Dave gives me two thumbs-up. “Whatever you want. Feel free to hang out here. Looks like it started snowing.”
“I don’t get snow where I’m from. I’ll enjoy it while I can,” I say, watching through the window as small flakes plummet to earth.
“Oh, yeah? Where are you from?” Dave asks, preventing me from leaving.
“California,” I say.
“No way. I’ve been eyeing up Malibu. Those waves are rock solid,” he says enviously. “As soon as I can, I’m outta here. Just me, my board, and the swell.” Dave points behind him, where there’s an eight-foot neon green surfboard leaning against the wall. “I like to keep it with me so I can do my visualization exercises.”
I’m getting antsy. “Sounds swell. Dave. The pamphlets?”
“Right! I’ll put a rush on your travel guides as soon as the printer’s unblocked,” Dave promises. “Oh wait, here’s the sample.”
Dave slides the pamphlet across the counter to me. He cringes at his poor aim as it shoots off the end of the counter. I kneel to pick it up from the floor.
“I do hereby knight thee,” a woman’s voice says above me. She hoists her box up on her hip and extends a hand in an offer to help me up. She looks to be about my age, slightly younger maybe.
“Thanks, I’m good,” I say, pushing off my knee to stand. With her box precariously balanced, I might pull her down with me if I accepted her hand. I slide the pamphlet into my back pocket.
I catch a glimpse of the woman’s sparkling light brown eyes under her thick bangs.
“Hey, Rooney,” Dave says, grabbing the box from the woman, “this guy has never seen snow before. He’s from California.”
“Oh yeah? What about sleet?” the woman apparently named Rooney asks, propping her elbow up on the counter. “Have you ever seen that?”
“Uh, yeah,” I say, nodding.
“Fine. But have you ever seen a moonbow?” she asks like there’s no way I have. I mean, I haven’t. They’re incredibly rare.
I shrug. “You got me there.”
“Hold up,” Dave says, leaning against the counter like we’re all sitting down for tea and a chat. “Is that some kind of, like, rainbow at night?”
Rooney nods excitedly. “I saw my first moonbow in Iceland with my mom. It had been a long day of hot springs and more mannequins and rubber ducks than one should ever have to interact with in a lifetime.” She glances up at me. “Don’t ask.”
“Wasn’t going to.”
“All of the ingredients were there. Full moon. No clouds. Dark sky. Light rain.” She literally counts this out on her fingers before sighing. “Anyway. These were messed up,” she says to Dave while she pats the top of the box. “I need replacements now.”
“Likenownow?” Dave asks, looking nervous.
“As now as now can be,” Rooney says sweetly.
Dave looks at the clock hanging on the wall. “I’ve got his job finishing up at the moment, and then yours is next.”
“Okay. Fine. I’ll be here.” Rooney exhales upward, her bangs flying up over her face.
“You doing your lap?” Dave asks me as he types something.
“Oh. It’s a little too cold for me,” I reply as I flip through office supplies on the nearby rack. I study the curves of Rooney’s face in the fluorescent lighting before she turns back to me.
“Are you hanging around for the playlist?” she asks. Overhead, “Since U Been Gone” crackles from the speakers.
Her comment catches me off guard. “I actually chose this print shop exclusively based on the music,” I improvise. Somehow, my anxiety over my upcoming presentation eases a bit as I talk to her. “It was between here and the one on Fourteenth Street. But they mostly play nineties rock. I’m more of an early two thousands pop music type of guy.”
My comment draws a laugh out of her. “I knew you looked like a Kelly Clarkson fan. What’s your name?” she asks, surveying me as thoughIcould be a threat.
I don’t answer right away. “Uh.”
