Chapter One-
The coffee shop wasn't too busy when she arrived and joined the short queue, a few moments later she was giving her order over to the smiley barista. She moved down the counter to make room for the next customer as her drink was being made, her name was called and she grabbed the cup, noticing her name was of course spelled incorrectly. She just shook her head and turned to find a table. She should know by now not to turn so quickly, she hit something that almost felt like a brick wall at the speed she was going, she struggled to regain her balance and keep her hot tea from spilling. Of course she failed miserably and her drink went down the front of her blouse and she would have fallen to the ground had it not been for the kind stranger that had hold of her forearm.
"Oh, I am so sorry. Are you ok, I didn't get you did I?" She said it all in a rush, as she got herself upright and stepped out of his grasp.
"It's fine, and completely my fault. I'm sorry for your top." She was already shaking her head and and sighed as she looked down to see the entire front of her blouse was dyed brown.
"Oh no, really it was my fault, I have the record of clumisness to prove it." She heard his light laugh at that, and looked up to see his crooked smile.
"At least let me get you another drink, to replace that one?" She shook her head lightly.
"Thank you, but I don't have the time. I've got an appointment and now have to get home to change if I'm going to make it." She saw that crooked smile come back and he nodded at her.
"Maybe another time then?" She couldn't help but laugh lightly at that.
"If fate deems it so." She saw him smile at that as she made her way past him to the door of the coffee shop, throwing the now empty cup in the bin on the way out.
As she exited the shop she made a call on her phone, thankfully her sister picked up on the second ring.
"What's up?" She gave a light laugh at the tone of voice her sister used.
"As is typical of me, I managed to pour my tea down myself, now I need to change before my interview. I'm walking back now but do you think you've got something I can wear and maybe a lift back once I'm dressed?" Her sister was still chuckling from her explaination.
"Of course, I'll get something ready for you."
"Thank you, see you in a few minutes." She hung up then and hurried down the street to her sisters apartment.
It wasn't long before she was back at her sisters door, she fished out the key and let herself in shouting to her sister as she entered.
"Sorry and thank you." She could hear her sister chuckling again and followed the noise into the bedroom.
"Jeez, how much tea did you spill?" She looked down to her blouse.
"Basically a whole cup. Not what's important." She looked passed her sister to see the clothes she had brought out. "You can't be serious?"
"It's the best I could do and honestly you look great in this." She turned her incredulous look to her sister. "Just put it on."
She didn't have much of a choice and so she started changing into the dress her sister had layed out for her.
"Sara!?" A voice suddenly came from the front door. "You here, babe?" She looked back to see her sister head out to greet her girlfriend and insure she didn't walk in on her getting changed.
With the door closed she couldn't make out any of the conversation between the two women but she could hear their voices. Once she was dressed she headed out to the living room to join them.
"Wow, Caitlyn you look amazing in that dress." Charlie, her sisters girlfriend, was the first to say anything when she entered with a huge grin to show her sincerity at her comment.
"I'm not sure it's good for an interview." She felt like the choice was too much for an interview, with its tight form and lower cut neckline than she was used to.
"It's one of the only pieces I have that will fit you and your clothes are all still in boxes. So I'm sorry but you don't have a choice." Sara got up too look at her closer. "Plus, you can't go wrong with a little black dress." She smiled at her sister at that. "Put on the black heels on the rack, take your hair down and let's go."
She followed her sisters advice and took the band out of her hair, letting the light curls fall around her shoulders and down her back and went to collect the shoes she had told her to.
"I will be back in a few minutes." Sara gave Charlie a quick kiss before heading to the door and following her to the car.
The drive wasn't long and Sara pulled up just outside the bookshop so she would't have to walk far in the heels, which were taller than she is used to.
"Thank you for your help." Her sister smiled at her.
"No problem. Call me when you're done and I'll come get you so you don't have to walk back. Good luck in there." She nodded to her sister, smiled back briefly and got out of the car as gracefully as she could.
She walked to the door of the bookshop, managing to keep her footing and took a deep breath befreo opening the door and going in. She noticed two men by the counter as she entered, both looked up and smiled at her arrival.
"Hello, I'm here for an interview. Caitlyn Smith." One of the men instantly nodded in recognition.
"Of course, I'm Matt, this is Chris. We spoke on the phone." She nodded as she took the hand he offered to her and shook it firmly. "Ah and here is our other owner, Jess." She following his gaze to the man who had entered behind him and was shocked to recognise the man, she noticed the shocked look on his face too.
"I guess fate was on our side after all." She couldn't help the small bubble of laughter that came up and she saw the crooked smile come back his face, she noticed Matt and Chris looking confused at the interaction.
"I'm sorry, we had a small run-in at the coffee shop a little while ago." She said in explaination to them both.
"Well, would you like to come through." Matt signalled to the door behind the counter, she assumed an office to have the interview in and she nodded and followed him in, she noticed Jess came in after her and shut the door behind them. "Please, take a seat." She sat in the chair on one side of a small table, leaving the other two for the Matt and Jess to sit opposite her.
"Maybe I can get you a replacement coffee now?" Jess still had laughter in his voice as he asked.
"It was tea actually." He just nodded and stood up.
"Milk, sugar?" She nodded lightly.
"Milk and one please." She watched as he exited the office again, and turned back to Matt who was looking a little confused at the interaction. "I accidently spilt my tea on myself in the coffee shop when I turned and bumped into Jess. He offered to replace it there but I had to go change to come here." Matt just smiled at her and shook his head lightly. "This wasn't neccesarily my first choice for interview attire but it was better than my tea stained blouse which I'm sure won't be recovering from the experience." That got a laugh from Matt which she chuckled along with.
Jess reentered the office to see both Matt and the woman from the coffee shop both laughing heartily at something said while he was out of the room, he looked questioningly at Matt who just shook his head lightly.
"Caitlyn here was just filling me in on your meeting in the coffee shop." He nodded and turned to give Caitlyn her tea and sit down in teh reamining chair.
"And my poor traumatized blouse." He saw and Matt and Caitlyn shared a small smile before Matt picked up the papers in front of him to begin the interview.