Page 13 of The Library of Second Chances
‘Well, come and meet Lily before you leave. We could even visit this library of yours. Where are you going to go after this? Back to Sheffield?’
Chloe thought about it, barely seeing the clothes she was half-heartedly rifling through. ‘Maybe back there again, yeah. It’s a nice city, and I could probably get my old job back.’ Shedidn’t add that nothing would ever beat working in the library. Especially now. Standing here in the store, pop music playing in the background, her encounters with book characters seemed far-off, almost fictional.
‘I don’t think I could ever leave Wellbridge,’ Hannah remarked. She had picked up a T-shirt for her daughter, and Chloe joined her at the till. ‘Visiting other places is nice, but this will always be home.’
‘Really?’ said Chloe, amused. She herself hadn’t lived in that many places – Manchester for university, then Sheffield afterwards. She always chose big cities with lots of people, opportunities for anonymity. If things went south with someone, you could move on without risking bumping into them at every turn. ‘What about gossip? In small towns like these, everyone seems to be in each other’s business all the time.’
Hannah shrugged. ‘All my neighbours helped out when I had Lily. You don’t get that in a city.’
‘No,’ said Chloe as Hannah paid for her daughter’s shirt. ‘I suppose you don’t.’
It was a week later when the man who had insulted one of her favourite books and dog-eared the page turned up at the library again. When Chloe heard the door open, she straightened, glad for a chance to be away from the computer. The stool always made her back ache after a while. The smile slipped off her face, however, when she saw who it was. His sarcastic ‘I didn’t realise we weren’t allowed to open them’ still hadn’t left her mind.
Still, she was a professional. ‘Hello.’
‘Hi.’ He shrugged off his jacket. ‘It’s cold out there today.’
Chloe turned to the shelf behind her so he wouldn’t see her rolling her eyes. She was well aware that October in Derbyshirecould be frigid. She had walked here from her house this morning.
‘I finished that book.’ The man brought out the paperback from his satchel, holding it up. ‘It was good, actually. I was wondering if you have the second one.’
Don’t sound so surprised, she thought. Aloud, she said, ‘Let me check for you.’
She ascended the spiral staircase to the fantasy section. None of the books had glowed for the past several days, and today was the same. Her eyes scanned the shelves, searching for the series she was sure she had re-organised here just a week or two ago.
‘The second one is here somewhere,’ she said. She hadn’t read them herself, but her mother had had the first few on her bookshelves.
The man had followed her, and he placed the book he was returning on a random shelf beside him. It made her jaw clench. Didn’t he know there was a return bin? Was he an idiot, or being annoying on purpose?
‘Can you hurry up?’ he called after her. ‘I’ve got work to do.’
She turned from him back to the shelf, wondering whether it would be worth getting sacked to just throw the nearest book at his head. But as she glanced up, the book she was looking for – the second in the series he was reading – was right in front of her, several inches from her hand.
Strange. She could have sworn she’d just looked in that spot. Perhaps she simply hadn’t looked properly before.
She took it off its shelf and passed it to the visitor. She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her tone when she snapped, ‘There. So sorry to keep you waiting.’
At her tone, his lips moved as though he wanted to smirk, but he didn’t. ‘Cheers.’ When he made for the spiral staircase, Chloe discreetly took the book he had set down and tucked it under herarm. She would have to smooth out the dog-ear creases once he was gone.
‘Do you have the whole series?’ he turned around and asked when he was at the top of the stairs, glancing back at her.
‘I thought you were in a hurry?’ she said, folding her arms.
He arched an eyebrow. ‘Well, do you?’
‘I can check,’ she said. ‘If not, we can always order them in. Can’t tell you when they’ll arrive, though.’ She bit back a remark about checking at a bookshop or online. The library needed all the visitors it could get, even the rude ones.
‘Okay.’ He looked down at the book. ‘Sometimes it feels like books are the only escape, you know?’
His words took her aback. Chloe did know. More than he could ever understand. ‘Yeah, I know what you mean.’
It didn’t seem like he had even heard her. He grunted and trudged down the spiral staircase, his heavy boot steps echoing around the floor.
‘I’ll sign it out.’ With his broad back to her, Chloe glared at the back of his head. Who knew a book lover could be so . . . ugh?
Down at reception, Chloe scanned his library card. She wondered if he had moved from Newcastle as a child or as an adult, whether they went to the same school when they were teenagers, but she didn’t ask. She probably would have remembered such a grump, and besides, why did it matter? Hopefully he’d find the series in a book sale or something and this was the last they’d see of each other.
While she was stamping the book, the man’s phone rang. ‘Harry here.’
