Looking Inside

The next thing she knew, Betsey was long gone, and she heard Jimmy’s muffled voice calling out to her in the far distance. She blinked and rubbed her eyes beneath her glasses, coming back to the present moment dazedly.

“I’m back in Room D, Jimmy,” she yelled out the door. Her basement workplace took up nearly an entire city block beneath the museum, and included dozens of temperature- and light-regulated storage facilities, workrooms and art studios. She checked her watch and cursed disbelievingly under her breath. She’d done it again, lost herself in history. She began to carefully repack the fascinating photos she’d been studying, all of which related to popular Chicago mayor Carter Henry Harrison’s assassination.

It was now six twenty, and she’d wanted to be out the door by six. Thank goodness Jimmy had interrupted her. She straightened her glasses, which had fallen down on her nose. Room D was a storage room for original photographs, so it was kept cool and dim. The chill had penetrated her clothing, although she hadn’t been aware of it while she’d been so preoccupied in her study. It hit her now. Shivering, she wrapped the old nappy wool sweater she always kept in her office around her more tightly and hurried over to the closed door.

“Jimmy,” she yelled, swinging the door open. “I’m down he—”

She halted abruptly. Jimmy walked down the hallway toward her. Trey was right beside him. What the hell is he doing here? It jarred her, seeing him, of all people, in her subterranean domain. The lights in the hall were brighter than the storage room’s had been. She saw his blue eyes fix on her. In a split second, it flashed into her brain how he must be seeing her at that moment. Her hair was falling down from the haphazard bun on her head. She wore a shapeless, gray dress and clutched an old-lady sweater around her.

Great. She was basically at her basement-dwelling, distracted, mousy-librarian Eleanor best.

It felt like she had a sudden allergic reaction. Her throat and tongue seemed to swell up. She’d never corrected her spontaneous lie to Trey about being some kind of high-powered sales executive for the museum.

He was going to realize she’d lied to him.

And you know how much he hates dishonesty.

It felt like the floor had dropped from under her. It was going to end with him, and she wasn’t ready.

“Look who I found asking for you at the information desk,” Jimmy said, grinning. She flashed Jimmy a helpless “I’m going to skin you alive later” glance. The two men came to a halt in front of her. She glanced at Trey furtively. He looked incredible. He must have had some kind of meeting today, because he was wearing a gray suit beneath his long wool coat. Or maybe he dressed that way for work all the time? What the hell she did she know about the most basic routines of his life, after all?

Not only that . . . he’d gotten his hair cut. She’d have thought she’d hate seeing his hallmark wavy, sexy hair shorn, but in fact, the alteration made him look even more arresting and attractive. Older, somehow. Distinguished. Almost like someone she didn’t even know . . .

Or was her impression coming more from her near-panicked state? His brow furrowed as he studied her narrowly.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Trey said. “I thought maybe we could get something to eat before the reading event instead of after.” He glanced down to where she clutched at her sweater. “But I’ve obviously caught you in the middle of something.”

She looked down stupidly at where he looked. “Oh,” she mumbled through a thick throat. She hastily took off the cotton gloves she’d been wearing to handle the photographs. “No, I was just finishing up,” she managed through numb lips.

There was an awkward pause. Jimmy cleared his throat.

“So I’ll just be going, then,” Jimmy said, gesturing down the hall.

“Thanks for bringing me down,” Trey said.

“Sure, no problem.” Jimmy’s smile froze when he glanced at her. She must have been shooting desperate darts at him with her eyes, because he looked a little contrite.

“I’ll see you guys later at the reading event?”

“You’ll be there?” Trey asked him.

“Yeah, I was just out of town last week,” Jimmy said, giving them a quick wave. He suddenly seemed very eager to be gone. They both watched him walking away down the hall, the pressure at Eleanor’s throat and chest mounting by the second. Trey finally turned to her and met her stare.

“This is where you work?” he asked her quietly.

She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “Yes.”

He glanced around at all the doors coming off the vast main hallway.

“It’s massive down here. I had no idea,” he said. “Do a lot of people have offices down here?”

She cleared her throat. “Not a lot, no.” Taking advantage of the fact that he wasn’t looking directly at her, she tried to straighten her hair while still holding the cotton gloves. He caught her at it, peering at her closely.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

She froze at his observation. “Uh . . . these are just magnifiers, for when I’m studying something up close.” She pulled them off her head and slid them into her sweater pocket self-consciously. She sort of felt like she was under a magnifying lens at that moment beneath his stare.

“What’s wrong, Eleanor?” he asked sharply.