Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Rated: T

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Chapter 1

"Hello!" Riley Matthews said brightly as she came into Golden Retriever Books, she hung up her purse and denim jacket.

"Hi Riles!" Farkle Minkus replied. "Have you made your decision about marrying Lucas yet?"

"Now Farkle, you know he only just asked me to marry him two weeks ago. I'm still thinking!" Riley answered.

"What's there to think about?" Isadora Smackle asked.

"A lot!" Riley insisted. "Our age is a factor for one and maybe there's so much I want to do before I commit to getting married. I still haven't been to Paris."

"There's always the honeymoon," Isadora said. "You could take make him take you to the City of Lights!"

"Why's everybody just standing around?" Josh Matthews asked as he came inside, putting his phone down and looking at his staff.

"Are you still texting your Internet friend?" Isadora asked, wagging her eyebrows at him.

Josh rolled his eyes. "We're hardly friends! We're just somebody who likes to chat about books every once and awhile."

"Every single day!" Riley coughed, beaming when he glared at her. "Sorry, Uncle Josh. But I'm only speaking the truth."

"Why don't you go and set up the new display of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books?" Josh suggested tersely. "Mr. Fox will be here any minute and we have to look like we're doing some kind of work!"

"You're up for manager, aren't you?" Isadora asked, wagging her eyebrows at him again.

Josh frowned at her. "Is there something wrong with your eyebrows today? Or your mouth? You're moving both an awful lot this morning. Why don't you go and take inventory?"

Joe Fox, the bookstore's co-owner and founder of Golden Retriever Books came into the store with his dog, Berkley. He stopped and greeted his employees with a cheerful smile. "Good morning, everyone!"

"'Morning, Mr. Fox!" Riley said cheerfully as she lugged the newest box Jeffrey Kinney books out to the front room.

"Riley!" Joe waved. "How is that young man of yours? Have you decided to marry him yet?"

"Not yet, Mr. Fox!" Riley answered.

"Think about it this way, is he the one person who fills your heart with joy?" Joe asked.

Riley frowned. "What does that mean?"

"That if he does, it might be foolish to let him go," Joe said. "Just think about it, okay? Now Joshua, don't forget we have another interview today. We still need to find somebody to fill Zay's vacant position."

"She'll be here in an hour," Josh said, glancing at his phone. "I don't really think we need another employee though. It's a small business, the four of us are doing a good job as it is and Mrs. Kelly-Fox comes in when she's not busy at the publishing company."

Joe chuckled. "Don't worry you're still up for assistant manager. Nothing's going to change that, Josh my boy!"

The bell above the door rang and a pretty petite blonde girl came in. "Mr. Fox?"

"That's me! And you are?"

"Maya Hart," she answered, holding out her hand. "I'm here to interview for the sale's clerk position."

"Hello Maya!" Joe said warmly as he shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you! This is Josh Matthews. He'll be helping me conduct the interview. You probably have to impress him more than you have to impress me. I'm warning you, he's a hard sell."

"I am not—" Josh started to protest.

"Do you have a background in books?"

"I like to read," Maya answered. "And I am minoring in children's literature."

"Oh, really? My wife writes children's books!" Joe said.

"I know!" Maya replied. "She was one of my favorite authors growing up."

Josh rolled his eyes.

Suck up, he thought.

"Kathleen will be so happy to hear that!" Joe said enthusiastically. "I would love for you to meet her. She should be here sometime this afternoon."

"Wait!" Josh interjected. "Are we hiring her?"

"She might be a good addition to the bookstore," Joe answered. "She is minoring in children's lit."

"We sell just a small amount of children's books!" Josh protested. "We're mostly geared towards the college students and hipsters."

"We sell enough books to kids to justify hiring somebody who specializes in them!" Joe insisted. "George did a really good job in the children's department when he ran it for me at Fox Books. I'd love to hire somebody else like that."

Josh groaned. "But there's so much more than that. Like how do we know she isn't a crook?"

"I have a letter of recommendation from my last employer and everybody I've ever babysat for before!" Maya said helpfully, opening the messenger bag she was holding and taking out a folder. "My former boss also gave me my last background check. They did them bi-monthly at the coffee shop where I worked. I've even had a drug test recently. Does that help?"

Joe scanned the documents she had handed over and nodded. "Everything seems to be in order. Can you start working today?"

"I thought we were going to talk about it!"

"Joshua, Miss Hart seems like a perfectly nice person!" Joe said. "Try and make her feel as comfortable as possible. Okay? I've got to go and make some phone calls. Book some local authors. Why don't you show her around the bookstore, introduce her to everybody? I'll be back a bit later!"

Josh cleared his throat and forced himself to smile. "Of course, Mr. Fox!" he answered.

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Maya got home kicked off her shoes and shrugged out of her sweater. It had been a long day, she'd gotten the job she been wanting for a while but hadn't been expecting one of her new co-workers to dislike her so much. She wasn't even sure what she had done in the first few minutes of their initial meeting to make things so cold between them.

Maya decided she would figure it out later. Besides, she liked everyone else a lot. Riley seemed like a nice girl and Isadora, as odd as she was, had been friendly too. Her boyfriend, Farkle had spent most of the day doing techy stuff but the few minutes he had talked to her, he'd been sweet.

She turned on some music and went to her fridge to get a cold hard apple cider and went to get her computer. She plopped down on the couch, crossed her legs and booted it up. She typed her password into her tumblr log in and smiled when she saw she had two new messages in her messaging.

This was her favorite part of every day.

TBC. . .

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Author's Note:

Welcome to my new story. It was inspired MOSTLY by the "She Loves Me" revival. The "You've Got Mail" stuff came later on while I was writing it. I hope you'll tell me what I thought, I certainly am looking forward to sharing this with you.

If this was a little bit scattered, I am sorry! I've had a long week of adult education and my brain is filled with math and gathering information. Please tell me what you thought. I'm looking forward to your feedback!

Lots of Love,

Holly, 2/17/2017