Chapter Three #2
Noelle shrugged and sniffled. “I can give it a try.”
The librarian smiled. She brought Noelle to the fiction section and handed her a fantasy novel about warring witch covens.
Then she gave her a romance novel about rival coworkers who were competing for the same promotion.
Afterward, she signed Noelle up for a library card.
She told Noelle that her name was Margaret.
Books in hand, Noelle thanked Margaret and returned to her mom’s hospital room.
Portia was still sleeping, so Noelle started the fantasy novel.
She continued reading until the nurse stopped by to let her know that visiting hours had ended.
Noelle was so engrossed in the book, she’d completely lost track of time.
She finished the book two days later, even though it was almost five hundred pages long. She started the romance novel next and inhaled that one too. When she was reading, she wasn’t thinking about the stressful state of her life. Reading had helped her relax, just like Margaret had said.
At the end of the week, Noelle returned to the library and asked for more recommendations.
Soon she was reading two, sometimes three, books a week.
When her mom came home from the hospital and started physical therapy, Noelle read in the car while waiting for her mom’s appointments to end.
She read everything. Fantasy, sci-fi, romance, suspense, memoirs.
Books had become a source of light during a dark time.
A new goal began to take shape in Noelle’s mind.
She was so grateful to Margaret for helping her, and she wanted to pass on that same joy to more people.
She researched the steps required to become a librarian.
She wasn’t surprised to find that she’d need to finish her bachelor’s degree, but she didn’t know that she’d need a master’s degree too.
It didn’t matter, though. She knew that she wanted to be a librarian.
And that meant she’d need to start saving to go back to college.
Once Portia’s health improved and she needed less of Noelle’s help, Noelle started looking for jobs.
She applied to every bookstore in their area, and the first store to call her back was Hidden Gems Books.
During her interview, Noelle talked about how reading Parable of the Sower had been a transformative experience, and her boss, Harold, hired her on the spot.
That was six years ago.
“Here, be my model,” Noelle said to Tati now.
She motioned for Tati to hold up the books in the Pirates of the Deep series. She also handed her book three, The Pirate Who Loved Me. Tati held the books in front of her and smiled.
“Gorgeous,” Noelle said. She opened their Instagram page and uploaded the photo, typing out the caption, Any Clara Crawford fans out there? We’ve got first editions of her beloved Pirates of the Deep series! Stop by the store before they’re gone!
“When are you gonna start paying me for being the star of Hidden Gems’ Instagram account?” Tati asked.
Noelle snorted. “Once Harold starts paying me more to run the account.”
Harold had opened the bookstore almost twenty years ago, and they sold only used books.
Harold said more people needed to pay attention to the literature that had come before in order to appreciate what books were being published now.
Noelle respected that Harold wanted to maintain the integrity of his store, but because they weren’t selling the newer, popular books, they were making less money.
She was getting fewer hours. When she was first hired, she’d basically worked full-time.
Then it lessened to thirty-five hours. Then to thirty.
Now it was a good week if she got twenty-five hours.
It was one of the reasons she’d turned to Bridal Bestie and food delivery for more money.
She loved working at Hidden Gems Books, and it would probably look good on her résumé when she applied to librarian positions in the future.
She hoped her social media efforts might help turn the store’s luck around.
“Noelle?”
Noelle sat up on her knees and turned around to see Harold poking his head out of the office.
“Can you come in here for a second?” he asked.
“Be right there!” Noelle stood, and Tati stood as well, stretching her arms above her head.
“I’d better get back across the street,” she said. She pointed at Noelle. “I’ll be home tonight. We still good for Married to Medicine?”
“You know it.”
Tati waggled her fingers, and the bell above the door chimed as she left the store.
Noelle did a quick sweep of the floor to check for customers—they didn’t have any.
But Kevin, who was also Harold’s nephew, was standing at the register, staring at his phone.
Harold had hired Kevin and his twin brother, George, as a favor to their mom last year.
So far, they weren’t proving to be great employees.
And because they were the only two booksellers besides Noelle, she ended up doing most of the work whenever they were on the same shift.
She walked to the back of the store and stood in the office doorway. Harold was sitting behind the desk, staring pensively at a sheet of paper. His glasses had slid to the edge of his nose. He ran a hand over his graying beard.
“Hey, you wanted to see me?” Noelle said, stepping into the office.
Harold glanced up. “Yes, Noelle. Please have a seat. How’s everything going out there?”
“Fine,” she said, sitting down across from him. “Slow, but fine.”
“I wanted to thank you again for driving all the way out to Clayton for that estate sale.”
“No problem.” She shrugged easily and smiled. “All part of the job.”
Harold smiled too, and that was the first sign to Noelle that something was off.
Harold was a fair boss, but he wasn’t a particularly happy person, and he most definitely was not someone who smiled during small talk.
The best word to describe Harold would be curmudgeonly.
Also, his eyes looked sad. Noelle tensed in her chair.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“No. Noelle, I have some not-so-great news.” His shoulders deflated.
“You know we’ve been having issues with our sales for a while now, and the landlord let me know last night that he’s increasing our rent again.
I’ve been sitting here running the numbers all morning.
” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Noelle, but I’m going to have to let you go. ”
For a second, Noelle simply blinked at him. She repeated his words, once, twice. Even then, it took another full minute for what he’d said to sink in.
“Wait…you’re firing me?”
“I don’t see it like that,” Harold hastened to say. “It’s more like I’m downsizing on employees.”
“Wow,” she said quietly. She thought of Kevin and George, who basically twiddled their thumbs for the entirety of their shifts. But, of course, if it came down to firing Noelle or Kevin or George to save money, Harold wasn’t going to fire his family.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “You’re great, and I hate to lose you. You can put me down as a reference for your next job, and I promise to sing your praises.”
Noelle stared at the mug of pens on the desk. She didn’t know what to say, what to think. She knew the store had been struggling. She’d anticipated the possibility of losing more hours, but she hadn’t anticipated losing her job entirely.
She’d been counting on money that she made from her main job here at Hidden Gems Books to go toward her tuition savings.
What was she going to do now? She could apply for unemployment, but it would take weeks for her claim to be approved by the state.
Recently, she heard that it could take up to a month or more, due to the high volume of applications.
She couldn’t wait that long. Her stomach filled with thousand-pound stones, weighing her to the chair.
“I get it,” she said, swallowing hard. She took a deep breath. “Should I…clock out now?”
“No, no,” Harold said. “You can finish your shift.”
Noelle nodded. He was giving her some grace. For that, she should probably be grateful.
“Thank you.”
An awkward silence permeated the room. Harold cleared his throat and stared at his hands. Noelle wanted to leave the office, but her whole body felt like hard cement. She was still in shock. When the awkward silence became unbearable, she forced herself to stand.
“I guess I’d better finish unpacking the boxes from the estate sale.”
“All right.” Harold’s voice was gruffer than usual. He glanced up at her and he looked so sad, there was no way that Noelle could be upset with him.
Quietly, she left the office. She was in a daze as she walked through the bookstore.
Kevin was standing at the register, still texting.
He didn’t even look up at the sound of Noelle’s footsteps.
She ignored him and gazed around the store.
She looked at the staff-picks shelf, the display of beach reads, and the table of picture books dedicated to summer.
Those had all been her ideas. She’d poured every ounce of her creative energy into this job and the curation of the books on these shelves.
It wasn’t only about the money. Hidden Gems Books had been her home away from home for the past six years. And now she was losing it.
Her phone vibrated in her back pocket. With slow, stilted movements, Noelle pulled her phone out and read a text from Sheree.
Hey! Brian lives close by so he’s bringing your jacket to your job. He should be there within the next couple minutes!
Oh, fuck this timing.
The last thing that she wanted to do was have another conversation with the groomsman who couldn’t take the hint that she wasn’t interested. But she wanted her jacket back. Ugh. Hopefully this interaction would end quickly.
“I’m stepping outside really quick,” she said to Kevin.
He mumbled something that sounded like okay. His eyes remained glued to his phone.