Stella noticed a thread fraying on the throw pillow. She worried it between her fingers. How could two truths exist inside her at once? The house trapped her in the past, and the house connected her to people she loved. “I’m not ready yet.”
“Yet?” Percy asked. “So there’s a maybe in there somewhere?”
She sighed and smoothed her hand across the couch cushion. Maybe she could loosen her grip on the past. Maybe she couldeaseinto changing some things.
Percy’s voice was gentle when he said, “Hey, we can talk about that later. Today I’m calling for a good reason.”
“You make it sound like you usually call for bad ones. Did you get a raise? Find another great job? Buy a house on the beach? Charter a yacht?” She grimaced at the hint of jealousy in her voice.
“As a matter of fact, I did find a job, but not for me,” Percy said. “For you! I just got off the phone with a client who works down in Miami, and they’re looking for someone with your qualifications.”
Stella sat up. “Miami? That’s almost eight hundred miles from here.” Definitely not a change she was ready for.
“You do know there are multiple forms of transportation these days, right?” Percy shot back.
“What’s the job?”
“It’s a posh accounting firm that handles only wealthy clientele,” he said.
She barely contained a groan in response. “Why would I want to move to Miami?”
Percy went on, ignoring her question. “They’d start you out with a six-figure salary, and the benefits are—”
“Percy, listen,” Stella interrupted, “I appreciate your eagerness to share this with me, but it’s not for me.”
“Why not?” he asked, not masking his irritation. “You haven’t even given it any thought. Give me one good reason.”
It was true, she hadn’t given it more than ten seconds of thought because her immediate response had been a knee-jerk no. “I don’t want it?” The idea of movingagain, and to a town she had no interest in, instantly caused a twinge in her solar plexus. She rubbed her hand against her stomach.
“That’s not a good reason, Stella,” Percy countered. “You can’t spend the rest of your life not doing anything. You’re shelving books in our hometown library, for Pete’s sake. That’s not a real job. It’s a... it’s a...”
Now it was Stella’s turn to fire up her annoyance. “It’s a what, Percy?”
His sigh pushed through the phone, and his voice carried yearsof disappointment. “A job for a kid, and, Stella, you’re not a kid anymore. You’re thirty years old.”
“That’s offensive to every fantastic librarian or library assistant on the planet. If there are other libraries in the universe, then you’ve offended them too. This is a perfectly respectful, enlightening job, and plenty of good comes from those who help people find the perfect books. What if this is exactly what I want to do with my life? What if I’m happy just as I am? Why can’t you support me?”
Percy didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and she wondered if she’d been too harsh. But she was sick of Percy telling her how to live her life.
Finally he asked, “Are you happy, Stella? ’Cause I don’t think you are. Just think about the offer, okay? I’ll email you the details. It’s a great opportunity.”
Stella clenched and unclenched her jaw. She couldn’t picture herself living in Miami and definitely not working for upscale clients. But Percy was correct about one thing: She wasn’t exactly happy. “I’ll think about it.”
“You will?” So much relief filled his words.
The phone beeped in her ear, and she pulled it away from her face to see that Ariel was calling. “Hey, that’s Ariel. We’ll talk later.”
“Think about it!” Percy said. “Don’t make me come up there.”
“Wow, Percy,” she said dryly. “That’s such a threat. I’d love to see you, but I gotta go. I love you. Bye!”
“Love you too.”
She switched the call. “Ariel, you still there?”
Music played in the background. “I was about to hang up and text instead.”
Stella groaned. “Percy called. He wants me to take a job in Miami.”
