d be filling that bad boy out with more cute little enamel goodies.
I mean, I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about running my own business.I have a degree in library science.But… I am damn good at research, and I am damn good at getting things done.
