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‘You’re a sweet girl.’
I almost snort. ‘I’m an honest one.’ Mostly. ‘You should do something with these. You have a real talent for storytelling.’
‘So, you won’t tell the Stone Angels or… the…’ She leans forward to whisper, ‘Bitch on the front desk?’ Her eyes are magnified behind the lenses of her glasses. Just a shade lighter than mine. All hope and fear in one glance.
I grin as I mirror her conspiratorial lean. ‘I always wanted to be a rebel.’
There’s always one. Especially leading into the holiday season. Holidays bring the assholes out. This asshole is dressed in a tailored suit, wearing custom boots. Neatly coiffed. His hairline starts halfway up his skull and his hair is thinning. His features are small and condensed to the middle of his face.
‘Sorry, we’re—’
‘Uh.’ Neatly Coifed pulls up his sleeve and taps his Rolex. ‘It’s 4:58.’ His lips purse and his bushy brows raise. He should’ve saved some of that hair for the top of his noggin. ‘Says on the door you don’t close until 5pm.’
I give him a tight-lipped smile. ‘How can I help you, sir?’
‘Just browsing, thanks.’ My smile turns to gritted teeth within my cheeks.
Fuck, I hate these kinds of patrons. Yeah, okay buddy. Like you’re going to find what you need in two minutes. I get paid until five, which is when I’m meant to close the library doors and leave after I ensure everything is tidy and the books are settled. Which, reasonably, takes five minutes if I rush, fifteen if I have some dickhead walk in at the last minute and ‘browse’. And you know what? It’s always the richies.
‘Was it anything in particular? Fiction, non-fiction?’ I suggest.
‘No.’ He looks at me again like I’m chewing gum on the communal table of life. ‘I’m happy to just browse.’
Yep. ‘I hear that, but it is now past five o’clock,’ I say, pointing to the grandfather clock that chimed five times, two minutes prior.
‘I won’t be long.’
‘That’s not really—’
‘If you’d left me alone, I’d be done by now,’ he says, getting pissy.
Would you? Would you really, fuckface? You know what, I’m feeling a little pissy right now. I’m about to cock a leg.
‘Look, sir. The library opens again tomorrow at eight. You’re welcome to come back.’
‘I can’t do eight, I have Pilates.’
Really, where? No wonder he has such a toned arse. Wish my arse was that toned. My booty’s thick, but she’s also succumbing to gravity. Maybe I should ask him – No. Stay focused, Miller!
‘Well, you could come at any time between eight and four fifty-five.’
‘But the hours say—’
‘I know what the hours say, but we try to close a few minutes early to avoid—’
‘Are you going to let me find a book, or are you going to keep me here chit-chatting all afternoon?’
Dear Stars. Fall on me now.
You’d think I’d have enough experience being ignored that I’d be used to it by now. But it still stings every time I’m spoken over or down to. Resigning myself to the fact I may just be here until my shift in the morning, I concede with a nod.
‘You know what, just go find your book. I will be waiting at the service desk.’
Fifteen minutes have passed.
‘What are you still doing here?’ I jump in my seat. Delilah stands behind me with her fiery mass of curls licked in flames. She lights a cigarette on it and inhales.
‘I—’
