Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
brIANNA
Beaver Creek library was exactly as she remembered it outside, but the inside was all renovated and new, sleek, and modern.
She walked towards the service desk at the front of the library and struggled to figure out what to say that wasn’t too awkward.
As she walked up, the clerk there turned towards her.
She was an older woman with curly hair and rounded glasses similar to Brianna’s, and Brianna was instantly put at ease for the familiarity of the warm vibe, at least from the staff.
“How can I help you, dear?” the clerk asked. Her nametag said ‘Rosie’, and Brianna determined to commit it to memory.
“I’m Brianna… I’m here to meet Mike?” she said it as a question, reverting to her usual timid nature. She almost inwardly cursed herself; she should be getting better at being more assertive.
“Sure. I’ll get him for you.”
“Thanks.”
Brianna then spent the next few minutes standing awkwardly at the desk, trying to seem like she knew exactly what she was doing.
She resisted gawking too much at the library decor around her.
It really had modernized since her high school days.
If she thought long enough about it, she could picture the old tables that housed her head many a-time when she fell asleep while trying to study with Nathan.
He was the one determined to do well in school and get an engineering degree; she just needed to maintain her good grades in the arts subjects.
She had dreamed of working in this library then. She couldn’t believe it was finally happening, even if she had taken several detours to get there.
“Helloooo,” a deep voice sing-songed from behind the desk.
It was Mike; Brianna recognized him from the virtual interview she did with the library manager a few weeks prior.
His bald head was even shinier in-person, and she was still as obsessed with his penchant for fun print shirts as she had been virtually.
Today, he was wearing a navy shirt with flamingos printed on it.
She was curious about whether the animal had a particular significance to him, but she realized that question would not be ‘meeting your boss for the first time’ level of appropriate.
“Mike!” Brianna said, hoping it matched his level of energy.
“Bri!” he said back, looking very pleased. Phew. She had passed her first test.
As they shook hands, Mike studied Brianna’s expression. “It’s okay if I call you that, right?”
“Brianna is just fine,” she said.
“What a professional way to say no! This is why you’re the Head Librarian. Love,” he said, still shaking her hand. She smiled, and he let go, now clapping his hands.
“Let me give you the tour.”
Brianna nodded and followed the joyful man happily.
His energy was infectious, and the skepticism she faced overnight about not fitting in slowly melted away.
After he showed her where she could put away her stuff, including her very puffy winter jacket, Mike led her on a grand tour around the library, first starting with the first-floor children’s area and holds section.
There was a section of the space blocked off with caution tape and a makeshift fence.
The poster on the fence was branded with the library’s logo but said ‘CLOSED DUE TO RENOVATIONS’.
“What’s being redone here?” she asked curiously. It was strange to see a completely empty patch of real estate in a library. Usually, every nook and cranny would be filled with a bookshelf or display of some kind.
“This is top secret,” Mike said then lowered his voice. To be fair, he probably should’ve been whispering earlier, but this library didn’t seem like a place where folks were shushed often, if ever. “We’re in talks to have Dam Good Coffee open a location here.”
“Oh, great!” Brianna said with as much enthusiasm she could muster.
It was a slightly interesting idea to have a coffee shop be built into a library, but she had seen it in other cities in the GTA.
She mentally scolded herself. Beaver Creek was novel and charming in its own way, and she didn’t need to compare it to what she had left behind.
“Shall we go upstairs?” Mike asked, already leading the way to the stairs.
Brianna spotted an elevator to the left of the stairs and noted its location in case she had to give directions later.
Upstairs, the layout was the same as Brianna remembered it, except the dark browns and oak had been replaced with bright couches and sleek white shelves.
At least the reference desk to the right of the stairs was mostly the same, and Mike walked over to the librarian sitting there.
“Hey, Bill,” Mike said with the enthusiasm of someone greeting a long-lost childhood friend.
“Mike,” Bill responded, but with much less enthusiasm. He was an older bearded gentleman, probably about the age of Brianna’s father.
“This is Brianna. She will be our new Head Librarian,” Mike said, gesturing to Brianna with a flourish. She held out a hand to shake, which Bill took.
“Nice to meet you,” she said.
“Likewise,” Bill replied. “What do you think of Beaver Creek so far?”
Whether he was talking about the library or the town itself, Brianna had no clue. She decided to aim for the former. “It’s great. Very modern, different from what I remember.”
Bill nodded. “Yes, we get that a lot with the renovations.”
“What can we say? Town Council loves the library, and we love them back!” Mike interjected helpfully.
It was actually helpful, and it was all thanks to Town Council that Brianna actually had this job—the funding for her role was part of the new town budget.
That was why she couldn’t mess this up. It wasn’t just her own insecurities at stake, but it was the reputation of the library, and the town itself by extension.
No pressure.
“We’ll let you get back to it. See you later!” Mike said and walked away from the reference desk before Brianna could catch up.
After a general overview of the collection, Mike led Brianna back down the stairs and to the work area.
There was no automatic check-in machine (or a mini sorter, as she had seen in previous libraries), but the back work area was clearly built with efficiency.
After meeting more of the staff, Mike and Brianna finally sat in his office as he pulled out a white binder with her full name on it and a standard issue staff lanyard with a security fob on it.
Sitting behind his desk while Brianna sat on the other side of it, he looked every bit the library manager he was.
“This binder will have everything you need in it. It has a copy of the employee agreement you signed digitally, the collective agreement, and all our library policies. Spoiler alert, there are many,” he said as he turned the binder towards Brianna.
“As you review everything, please use this checklist to check off the materials. You can submit the checklist to me when you’re done, and we will talk about it at your thirty-day check-in.
At the ninety-day mark, your probation will be over, and you will be a permanent Beaver Creek employee. ”
“Great,” Brianna said. She looked at the checklist, relieved to see it wouldn’t be too intense.
She had already reviewed some of the policies online prior to interview for the job.
That was why she loved working in the public sector; everything was available online because of Ontario legislation when it came to public libraries.
She was a bit of a policy nerd in school, and she’d never been able to shake off that habit.
“I have some other meetings, but if you want to find a desktop in the work area and login, that would be great. You can check your email and get started on some of the online trainings. Your email and password are on the sticky note at the front of the binder, and when you login, the system will automatically ask you to change your password. We’re high tech over here. ”
“Of course. Thanks for everything, Mike. I’ll get started on that.”
In the work area just outside his office, Brianna was thankfully able to ask Rosie for help, internally grateful she was able to ask someone she knew.
The rest of her workday flew by despite the monotony of her tasks, and she was grateful that at least she had made steady progress on her training.
Brianna had expected the first few days of her new job to go this way, so she was relieved it seemed to meet her expectations exactly.
Now at the end of her shift, Brianna logged out of the computer and packed up her binder and notes.
She walked back to Mike’s office to thank him again for the tour and then said her farewells, hoping she didn’t look as out of sorts as she felt.
While she was slowly getting acclimated to everything, she knew it would be a while before she truly felt like she belonged at the library.
As Brianna left the staff area, she was surprised to see how busy the library had gotten.
It was slightly past five now, and she supposed young adults and children alike were out of school, and so were their caregivers who brought them to the library.
She smiled at an adult who seemed to be chasing after their toddler, and Brianna stepped out of the way to allow the child to run past her.
In the process, she felt herself collide with someone behind her.
“Oh, I’m so sorry…” Brianna started to say before trailing off when the person who bumped into her seemed to have recognized her.
“Hi!” they said, a lighthearted voice Brianna was surprised was still as friendly as she had remembered it.
“Hi… It’s been a while,” she settled on.
“Yes, it has,” Audrey said.
It had been years since she had seen Nathan’s sister, but Brianna was unsurprised to see she was still as smiley as ever.
Adulthood was good to her. Gone was the teen Brianna remembered; though Brianna recognized her from Nathan’s social media posts over the years, she was a little shocked by how pretty Audrey was.
Brianna was not one to be tongue-tied often, but in front of attractive women, she almost certainly was.
“What brings you here?” Brianna said then instantly regretted it. What a weird question.
“Picking up my hold,” Audrey said, holding up a romance novel Brianna had read last year and loved.
“That’s a good one.” Brianna needed to learn to shut up. Why did she say that?
“I’m excited to read it,” Audrey said, not unkindly.
“Well…I should go,” Brianna said.
“Sure, you have a good one.”
“You too.”
Brianna walked away before she could embarrass herself further.
There was no point in talking to her more.
She was Nathan’s friend, not Audrey’s, and she really did want to get home.
This was just another reminder that Beaver Creek was smaller than small, and it’d really be only a matter of time before she ran into everyone she was trying to avoid.