I had a mouthful of pretzel when I saw a customer turning into the store. I chewed as quickly as I could and swallowed a bite that was too big, the kind that hurt the entire way down your esophagus. Eating in front of the customers was something Mr. Matthewsfrownedupon.
When the girl looked up, I realized it was Michelle, the boss’ daughter. I hastily set my pretzel aside and sat up straight in my chair. Whatever reason she was here, I knew it couldn’t be good. Of all days, why did Jenny have to be running late today? If she were here, I would disappear while she took careofit.
I forced a smile on my face. “Hi, Michelle. Can I help you withsomething?”
“You could talk some sense into my dad.” The grin on her face was equally forced. Her long dark hair was lying flat against her shoulders. Her skin was red like she’d been out in the sun for too long, and she was wearing a black shirt and khaki shorts. It was the same thing I waswearing.
The basic uniform for Between ThePages.
Tap,tap,tap.
This time, my tapping had nothing to do with the song I’d been humming earlier. “Why are you here, Michelle?” I askedslowly.
“Surprise, I’m your co-worker today.” The fake smile was still plastered on her face. She looked about as comfortable as I felt. This was nothappening.
I hadn’t gone to school with Michelle. But after working for her father for the last couple years and hearing stories about her from Jenny, I didn’t think I wanted to know anything beyondhername.
She came behind the counter and pushed some papers over to set her designer purse down. Unfortunately, the pretzel I had shoved out of the way was with the papers and went falling to the floor. It wouldn’t have been so bad except the five-second rule wasn’t meant for pretzels covered in melted butter touching carpeted floors that were nevervacuumed.
When I got out of my chair to clean up the mess, Michelle took the opportunity to sit down in my chair. If she noticed my food on the floor, she didn’t say anything. In fact, she didn’t say anything while she pouted inmyseat.
By the time I’d cleaned up the pretzel and some other little messes I had on the counter, she’d pulled a magazine from the display rack near the register. She was flipping through the pages too quickly to be reading any of them. When she was done, she grabbedanother.
Eventually, she put that one back and pulled out her phone. I watched her finger move across the screen as quickly as she turned pages, and I wondered if she was skimming everything she saw there too. I didn’tdareask.
Instead, I put books away, took care of customers, and stayed out of Michelle’s way all while praying this was a one-timedeal.
ChapterThree
Michelle
If I hadto be in this hellhole, at least I got to see Rainier’s face when I told him I was his co-worker for the day. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. It was so funny. I was not even offended by the blatant horror onhisface.
His already pale skin looked a couple of shades lighter, which made his dark hair an even starker contrast than usual. I could see how wide his eyes were, even behind the thick-framed glasses he wore. He didn’t look at me while he cleaned up a mess on the ground and didn’t ask me to put books on the shelves. He didn’t even ask me to wait on the very few customers that came in during ourshift.
It seemed that Rainier was doing everything in his power to avoid me and I loved it. I’d flipped through some fashion magazines Dad had on the front counter. I didn’t think people bought magazines anymore. Why pay for something so bulky, when the same things could be found online for free? Of course, I didn’t think people bought books either. And yet, here I was, working in my father’sbookstore.
Thankfully, it was a small store tucked away on the far end of the mall in Boise. I didn’t think any of my friends would come in, but the fact that it was so far off from the good stores, made me more confident in keeping myanonymity.
Between The Pages was a small bookstore my dad started before I was born. It would never compete with the bigger places that had at least five times the amount ofspace.
The green carpet was not only worn, but looked like it was at least thirty years old. The fluorescent lighting did nothing for anyone’s appearance, and the soft instrumental music playing in the background sounded like it was stolen from an elevator. The place wasajoke.
For some reason, my dad was attached to it, even though I knew he barely broke even on it. I couldn’t understand why he held onto it, but it didn’t matter. I was stuck here, at least for the summer. After that, I was going to have to find a way to make sure I never stepped foot into this rinky-dink placeagain.
My phonebuzzed.
Aves: How’s my sexy librariandoing?
Me: If you tellanyone!
Aves: Relax. Nobody cares if you’re working at your dad’s bookstore. Stopoverreacting.
I took a selfie with my middle finger front and center and sent ittoher.
Aves: Anyway…. wanna hang out tonight? I want to see you before Ileave.
Me: Sure. Want to come overandswim?
