Page 40 of The Library of Second Chances
‘You don’t have to,’ said Mum in earnest, stepping forward to take her daughter’s hand. Gwen snatched it away, stepping back. ‘You can get a job and think about what you want to do. There’s still plenty of time. Just don’t throw your life away for someone you barely know.’
‘He could be a weirdo, Gwen,’ added Dad. ‘He could already be married. Terrible things happen to girls who go off with strangers.’
‘He’s not a stranger!’ Gwen cried. ‘I’ve known him for months, if you must know. We’re in love. I’m going, and you can’t stop me.’
Gwen strode out of the dining room, so fast Chloe wasn’t prepared. She almost ran into her, and they both glared at each other.
‘Were you listening to our conversation?’ Gwen sneered.
‘Maybe. You’d know plenty about sneaking around,’ Chloe snapped back.
Gwen just scoffed at her and stomped up the stairs. She was gone the next day.
‘Chloe?’
Chloe started, realising she had been staring unseeing at the laptop screen while the memory surfaced. She cleared her throat and said, ‘Could we work on this tomorrow? I’m a bit tired.’
She thought her sister would argue, or at least press her for more, but she nodded and stepped back as Chloe rose from the chair, painfully aware that the memory that had flooded her mind had happened in this very room.
She splashed cold water on her face in the bathroom. Coming back to Wellbridge, to her parents’ home, had been hard enough. She didn’t know if she could handle it at all if Gwen was here.
Who was she kidding? A batch of cinnamon rolls and a new book – paid for with Chloe’s stolen card – wasn’t enough to erase what had happened between them seven years ago.
Clementine watched Chloe come into the library that Wednesday. She smiled at him, but he could see dark things under her eyes, like shadows. He meowed and rubbed himself against her leg anyway, curling his tail around her calf.
‘Lovely boy.’ She knelt to pet him properly. He found he didn’t mind, and purred softly as her gentle hands found hisfavourite spots. She looked happier when she straightened. Clementine was rather pleased with himself.
He watched the humans work, unsure whether he preferred the library when it was just him or when there were people around. People he liked and trusted. The skinny boy, Eric, was here. Clementine couldn’t gauge his age, but he looked like a kitten.
Clementine watched the day go by from the top of the shelf behind the lobby counter. He liked how people looked at him when they came into the library and saw him lying there. Like he was doing something funny and cute, even if he was just watching them.
He watched Chloe now, thinking how her brown hair was the exact same colour as the chestnuts that sometimes fell in the garden. When she went to the non-fiction section, he followed her, the bell on his neck ringing. He sometimes wondered if he would see the stunning female tabby cat again, but the children’s section was empty, all the books piled neatly on the shelf.
Clementine passed Chloe, then glanced behind him to see a piece of lined paper sitting on the nearby soft area. He picked it up in his mouth then meowed softly at Chloe.
‘What have you got there, Clem?’ Chloe reached out and he dropped it into her hand. She opened the paper and her eyebrows came together. She made a strange noise, like she was exhaling a lot of air at once.
‘This again.’
Curious, Clementine followed Chloe into the lobby.
‘What’s up, Chloe?’ Eric asked, turning from the computer on the stool, his elbows resting on the desk.
‘It’s so silly.’ Chloe held up the paper. ‘I keep finding these notes everywhere. First an inked heart, then a message saying “I like you”.’ She held up this one. Clementine couldn’t read the odd squiggles on the paper, but then Chloe said, ‘Coffeesometime?Are these being left by . . .’ She stopped herself, her cheeks going pink.
Clementine sat between Eric and Chloe, watching them with interest.
Eric had gone quiet. Then he said, ‘I didn’t think you were finding them.’
‘What?’
Eric slid off the stool, nervously scratching the back of his head. ‘I thought someone was throwing them away or something. I tried to put them close to you, so you’d see them first . . .’
‘It was you?’ Chloe looked down at the paper in her hand. ‘Why?’
Oh no, thought Clementine.
‘I thought it was obvious.’ Eric stepped towards her, fiddling nervously with his shirt.
