Chapter Ten #2
‘Buy whatever bread you want.’ If it kept Gwen from pinching her food, all the better. When they were kids, they had always been at war about what kind of bread they wanted Mum and Dad to buy.
‘What are you getting up to today, then?’ asked Chloe. She didn’t want their time together to be spent in awkward silence. It was easier to go for uncomplicated, everyday topics.
Gwen tilted her head. ‘I’m not sure.’
‘Maybe start looking for a job,’ Chloe suggested. ‘Just in case you’re here for a while.’
‘Like you?’ Gwen asked slyly.
‘I’ve only been here a few months. And I don’t know how long I’m staying, either.
Not much longer. I’m saving up.’ Even if they had no mortgage or rent to pay, there were things like bills and central heating to pay for.
Admittedly, it was great not having a chunk of rent money coming out of her small income from the library.
What was the point in paying rent for a flat when the house was here for free?
At least until she figured out where she wanted to go next.
‘I’m going to be late,’ Chloe added, checking her phone. ‘See you later.’
On her way to the library, she texted Hannah, telling her everything. Hannah was one of the few people who knew why things were so strained between her and her sister.
She is SO UNGRATEFUL ! Want me to come and slap her?
Chloe snorted as she crossed the road.
Nah, best not. Though it’d be funny to see.
Stay strong. She’s probably finding another sugar daddy on Tinder as we speak.
Chloe agreed. Gwen liked travel and adventure and Chloe had heard she’d travelled all over the place.
She had a gift for finding men to spoil her.
Chloe felt a pang of envy, not for the first time.
Hannah was right – Gwen would soon get bored of this little town and latch herself on to a new guy to take her away.
Far away, Chloe hoped.
She kept herself busy at the library. There were several bookshelves in the downstairs non-fiction section that had been disorganised for months, and now with the event for the children possibly coming up, everything needed to be just right. So Mrs Cook said.
Gwen’s appearance had left her reeling, though there was something strangely comforting about knowing at least one member of her family was around.
Even if it was one she had fallen out with.
They still hadn’t had the talk – the part where you sit down long after an argument and talk it out.
She wasn’t willing to face that yet. If they were both going to leave soon, they might not have to have the talk after all.
Chloe knelt on the carpeted floor between some large shelves, the children’s section behind her.
Piles of encyclopaedias and textbooks surrounded her, ready to be put on the correct shelves.
She glanced around, wondering if she would see one of them glowing, whether it would work for non-fiction.
With everything going on, she just wasn’t ready to face the weirdest development of them all.
Talking to fictional characters like they were real people – that was something else she hadn’t quite worked out in her mind yet.
Should she tell Mrs Cook about the strange power she had discovered?
Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to tell her boss something impossible like that.
But she couldn’t help feeling that the kindly old woman would believe her.
Still, she needed to see if she could do it again, to prove her powers.
But it didn’t seem like she could choose which books to use.
The first had been an accident. The library chose, nudging her towards glowing books.
Or maybe it was the books themselves, the characters wanting to emerge for a little while to give her titbits of wisdom.
First impressions. Believing the impossible. Chloe wasn’t sure what the library would come up with next. She wasn’t sure whether she was looking forward to it or dreading it.
‘Chloe,’ called Mrs Cook. Chloe rose, then nudged the piles of books against the shelves so they’d look a bit neater.
She went to the reception to find Mandy Jordan, the headteacher of the primary school, waiting for her. She beamed at Chloe and held out her hand to shake hers, her beady necklace clacking around her neck.
‘I forgot just how lovely this place is,’ said Mandy fondly, glancing around at the library walls and arched windows.
The three of them swapped ideas for the children’s event, and a warm, fuzzy feeling blossomed in Chloe’s chest. Mrs Cook’s wrinkled face creased with delight as they talked about bringing a class, perhaps two, to the library for a bake sale, to borrow some books and study them in school, and maybe even getting a local children’s author to come in for a reading.
‘They could design their own library cards,’ Chloe suggested. ‘Get them around one of the small tables. They might appreciate them more if they designed them themselves.’
‘What a lovely idea, Chloe. Have you worked with children before?’
The question made her frown. ‘Erm, no. Just the odd babysitting job.’
Clementine arrived just then, perhaps curious about their visitor. He hopped onto the reception desk and gently butted Mandy’s arm with his fuzzy orange head.
‘Look at that. He likes you,’ said Mrs Cook.
‘Oh, cats are adorable. Does he live here?’ Mandy petted Clementine’s ears. ‘This library really is something.’
Planning the event reminded Chloe of the Scholastic Book Fair.
She sighed in contentment, her worries outside the library momentarily forgotten.
Those days in school were the best. If they could create a similar environment, get the children excited about the library and about books, they might make a real difference here.
Not only to the library’s . . . happiness , but for the kids as well.
By the time Miss Jordan left, waving and with a huge smile on her face, Mrs Cook was practically dancing. ‘Chloe, this was such a good idea. It’s been too long since we had any big events.’
The lights in the library flickered, so slightly that Chloe wondered if she’d imagined it. But she saw on Mrs Cook’s face the slight reservation, the fixedness of her smile, and realised that she had noticed it, too.
‘Trouble with the lights?’ Chloe asked, her heart sinking. It wouldn’t do for there to be an electricity problem just as things were going well.
‘No, no, it’s not that.’ Mrs Cook’s mouth upturned in a coy smile as she turned to organise some files. ‘I think the library is pleased with our plans, as well.’
Chloe hesitated. ‘Um, when you say the library is happy, or pleased . . .’
‘Yes?’
‘Do you mean it metaphorically, or . . .?’ She realised how daft that sounded and she backtracked. ‘Never mind. That was a silly question.’
‘Was it a silly question because the answer is yes or no?’ asked the librarian, and wandered off before Chloe could formulate a response.