As Rachel placed the new picture on the wall, she glanced over her shoulder and threw me a knowing gaze.
Edmond appeared next to Rachel and the photo. “Your intuition is right. She definitely knows.”
Rachel finished straightening the picture and turned toward me. “Much better, don’t you think?”
Shyly, I smiled in agreement.
Edmond’s gaze went from the new picture of Josh and back to Rachel. “You should steal this one too. Slowly make her go mad.” He grinned.
Edmond disappeared as Rachel angled her head to the side in a satisfied way. Taking one last look at the picture, she smiled, then walked away.
The picture of Josh flashed into my attacker’s Wanted poster. Turning abruptly away, I grabbed a piece of scratch paper and sketched the beginning of a design to occupy my thoughts elsewhere.
“Hey,” Josh said.
I turned to Josh to see him smiling at me.
And there went my cheeks, burning with embarrassment, but I was relieved when his picture was no longer my attacker and was back to Josh’s adorable face.
Josh didn’t seem to notice as he glanced at the new picture of himself and groaned. “I was hoping she wouldn’t replace that.”
I knew she would, which was why I stole the first one. “She’s really proud of you.”
Shrugging, Josh answered, “I don’t know why. I’ve literally only been here three months, and I don’t do anything more than you. Considering we’re her only two employees, it’s kind of weird.”
It was totally weird, but very Rachel. After seeing the picture of Kent though, I did have an inkling as to why she treated Josh the way she did, so I shared. “I found a picture under the stacks of her and her kid, and he looks just like you. Maybe she doesn’t talk to him anymore?”
“Great, so I’m some kind of surrogate?” Josh shifted uncomfortably.
“It’s better than an unwanted stepchild.”
Josh laughed, then turned thoughtful. “I don’t think she leaves this building at all.”
I glanced at the back of the store where Rachel had walked to and jumped with a start when my attacker stepped out of the stacks, staring straight at me.
“You okay?” Josh asked with concern.
The man was gone, never there to begin with. This plan to shove down what happened wasn’t working out well for me.
“Fine. I thought I saw something.” Ugh. Changing the subject back to Rachel, I said, “I wondered that about Rachel. I don’t think I’ve seen her leave this building the entire time I’ve worked here.”
After a moment of thought, Josh nodded. “Yeah, I haven’t either. I tried to test the theory last night out of curiosity, to get her to come outside for a second, but she wouldn’t budge, practically slammed the door in my face.”
I paused, thinking. “That explains a lot.” My heart squeezed with . . . sympathy? “Wanting to hide” was my middle name.
“What are you drawing?” Josh examined my sketch with interest.
Self-consciously, I covered the sketch with my hand.
“Sorry, none of my business.” Josh lowered his head.
I was so mean.
“No. I’m sorry. I’m not used to showing anyone.” I uncovered the page and shifted it in his direction for a better view. “It’s one of my designs. I just entered a contest to try to get a scholarship to the Cassiopeia Design School. But I saw another girl’s entry. I’m way out of my league.”
Viewing the drawing more carefully, Josh said, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. This is beautiful. Did you make this dress already?”
The sketch was another view of the dress I planned to make. “I started it, the pattern anyway. I have to wear it to the pop-up runway on Thursday. All the entries have to show one of their designs.”
“Can I come?” he asked brightly.
What?
“If that’s okay?” Josh took a step back, unsure.
Say something!
“Um, yeah, that sounds nice.” I said that! I really said that.
Rachel walked up. “Jeraline, could you put the books in the cart back on the stacks?”
Weirdly, perfect timing. I wouldn’t have to fumble my words after agreeing to let Josh come to the fashion show. “Yeah,” I acknowledged.
I smiled at Josh as I pushed the cart away from the counter.
Well, that was a nice turn of events.
Honestly, as weird as it sounded, placing books back in their proper spot was one of my absolute favorite tasks working at the bookstore. There was something so calming about escaping into the stacks surrounded by millions of characters and worlds that were more real to me than my own reality. And setting them where they were meant to be, where they were meant to be found by the perfect reader, made me feel like I was a part of something greater. It made me feel like I had a purpose.
It was magical.
As I pushed the cart around to the front to travel down another row of shelves, I caught Josh glancing at me from the counter, and in a moment of spontaneity and joy at what I was doing, I smiled at him.
The smile was returned, and a rush of giddiness flowed through me.
My head was full of dreamy thoughts until they screeched to a halt when I saw who was at the end of the aisle.
A police officer.
And he was coming my way.
I spun on my feet and dove behind a stray bookshelf that walled off a cozy reading nook. Poking my head out to see what the officer would do, luckily he hadn’t noticed my leap.
What was I doing?
Had I really jumped behind a bookshelf to avoid an officer of the law? I couldn’t help it though. Terror had replaced my blood at this point, because it was the only thing that pumped through my veins.
From the cover of my spying spot, I watched the cop pull out some kind of paper or picture from his wallet and show it to Rachel, who arrived at his side.
I didn’t like the gleam in Rachel’s eyes as she called out, “Jeraline?”
I shrunk back and squeezed my hands in
