Chapter Nine
Myfirstdayasa librarian was a lot like my first day of high school. I slept little the night before which was becoming routine for me; the nerves battering my stomach were too intense. Before the sun rose, I was out of bed, doing my hair and my makeup. I picked out a pantsuit that made me appear professional and a bit sexy. I wished I wore glasses; they would complete the look perfectly.
I studied over the notes I’d written for myself, trying to force the knowledge Gavin provided into my head, but I didn’t have enough space for it all. To make matters worse, much of the information was missing. The previous librarian clearly didn’t plan on being replaced soon and if she did, she wanted to make things as hard as possible for whoever took over.
The thing I worried most about was scheduling the library’s employees and volunteers. From the paperwork I had, the library had six paid part-time employees and a massive roster of volunteers. Some of them worked as little as two hours a month and managing proper staffing seemed like a job on its own. Included in my many papers were the schedules for the last several months. Each one was so different from the next I couldn’t find any valuable information in them.
I put my lipstick on, smacking my lips in appreciation. “At least you don’t need to take the bus,” I told the confident-looking girl in the mirror. I strolled out of my apartment, and despite the doubt swirling in my stomach, I held my head high as I walked to my new career.Career, not job, I repeated to myself, trying to muster up the right attitude.
Gavin stood on the steps, waiting to open the doors. The time was ten minutes to eight, and he smiled when he saw me. “You’re early.”
I returned the gesture as I climbed up to stand beside him. “I am.”
“Here is your set of keys. The lock is a little finicky, so let me show you how to do it, and then you try to make sure you’ve got it.”
“Sounds great!” He chuckled at my enthusiasm and showed me how one had to hold and jiggle everything the right way. I succeeded on my first attempt and I liked to think the reason was the library wanted me as much as I wanted it.
He walked me around, showing me all the nooks, crannies, closets, and storerooms. He pointed to a little dimly lit alcove, “That is where you’ll find the teenagers making out. It’s good practice to pop back here occasionally and make sure no one is naked.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “You can’t be serious.”
“Entirely,” he disagreed, “several young people wound up with public indecency charges from growing too comfortable.”
I shook my head, a bit mystified. Hopefully, nobody would get naked back here, but I couldn’t imagine calling the cops on a couple of teens for getting a little carried away. I remembered being hormonal and sex-obsessed all too well, and I wasn’t far from that now. “I’ll keep an eye out, Gavin.”
We passed only one door that he didn’t open. “What’s in there?”
“The basement, but you don’t need anything from down there. We contract the space out for storage.” He picked up his pace.
“Oh, really? I thought the basement was right near the entrance.”
“The public side, yes.” He didn’t sound like he would elaborate.
“You’re sure I won’t need anything from down there?” I didn’t want to bug him, but I feared the previous librarian might have stored things down there he wasn’t aware of.
“I’m certain. The space is rented privately. The door is locked and they keep the spare key elsewhere.”
“Oh, okay.” I agreed, trying to let my curiosity go, but a flicker of doubt niggled in the back of my mind.
We ended the tour at the office he’d set up shop in yesterday, which as I hoped, was destined to be mine. He left me a few empty boxes and told me the old librarian would be back to pick up her stuff in the afternoon. He gave me the choice on whether I packed for her or let her do it herself. I chose to allow her simply because I wouldn’t want someone rifling through my things. I would settle in tomorrow. “Well, Claire, I’ll leave you to it.” He placed his hands on his hips and looked around awkwardly.
I picked up the scheduling folder and the book of employees and volunteers the old librarian kept on hard copy. “Let me walk you out, Gavin. I’m going to get started with circulation so I can monitor things.”
“Oh, good idea.” I waved goodbye to him and set up shop at the circulation desk. It was Tuesday morning and Gavin promised me things would be quiet. The library was open from nine to six, though I would need to be there at least an hour before opening. I only had nine public hours to not screw everything up.
A pretty girl with short strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes walked up to me with a territorial look on her face. “Excuse me, miss, this is the circulation desk. You can’t sit back there.” I glanced at my list for the morning. This must be Emma, my volunteer.
I straightened up, squaring my shoulders with my new authority. “Actually, my name is Claire. I’m the new librarian here.” I gave her a warm smile and held out my hand.
She looked at it for a moment, then shook it limply. “Where’s Eileen?” Her words were soft, but the touch of antagonism lurking beneath was obvious. Suspicion flickered in her eyes, and I could tell she hoped I was lying.
“She quit, and I replaced her.” I told her matter-of-factly. I wanted everyone to like me but being subtle had only ever caused me problems.
The distrust faded, ousted by open distaste. A barb rolled around on her tongue before she thought better of it and settled on the more appropriate response, “What do you want me to start with?”
“What do you usually begin with on Tuesdays?” I had plenty of ideas about how things should go, but it was probably best to let her stick to her routine. Unless she came up with something obviously fake to mess with me. Emma was one of the volunteers who put in a few days a week. I hoped we would get off to a good start, but that didn’t seem promising.
“Returns.” She fidgeted with a strand of her silky hair.