Page 8 of With Stars in Her Eyes
“Why on and off?”
Before I could answer, the shop door opened. Helen hustled in and grabbed the carrier. She handed the brunette an orange business card without preamble and then ran out the door.
The brunette’s skeptical eyes swept over the business card. “That bearded dragon has one point two million followers on YouTube?”
“Wow, really?” I said, looking over the stranger’s shoulder.Her hair smelled slightly citrusy with a hint of cocoa butter. Like the chocolate oranges Sam ate at Christmastime.
She turned the business card over and read the back. “And Billy Gibbons does birthday and hospital visits apparently. What would a lizard do at the hosp— You know what, never mind. I’m Thea by the way.”
“It’s—er—really nice to meet you, Thea.”
Thea scanned the space, taking in the shelves and then crossing to a display that held tarot decks and books on folklore and astrology. The playlist we’d had on during book club must have finished because the music was gone as silence fell between us.
I should say something. Ideally something both welcoming and extremely hilarious that would make Thea laugh again, because maybe if she were laughing, I could stifle my inexplicably escalating anxiety.
Up until now when I had worked at Menagerie Books during touring breaks, I had handled seasonal inventory or did administrative work in the back office. These jobs involved spreadsheets and meticulous data entry. Never small talk, for good reason. But last week, after months of wallowing through my “emergency medical leave” after the disaster in LA by doing audits and whatever else I could do virtually or after hours, I surprised myself by jumping at the chance to fill in for one of Sam’s managers who went out on maternity leave earlier than expected. I had been working regularly since I was five years old, so I had to dosomething.Before taking this job, I had only left the house for neurologist appointments or the occasional quiet walk with Sam or my cousin Nic. I had ignored calls from everyone in myotherlife, so I was even less practiced at talking to people than usual. If I was really going to spend the next three months in a managerial, customer-facing job, I needed to learn how to fucking talk to people like a normal fucking human.
And, oh god.Thea was looking at me again. Had she said something? No, I don’t think so? Had I said something? No. Then why was she looking at me? Having a sexy, artsy woman staring backin such a frank way gave me a rush of the gut-churning, chest-galloping stage fright feeling I hadn’t felt since I was a teenager.
“Did you glitch again?”
Speak, damn it.
“I—I—” I cleared my throat, choked on my own saliva, and had a coughing fit.
Nailed it.
“You okay?”
“Totally. Just breathed in some dust. I wanted to say again I’m really sorry he scared you.”
“It’s really okay.” The warm glow of Thea’s smile seemed to unlock something inside me. “Only my ego suffered a bruising.”
“I would’ve screamed too if an unfamiliar lizard with 3D printed wings popped out at me and crawled up my arm.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Thea’s upturned nose wrinkled. “I don’t think Iscreamed, exactly.”
“My mistake.” Amusement pursed my lips. “You just made a very loud, terrified, slightly high-pitched sound with your vocal cords.”
One of Thea’s perfectly maintained eyebrows arched in surprise at finding me a worthy verbal sparring opponent. “It was an appropriately measured yelp, if anything.”
“If you say so.”
The door to the back hallway opened and Sam appeared, phone on her shoulder. “Did someone scream? I was finishing up a call.”
I attempted to hide my snort with a little cough, but Thea wasn’t fooled and glared. “That’s actually up for discussion… apparently.”
“I think it was really more of a surprised—uh—”
“Squeal?” I supplied.
Thea’s only response to me was a miffed sniff. She ignored my barely suppressed laughter in favor of focusing on Sam. “I’m not sure if you remember me, but—”
“Oh my god.Thea?Marshall’s Thea.” Sam’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Hi.”
God. Thea’s full smile was somehow brighter than any spotlight I had ever performed under.
