Page 11 of Keeping Secrets

"Hey! Did you figure out a time for our baking extravaganza?"

"Not yet," Willa said quickly. "But Ali got back to me on the job front."

She straightened up and set down her spoon. "And?"

"The library does have an opening. Assistant librarian, basically. Grunt work like reshelving books and working the front desk. What do you think?"

"Sounds great." Keely tried to keep her voice bright.

It was so kind of Willa to hunt down a job opportunity for her. She wondered why she didn't feel more excitement. Maybe working the front desk of the library felt a bit too close to the cashier jobs she had worked recently.

But that was ridiculous. This was books! She loved books.

"When are they interviewing? Should I call Ali, or…?"

"That's the thing." Willa’s voice was taut. "They're interviewing today."

"Today?" she squeaked.

"I asked Ali to save you a spot, and they can see you at two. Can you make it?"

She looked at the clock on her stove. It was nearly one o'clock. Anxiety took hold of her muscles, but she swallowed and nodded as if Willa could see her. "Sure. I think so."

"Great! Don't forget to bring a résumé."

"Right."

They said their goodbyes, and she hurried to pour the fudge into a baking dish, which she then put in the fridge to set. Then she rushed to take a shower – How had fudge gotten in her hair? – and rooted through her still-packed clothes in search of something decent to wear. Why did so many of her shirts have holes in them? When was she going to get her act together?

Finally she found a pencil skirt. It had been black once but was now more of a charcoal gray. Paired with a button-up white shirt, it would have to be good enough.

She rigged up the old printer that she had brought with her from her parents’ house and printed out a copy of her résumé. Then she threw on her semi-professional outfit and tried to decide what to do with her hair. She took a blow dryer to it, because those copper masses took forever to dry on their own, and she didn't want to show up to the library dripping water on the stacks. She tried putting it up, but between that and the pencil skirt the whole thing screamed trying too hard. Finally she settled on pulling some of it back while leaving most of it down, a bright flash of color against her job outfit. It would have to do.

She felt silly getting in her car to drive a mile, so she slipped on a sensible pair of shoes and walked up the hill to the library.

With all of that rushing, she made it there with ten minutes to spare.

She went straight to the front desk. The curly-haired young woman with a bright smile must be Ali. Keely had only met her in passing.

"Hi, I am Keely. I'm here about a job."

"Yes! Willa's friend."

That designation felt like an ill-fitting coat, but she just nodded. She could be Willa's friend if it helped her land a job in town. She would like to be Willa’s friend; she just didn't feel like she was yet. Maybe after their baking extravaganza, the friendship would feel more real.

"Ingrid, the head librarian, is interviewing people just in there. Someone else is in right now, but you're up next."

"Great. Thank you."

Too nervous to sit down, she walked in the direction of the head librarian's office and pretended to browse the books nearest the open door. In reality, she was too anxious to even take in the titles on their spines.

Who did she think she was, applying for a job at a library? She had gone years without reading for pleasure, much less for self-improvement. She had just barely rediscovered her love of books again. Who was she to be recommending books to anyone else?

Did she think that she was too good for a cleaning job, a clerk job?

Her past choices said that she would be lucky even to get those.

Then the previous interviewee walked out, and Keely saw that she was probably too young to even be out of high school.

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