Chapter Six #3
“Was it like that with Simon?” The question fell from my mouth before I could check it.
Before I could give it context. Emily raised her eyebrows in a question, because of course she hadn’t been there inside my brain, following my train of thought.
“When you first met, I mean. You didn’t like him at first, right? ”
Stacey giggled while Emily elbowed her in the side. “That’s putting it mildly.”
I ignored Stacey’s interruption. “But then suddenly you did. Was it the pirate thing? The costume? Did he act different when he was in character?” I tried to remember from all those years ago, but my perspective from back then was skewed.
Something about the chess match, back when Mitch and Simon were Coach Malone and Mr. G to me.
They were fighting over Emily. In character, but it looked real.
There was something about Simon kissing Emily, and she was really embarrassed about it.
“You could say that.” Emily flushed, and I wondered if she was remembering that same kiss from all those years ago. “Are you saying it was like that with you and Alex? Were you more into the outfit than the guy wearing it?”
“Maybe…” But that wasn’t quite it. “It wasn’t how he looked in the outfit.” Not that I’d ever complained about those tight pants the Sword Bros wore. “More about how the outfit made him…different?”
“Ah.” Emily nodded slowly. “Kind of…” She started to say more, but Stacey talked over her.
“Definitely.” She nodded, blond ponytail bouncing on her shoulder. “I knew Simon in high school, and there was nothing about him back then that screamed pirate. Trust me.”
“People change, though,” Emily hastened to add. “The thing about Simon is, when he plays a pirate, it’s not anything that isn’t already inside him. That personality, it’s a part of who he is. Maybe he just didn’t know how to show it back then.”
“But he does now?” I asked.
Emily’s cheeks grew even pinker. “He does.” The smile that spread across her face was slow and dreamy, and I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. There were still things I didn’t need to know about members of my family who used to teach at my high school.
Stacey seemed willing to change the subject as well. “Keep me posted on the whole schedule situation,” she said to Emily. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”
“Actually…” Emily’s eyes lit up. “If Alex’s show gets moved, we’re going to have to shift some other schedules around too.
Simon and I are going to figure it out tonight, and of course I’ll have to get the schedules reprinted tomorrow so they’ll be ready for Saturday.
And with Simon concentrating on the new chess match, I know he’d feel a lot better if I could keep an eye on the acts, make sure everyone knows where they need to be…
” An eager smile came to her face, and oh, no. I knew where this was going.
Stacey didn’t, though, and she just nodded eagerly. “Oh, God, totally. That sounds like a mess for sure. What do you need from me?”
Emily batted her big blue eyes. “Any interest in being Queen this weekend?”
—
Emily was persuasive, and Stacey was a sucker for a pretty costume.
It didn’t take long to talk her into subbing in for Emily as Queen for the weekend.
And if I knew Emily, she was going to find a way to have Stacey stay in the position for the rest of the season.
I didn’t help talk her into it per se, but Stacey did seem relieved that I would still be there to help shepherd her around.
Emily’s schedule suddenly became very full, and since she had to spend the rest of the week rewriting the Faire’s entertainment schedule and getting it reprinted in time for Saturday, it fell to me to manage the bookstore.
I was so grateful to not have to be Queen that I didn’t mind at all.
I’d worked plenty a morning shift during my college years, along with just about everything else.
Emily had always paid me a little more than she could probably afford, as the manager of a small-town bookstore.
But I’d earned it; she’d had me help her do inventory at the end of every summer, and over the years I learned everything there was to know about running the place, from opening in the morning to closing down at night.
I could even make a passable drink at the coffee counter in a pinch, as long as nobody wanted anything too fancy.
I got there a little after ten, technically late, but there weren’t a lot of people clamoring to buy books on a Thursday morning in late summer.
By the time the first customers wandered through the door I’d set up the coffee counter and the streaming radio’s soft-pop playlist wafted gently from the speakers in the ceiling.
While customers checked out the used book section, I pulled my laptop from my bag.
I hadn’t checked for new job listings in a couple days, which would have been unthinkable not too long ago.
When I’d first gotten here it had been a daily thing.
Twice daily, even, in case my dream job happened to show up at some point during the day.
But that was before Faire had opened. Before I’d started helping Emily out here in the bookstore. Before I’d seen Alex again. Before Mitch had been hurt.
Lots had happened in a few short days.
In my inbox, however, not much had happened at all.
I deleted most of the emails from recruiters, recognizing them almost immediately as AI bots masquerading as humans.
No, thank you. My résumé had gotten a few more views, but not as many as I’d hoped.
Keywords were vital these days, and it looked like I was using the wrong ones.
I closed my laptop with a defeated sigh and made a mental note to tweak my résumé.
Emily ducked in around lunchtime, mostly to give me a break, but left again after two to pick up the new schedules.
After she left, I wiped down the coffee counter for the third time that afternoon.
Iced lattes were doing a brisk business; thank God I remembered how to work the espresso machine. People were thirsty today.
The bell over the door chimed and I glanced up, stretching to my toes to lean around the counter in case the person coming in needed my attention. I dropped back on my heels almost immediately.
Alexander Wright. Seriously? What the hell was he doing here?