Page 38 of The Library of Second Chances
‘Would next Friday work?’ said Harry, standing in front of the lobby desk. It didn’t seem that anyone else could hear them.
Chloe looked up to meet his gaze. Her mind was suddenly blank. ‘Er . . . Friday?’
‘For dinner.’ Amusement danced in his eyes. ‘Let me make it up to you properly.’
Was Chloe hearing this right?
‘Hmm.’ She turned from him to put a file on the back shelf so he wouldn’t see her smile. ‘Oh, go on then.’
They exchanged phone numbers.Ashcroft, she thought with amusement. What were the chances?
‘I’ll text you.’ He waved goodbye to the others, and Chloe watched him as he left. She wasn’t sure why he had been secretive about it, but she was also relieved.
‘Who was that?’ Gwen asked with interest.
‘I told you. Harry. He came to fix the roof,’ said Chloe, not meeting her gaze.
‘Yeah, but he talked to you.’ Gwen came to the spot where Harry had stood a moment earlier, then prodded Chloe on her shoulder. ‘Who is he?’
‘No one, Gwen.’ Chloe swallowed a sigh. ‘Do you need something? I’ve got a lot of work to do.’
Eric emerged from the kitchen area just then, and his eyes widening at the sight of Gwen. She had curled her hair today and wore a dress and leggings, a belt accentuating her slim waist.
‘Ah, Eric.’ Mrs Cook passed him. ‘Would you help the customer, please?’
The teenage boy gaped at Gwen. ‘I . . . I . . . Can we help you?’
Despite her discomfort, Chloe couldn’t help meeting Mrs Cook’s eye right before the older woman slipped into the kitchen, coughing into her elbow to hide a giggle. It was just like Eric to be left speechless by a pretty woman.
Gwen leaned her elbow against the desk as though she’d spent her life in this place. ‘I came over because I wanted to see where Chloe works. And I was hoping I could find some job listings here. Libraries are good for that, aren’t they?’
‘I can help,’ Eric said, and he almost tripped over a stool as he hurried to where Gwen stood.
‘Hopeless romantic, that one,’ said Chloe to the library, shaking her head.
Chloe pretended to be busy on the ground floor archives, shelving random books as she watched her sister. She couldn’tshake the feeling that Gwen had an ulterior motive for showing up at Chloe’s workplace. Gwen, of all people, would know that the internet was a much better place to look at job listings. It felt like an excuse.
Eric asked questions about what Gwen wanted to do and where she wanted to work, as though he were an expert on the subject. Despite her tension, Chloe couldn’t help mirroring Mrs Cook’s grins as Eric, in order to show Gwen a newspaper he had plucked from the rack, leaned so far over the edge of the desk that it surely was digging into his stomach.
‘Newspapers are good because you know the jobs listed there are legit. There are a lot of scams online, you know,’ the teenager babbled. ‘There’s loads here. Retail, if you like fashion. And here you have bar work, if you’d like that sort of thing.’
‘Are you even old enough to work in a bar yet?’ Gwen asked with interest.
Eric huffed. ‘I turned eighteen last May.’
Still a baby, thought Chloe.
‘How are you doing?’ asked Mrs Cook, appearing quietly at Chloe’s side. Chloe supposed it was quite obvious that she wasn’t doing any real work and was simply listening in to Gwen and Eric’s conversation.
Chloe gave a noncommittal shrug. ‘I’m fine.’
She hadn’t asked, but she wondered if Gwen had ever had a job in her life, or if she had survived this long by flitting between rich men. For a moment, Chloe allowed herself to fantasise about being flown first class in private jets to Paris, Milan, New York, Singapore, being lavished with gifts and sipping champagne and relaxing on sun-soaked yachts. Now she lived in rainy old Derbyshire with her sister.
Did Gwen miss that life? Was she really looking for a job so she could start paying her own way, or would she jet off with the next guy who asked?
‘Eric seems to like her,’ Chloe remarked to Mrs Cook, who chuckled.
‘That’s just Eric being Eric. Teenage boys,’ she said, like that explained everything. It wasn’t likely Eric was Gwen’s type.
