What was that saying? Life begins at 30? For Cassandra Cillian, that was absolutely true. She was only 15 when she was diagnosed with the brain tumor. Surgery at the time was risky and she'd avoided it as long as she could. It was a miracle, she'd been told, that she'd managed to live so long after diagnosis. But shortly after her 30th miracle birthday, the tumor had given her no choice. She might not have survived the surgery but she was surely going to die if she didn't have it.

So she put her trust in a talented surgeon and she survived. Like the miracle she was, he'd said as he grinned at her in the recovery room. Recovery had been slow, but she was alive. Alive and with a full future ahead of her.

A mysterious benefactor had paid the bills that insurance had not. Which was yet another miracle in a whole string of them that Cassandra had been blessed with. And then she got an email with information about a job at a bookstore.

She'd heard about the store, it was eccentric and fun and wonderful and wild. Everything that Cassandra was looking for in this her new life.

The interview for the job went really well and within a couple of hours she'd been offered the job.

Now she'd been there for two weeks and was slowly learning the ropes. It was a fun place to work and Cassandra absolutely loved it. She liked her co-workers: eccentric but hilarious Flynn, no-nonsense but still funny Baird, sweet Cindy and hilarious (and not as lazy as he pretended to be) Ezekiel. She even had come to like gruff and grumpy Mr. Jenkins. But there was one tough nut to crack, Jacob Stone over in art and history.

She liked him and he seemed to like her. He was sweet and very kind, always polite. It was just . . .he was a tough nut to crack. She wasn't sure if he liked her or was just being polite. He was very reserved and hard to get to know. Extremely quiet, didn't really socialize all that much, though he certainly teased Baird and Ezekiel enough. Maybe he was just shy?

Or maybe it was something about her? He seemed to not really want to get to know her, despite, again always being kind and polite to her. But the others had invited her to go out after work and he never had. And she knew from Cindy that he occasionally went out for a beer with people from work, usually Baird (they have a sibling thing going on, Cindy had said). She wondered if it was personal or something about her position? She'd heard the name Mabel floating around . . . .

So she figured there were two people to ask. Cindy or Baird. Both were a bit gossipy, especially Baird, but Baird also was pretty tight with Jacob, so maybe Cindy was her best bet for information.

Cindy was showing her how to work the espresso machine late one morning, the store was quiet and Jacob worked the afternoon shift as he had class in the morning.

"Cindy?" Cassandra asked, packing the grounds in like she'd been taught.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask a question? Not about this."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Who is Mabel?"

"Oh," Cindy's eyes got wide. "Well, I mean I guess it's not like it's a big secret or anything. Mabel Collins used to run your department."

"Ah, you said I was the new Mabel on my first day," Cassandra mused. "Is there a reason you guys always clam up when you talk about her? She didn't . . . ." And Cassandra looked sad as the thought occurred to her.

"What?" Cindy looked confused and then she got it. "Oh no! Nothing like that. She's alive as far as I know. She left for a job in Paris."

"Oh, well, wow, that sounds wonderful. So why all the hushing?"

Cindy shook her head. "She and Jacob were together. And they basically broke up the day she left."

"Oh, ouch," Cassandra said. "Is that why he's so standoffish with me?"

Cindy shrugged. "Maybe? Ezekiel says he always thought it was more a one sided thing. Jacob was head over heels for her, but she always had one foot out the door. She spent too much time in a small town and she ran as soon as she could. I suppose we don't like to bring her up because of the way it ended. Jacob's . . ." Cindy sighed dreamily. "A romantic, you know? He's probably writing sad poetry about her. Believing she'd come back to him. But she's not."

Cassandra nodded. "And he's not into the reminder that she's gone. I guess it wouldn't matter who took the position."

"Not really, no. I suppose if a guy got it, maybe he'd be a little less weird, but I dunno. It's not you, Cassandra. Honest. He does seem to like you. He's slow to warm up. None of us really know that much about him, but I think his childhood was rough. Flynn mentioned no one knew he was a genius until his dad died and he sold everything and left Oklahoma."

"Huh, well I guess I'll just have to give it some time then," Cassandra said. Then she switched the subject back to making coffee drinks.

Cassandra had not had a job that allowed her to use her intelligence in well, her life really. She'd worked as a hospital janitor for years. That's how she'd come into contact with the talented surgeon who saved her life. He was a kind man who actually noticed people and unlike most of the others in the hospital, he'd noticed her. If he wasn't old enough to be her father and married, she might have developed quite the crush on him. He had been so happy to hear she'd gotten this job though.

"Use your gifts," he'd said. "Take the aid they're giving your for an education. What you do here is important, but it's not what would make you happy." Then he'd smiled and told her maybe researching conditions like hers would be what she ended up doing.

To be honest, medical research was not exactly what she wanted to do with what now was endless possibilities. But she really didn't know what she wanted to do. She was a genius and she was gifted in math and sciences. She'd tried hard to keep up with the fields as much as she could, but her health had slowed her down.

Even now things were different. No more headaches or seizures, that was a plus. Alright, she'd been having eye strain headaches. They'd scared her to death when she started having them. Her doctor had reassured her. It wasn't a return of the tumor, it was too much reading and computer work. She'd never been able to read or use the computer long enough to get eye strain before. He'd told her to take it easy and recommended she visit an eye doctor, that she might need reading glasses. That was on her to do list now that she was working with books all day long.

She didn't have the same memory she had. That made her chuckle because she was quite certain she still had a memory that others would envy. But she no longer had the recall she once had. She'd read that part of that was simple aging and she figured the surgery had done the rest. She still had the synesthesia that she had had all of her life. She'd been told that wasn't going to go away. But now it was the type she remembered from her childhood. She still could smell breakfast and see colors when she did math but her nose didn't bleed and her head didn't feel like it was going to explode. Every once in a while, she still would get sick to her stomach from the overload, but she was hoping that she'd be able to control it eventually.

She should have been working, but she'd found this interesting book and had been engrossed in it for quite a while. Until the numbers started to blur (she really needed to get her eyes checked) and that caused the colors to blur into something that started to make her dizzy from nausea. What had been pleasant breakfast smells started to morph into greasy burnt bacon and she thought she was going to throw up. She started to run for the bathroom but she either tripped or fainted, because the next thing she knew, Jacob Stone was in her vision, holding a glass of water. She was lying on the couch in between their sections.

"Hey, there you are," Jacob said. "You okay?"

"Did I faint?"

He nodded. "What's goin' on? Did you skip breakfast?"

"Ugh, breakfast," she grumbled. "Don't say breakfast."

"Okay," his voice was kind. "Do you need me to take you to a doctor?"

"No, I don't . . .I don't think so. This happens sometimes. Not so often anymore."

"Alright, did you get up too fast or something?"

"No, it's umm. . .well I have a . . .well I used to have a . . . ."

"Cassandra, you're not really makin' a lot of sense and I'm thinkin' we need to take you to the hospital. I don't remember seein' you hit your head but I'm worried."

Cassandra shook her head, she was still a little out of it. "Can you give me that water and I'll explain?"

Jacob nodded and she sipped slowly. When she got her brain back online, she explained. "I had a brain tumor for well years. The surgery was risky, but eventually it was decided for me. "

Jacob nodded, understanding crossing his features. "So it's gone now?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean we're still monitoring, just in case, but the doctor thinks it's gone for good. But I was born with synesthesia, that's . . . ."

"I know what that is," he said gently. "So that's what happened? I'm gonna guess that you have a scent related one?"

"And colors. Scent and colors. It used to be hyper, when I had the tumor. Now it seems to be like it was before. But sometimes I can't control it. Plus," she laughed slightly at herself. "I think I need glasses. I got distracted by a book and suddenly all the colors blurred and it was like being carsick. Then the usual breakfast smells I get morphed into burnt bacon."

"Because you were carsick, that makes sense. Tell ya what," Jacob said. "I'll go downstairs and make you some ginger tea. And then I will give you this the book I was just reading about an Italian painter who had the same thing you have. He had a whole bunch of coping techniques. But you're not to read it until you've gone to the eye doctor! There's one in the building across the street. If you want, I bet I can get you an appointment today."

Cassandra smiled at him. "How about the tea and their phone number and I'll call. And if you cover for me and I can get it, I'll go today. When my stomach settles down that is."

He smiled at her, one that made his eyes crinkle and made her stomach flip flop just a little. "Sounds like a plan."

And as he left, Cassandra decided that she just might have broken the ice just a little with Jacob Stone. And that wasn't a bad thing at all.

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