Page 28 of The Bookshop of Forbidden Books

“Oh – no, not usually. It was yesterday that I could really have used a drink.”

“Why? What happened yesterday?”

“I ran into an old enemy. I thought I could put the past behind me, stop caring, you know? Turns out I was very wrong.”

“A woman?”

Mitch shook his head.

“I’m not normally an angry person, but ever since I saw him, I’ve been filled with rage. And I don’t like how it feels.”

“What about him – how did he react?”

“He either didn’t see me, or didn’t recognize me.”

“Old boyfriend?”

Mitch smiled faintly. “Definitely not.”

“Then what did he do to you?”

“It’s a long, tedious story.”

Anna leaned in a little. She could see in Mitch’s eyes that it had been an effort for him to confide even this much. And when he’d said that he wasn’t an angry person, she’d believed him without hesitation.

“Maybe, but now I’m curious. I already know what you do for a living, so I can’t ask you that. And if you asked me, it wouldn’t be very original. We could also just sit here in silence – I’m not afraid of that.”

“Well, what about you?” he offered. “Is there someone in your life you can’t ever forgive?”

“There was. But I gave him a taste of his own medicine. We’re even now.”

“Do you think getting revenge brings peace?”

“No. Well… maybe. It’s not noble. But sometimes standing your ground isn’t about pride, it’s about survival. Most girls learn that the hard way, as early as middle school.”

“What were you like as a teenager?” Mitch asked.

“That’s a funny thing to ask! Never heard that one before,” she said, laughing. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m not much good at making conversation, as you might’ve noticed. You might even have thought I wasn’t interested, but nothing could be further from the truth. I guess if you want to get to know someone, it’s best to start at the beginning of the story, just like with books.”

“Fair enough.” She smiled. “I used to be obsessed with soccer, and since I had sort of an androgynous body, I managed to make it onto the boys’ team. I could outrun them, and I scored a lot more goals. I ended up making forward. None of them could block my shots and I loved humiliating them. I’d come up with an unbeatable technique: when I kicked the ball, I’d grunt, like tennis players do. It added extra force to my kick and threw the goalie off. Every time.” She trailed off, then shrugged. “Then my chest started to grow. And that was the end of that dream.”

Mitch determinedly looked anywhere but at Anna’s breasts.

“They kicked you off the team for that?” he asked, staring intently at the bad Mondrian imitation hanging behind Anna’s shoulder.

“I was the one who quit. Nature was taking its course. My teammates were growing up too – getting stronger, gaining stamina. I couldn’t compete with them on the field anymore. And I’m a very sore loser.”

“What did you do after that?”

“I ran toward adulthood as fast as I could, but that’s a whole different story.”

“Why so fast?”

“To get away from home.”

“You didn’t get along with your parents?”