Page 29 of Bookworm
He shrugged. “Dartmouth doesn’t hire without checking references.” He paused, reaching over to tug one side of my ponytail. “Even when I personally vouched for you. They want the best of the best.”
“So wait,” I said as I handed him the brush and the compressed air. “You’re telling me that you didn’t actually get me this job?”
Adam shook his head no. “I mean, you reached out to us. You had a great resume and an even better offer. And when they heard that you also had a peacock edition ofPride and Prejudice, they were more than intrigued. Add to that, Dr. O’Macklin is friends with a few professors in your program at Oxford and you had multiple references from people who mattered way more than me.”
I took the small rubber mallet in my hands and tapped against the dent, trying to smooth out the largely bent sections.
Adam took the first book off the stack and turned it over in his hands, finding the damaged spine. “All I did was put your resume at the top of the pile… which frankly, I would have done for anyone offering us that Peacock edition sale as well as restoration of the fire damaged books.”
I tapped the mallet to the dent, focusing on each wrinkle rather than the weight of his words.
I took the risk Professor Locke had always pushed me to take… and it paid off.
Without nepotism. Or at least, with far less nepotism than I initially realized.
Although, even if Adam couldn’t admit it, I had no doubt that our history influenced him somewhat.
But he was right. Our connection alone wouldn’t have gotten me the job, only the interview.
The dent smoothed out easier than I expected it to. I grabbed my scraper tool and moved onto the wrinkles.
As much as I wanted to keep talking, I also had to keep working. There was way too much to get done in the next several hours. And while I was usually good at multitasking, so long as it didn’t involve drinkinganysort of alcohol, I couldn’t risk it. Not while I was this tired and frazzled from a crazy day.
I had to focus.
And Adam, seeming to sense that, fell into his own focused silence as he prepped the next books for my restoration.
“Hey, Adam,” I whispered after several moments of silence. “Why couldn’t Luke Skywalker find love?”
He didn’t look up from the book, but I could see the smile on his face. “I don’t know… why?”
“Because he was looking in Alderaan places.”
By two in the morning, I was bleary eyed, but nearly done as I held the embossing gun to the ink. The heat would help it set and dry faster.
And God help me, I needed the glue and ink to harden and dry faster than it was.
I needed to be home in bed. Snuggling with Jules.
Maybe with Adam beside me…
…Kissing me again.
The embossing gun started to slip from my hand, but I caught it, hissing as my finger brushed the scalding hot barrel.
“Shit!” I snapped, turning it off and setting it down on the heat safe pad beside me.
I shoved my burned finger into my mouth, but my own body heat made it sting even more.
“What!?” Adam jerked up from where he’d fallen asleep on the table beside me.
I didn’t see any need for both of us to stay awake and despite my urging, he refused to go home. Even though he had to teach class tomorrow and I could sleep in… at least a little more than he could.
“Nothing,” I murmured, pulling my finger from my mouth. The red welt was already raised and angry. But it didn’t need anything more than a little vaseline and aloe tonight when I went to sleep.
“It didn’t sound like nothing,” he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
I held my finger up for him to see. “Just a little burn, that’s all.”
