Page 12 of With Stars in Her Eyes
“Samantha doesn’t waste time,” my boss Denise said, startling me.
“Samantha?” I blinked.
Denise handed her client some extra tattoo wraps. Then she nodded at the counter before turning back to me where I wasstill using the book club flyer as a fidget. “You weren’t even over there fifteen minutes—thank you for picking up the boxes by the way—and she’s already recruiting you to a book club. And did I hear someone scream?”
I shut my laptop slightly harder than I meant to. “There’s no way you heard it through the walls.”
“I was just kidding. Samantha texted me to make sure you were okay and apologize for traumatizing you. I wish I could have stopped by. I haven’t seen Billy Gibbons in his wings yet. How’d he look?”
“I just didn’t expect a lizard masquerading as a tyranno-bat to crawl out from behind a bookshop counter and claw his way up my arm. I thought I was hallucinating.” I tugged at my collar, feeling oddly warm thinking about the bookstore. “Not my finest moment.”
“I’m sorry you had to process it alone,” Denise said dryly.
“I wasn’talonealone. I nearly scared the bookseller with the pixie cut off her ladder. I’m lucky I didn’t cause a workplace accident.”
“Oh… I didn’t realize Courtney was… was working there again. I saw her around, but…” Denise’s expression became unreadable.
“Again?”
“Oh… um… she’s a touring musician, but she used to stay with Samantha’s family whenever she was on break from that. They go way back. Best friends since college, I think.”
“Ah.” I had questions, but something about Denise’s expression stopped me from asking any of them.
“So, are you going to join?”
“Join what?”
“One of the book clubs.” Denise tapped a finger on the orange piece of paper.
“Oh. I don’t know. I can’t for a little while because of my weird schedule.” I read over the paper again. “I was in school a long time, and it put me off reading for fun.”
“I used to go to the nonfiction one until the boys’ ballet schedule gave me conflicts. It was great, and—” Denise opened her mouth as if she were going to say something else, but the front door opened as her next client arrived.
My focus returned to the orange paper.
One of the other patterns I was supposed to be breaking was being the too-much-too-soon girl. I was the person who would meet a cute boy or girl and, of course, if I heard they were running a book club I would join. Maybe we would end up going out, maybe we wouldn’t. I would charm my way straight into the friendzone. It always ended up the same. Texts spacing out. Me obsessed with my phone in a way that would have made my nana sayA watched pot never boils, Dorothea. Then if things werereallygoing well, they would break it off because I was “too sweet” rather than ghost me.
I stuck the flyer back in my bag to think about later.
Back-to-back clients filled the next few hours. My last appointment was five minutes late, but since the clouds had ruined my plans for taking photos tonight it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be. When the front door opened, I nearly fell off the stool. In walked Courtney. The computer schedule only showed last names. Starling must be Courtney’s.
Courtney Starling.
So stinking adorable it was unfair.
“You’re—”
“Super sorry I’m late. I’m your daith piercing. I got caught up helping a customer, and— Anyway, I lost track of time.” Courtney’s smile was a little crooked as she signed the check-in book. Her voice had that slight rasp that made every word smokier and more sultry. It was so unexpected coming out of someone with her big green eyes and soft features.
“Totally okay.” I handed her a clipboard. “This establishment doesn’t have any rogue reptiles, so you don’t have to fear for your safety while filling out this form at the counter.”
“Very comforting.”
Courtney’s handwriting was a barely legible scrawl. Her medication list was long, and there were a few I wasn’t familiar with, which was unusual. I typed the names into the computer to check for associated issues with bleeding or infections.
“These are all for migraines?”
Courtney nodded.
