“It’s fun. He gets a kick out of it. Makes going to restaurants hard sometimes, but he’s always a good sport and will take pictures. And he always has books in his car, just in case,” Sasha said, finishing her drink. She got me a refill and made herself a second mocktail.
“Ahh, that’s good.”
At last, Jax called out that dinner was almost ready, so I helped Sasha get out plates and so forth.
“Let’s eat in the living room,” Sasha said. When she’d given me a tour, she’d showed me the stunning dining room, and I was fine with things being a little more casual.
Jax presented dinner with a flourish: a lemony cacio e pepe with shrimp and a crispy fennel salad with pomegranate.
Was everyone here a master chef? Was being a good cook a requirement for residency? I was beginning to wonder. Once I had an actual kitchen, I was going to have to get to work.
Once again, I stuffed myself and tried not to feel bad about it.
“I feel like everyone’s taken me in like a homeless kitten,” I said with a laugh.
“You’re new and shiny,” Sasha said. “And you’re all alone. I don’t mean that to be rude, it’s just that you don’t have any family. I know when I first came here to stay with my sister, I would have been completely lost and lonely without her and my niece. Now she doesn’t need me because she’s all married, but I’m getting a nephew in a few months to spoil, so I’m not that mad about it.”
“Wasn’t your goal to find someone to take care of your sister and cherish her and love her?” Jax asked.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t be jealous about it,” Sasha said, spearing a shrimp with her fork.
Jax shook her head.
Once we finished dinner, I insisted on helping load the dishwasher.
“Thank you so much, today was so fun,” I said, giving Sasha a hug.
“You’re welcome to come and help me anytime,” Sasha said. “Seriously, anytime.”
“Thanks, I’ll definitely let you know,” I said.
I went home and dove into another one of Skylar Alyssa’s books to stave off my loneliness. I could have called my mom, but it was somewhat late and I didn’t want to rely on her too much. It was on me to deal with my own shit and be a grown-up.
Tomorrow I had my first training day at the library, though, so that was something to look forward to. It wasn’t all day, but the weather was supposed to be nice, so I was planning on heading to the beach for some sun and seashell collecting after a quick lunch.
It was going to be a nice day, but the one thing I wished was that I had someone to share it with. Maybe not to go with me everywhere, but someone to tell about my day. To come home to. To complain about the construction annoyance with. Sure, I had my mom, but it just wasn’t the same.
I wished for a partner, but was I ready? I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, my house didn’t even have a kitchen, and I was just flailing around. Who would want to sign up for that?
I made a frustrated sound and forced myself to focus on my book instead of my own life.
Chapter Five
The next morning I arrived at the library for my training, and I was more than a little excited, but I tried to tone it down and not seem too eager.
“Well don’t you look cute,” Beth said as I found her behind the desk. My t-shirt had a faded book cover on it, and I’d paired it with some leggings so I’d be comfortable.
“Thanks. I figured this was appropriate.”
“Very,” she said, getting up. “I know you’ve been here before, but let’s do another tour and I’ll show you the back offices and the kitchen and all the behind-the-scenes stuff.”
I did get a little thrill at getting to see behind the curtain of the library as Beth took me around and introduced me to the other people working. In addition to herself, she had two part-time assistant librarians, and a bevy of volunteers. Most of the volunteers were old enough to be my grandparents, but that didn’t matter to me. They made me think of Memma and how much I missed having an older presence in my life.
After the tour, Beth started showing me how the books were re-shelved, and then I got a crash course in checking books out, dealing with the cash box for donations and the items they had for sale, and then tidying up the children’s room.
“It’s calm right now, but any minute things can turn and a huge family can walk in and every kid needs something different all at once. Or a group of friends have decided they want to do a book club and need some guidance. And then there are the people filling out job applications, needing copies, and all manner of other things that they don’t tell you in the job description.”