Page 27 of My Heart to Find

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IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, I head out to the library. It’s the next place on my list for where I can put up my business cards. So far, I’ve only got a weekly walk with Mrs. East’s dog, Rufus, and if I’m going to keep up with my rent payments to Cody, I need to find more work. Maybe I should look at doing something other than dog-walking too. Maybe it’s naive to think I can make enough from that alone.

The library’s on the corner of the main street, and it’s empty except for a group of women in their mid-twenties.

My eyes widen. I recognize the woman with the black hair.

“Jana?” I say. She turns, and it is her. I look at the other women quickly. One of them is white, one is Black, and one is Asian. Cara isn’t among them. I breathe a sigh of relief.

Jana sweeps her dark eyes over me. “Sorry? Who are you?”

“Uh, Damien.” My voice croaks a little. She looks good. Her makeup is subtle, and I find myself appreciating the curves of her body. “From Mallorca.” I purposefully don’t call it the ‘ace retreat’ because I don’t want to out myself to Jana’s friends, and I don’t know if Jana is out to them either.

Jana does a double take. “Oh, wow! Hi.” She quickly does introductions. The Asian woman is called Phia, and the Black woman is Lizzy. River is the other white woman. We all exchange pleasantries, and then the others say they have to get going—apparently they’re on a quick break from work, leaving their boss to man the fort—and all of a sudden it’s just me and Jana here.

“Does Cara know you’re here?” Jana asks.

“I bumped into her, yeah,” I say. And I want to say we went on a date this morning—only it was clearly not a date, in her eyes.

“You two were like two peas in a pod,” Jana says, wistfully.

“I suppose.” I swallow hard. “But nothing happened. I spoke to her this morning actually, and I just didn’t feel it anymore. Was just... It was like we were different people.”

Jana nods. “Yeah, that can happen. Anyway, what are you doing?”

I explain my new living situation and how I’m looking for work.

Jana’s eyes widen. “You’re not a waiter, are you?”

“Dog-walker.”

“So, you couldn’tbea waiter?” There’s a strange intonation in her tone. “It’s my boss—atThe Red Panda, just across the road. He’s being a right sexist pig. And racist. He’s only employed women so far, but I wonder if you just went up to him, asked if he had any work, if he’d give you any? Please, you’d be doing us a huge favor.”

“Uh, okay... Right.”

“You’ll do it?” Jana’s eyes flash with gratitude. “No harm in trying, right? Come on. He doesn’t close for another half hour.”

Before I can say another word, she’s leading me out of the library and across the road to a tiny café that’s set back from the main street. The Red Panda, the sign reads, along with a cartoon of a cheeky-looking red panda. Inside, I can see Lizzy and Phia in there now, both tying aprons on and not looking very happy. A balding man, excruciatingly tall, is watching them.

“Go on,” Jana says, giving me a little prod.

Everything’s happening at once, way too fast like the reel of time has been sped up, and then the bell’s chiming as I open the door. Its hinges creak.

The man—Mr. Richards, Jana told me—turns to me, his eyes like a hawk.

“About to close! Can’t you read?” he snaps.

Wow. What a way to talk to people who could be customers! And there’s clearly still half an hour to go according to the sign on the door.

“Sorry,” I say. “I was just going to ask if there’s any work going?”

Lizzy and Phia have both stopped and are staring at me.

Mr. Richards’s eyes narrow until he can’t possibly see me. “Not hiring,” he snaps. “Get out.”

I get out. Jana’s waiting to the side a few feet away, out of sight of the windows of the café.

“Well?” she asks.

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