AN: Thanks everyone for your lovely feedback!
Chapter Six:
Bella's POV:
I glanced into the mirror for the millionth time this morning and smoothed my hair unnecessarily. The thick waves were pulled back into a thick, neat bun at the back of my head. Under the thin layer of makeup on my face, I noticed that I was pale and scared-looking.
Pull yourself together, I thought to myself crossly. You've faced blood-thirsty vampires before, a new job should be a piece of cake.
The weather today was supposed to be warm and sunny, so I was wearing a black skirt and light blue fitted top with a pair of navy blue peep-toed pumps that I had bought impulsively last year and were now my favourite and comfiest work shoes. I suddenly realised that I'd planned to walk the half-hour route to work this morning and I kicked off my shoes, slipping my feet into my comfy sneakers instead and put my heels into my bag. I'd change before I went in to the library.
I'd even packed myself a small lunch and was feeling thoroughly impressed with my organisation. I was still 10 minutes early, but there was no point putting off leaving any longer. I could stop off and get a coffee along the way.
My phone beeped as I was locking up and I pulled it out to see a message from Jacob. I smiled and typed in a reply.
I'd love to. Meet you at 5:30? There's a Starbucks across the road from the library.
I stopped in the same coffee shop that I'd visited yesterday, and the barista nodded at me in recognition.
"Cappucino?" he asked.
"Uh, no actually. It was a large non-fat latte."
He nodded his head. "Give me a coupl'a days, love, and I'll remember. Memory's not what it used to be."
I grinned shyly. He seemed to be a sweet old man.
When I paid and he handed me the coffee, I noticed the small marshmallow he'd left on the lid. I smiled.
It took 20 minutes to walk to the library, and when I arrived the huge glass building towered before me ominously. I'd looked up the building online, but the photos hadn't quite prepared me for the intimidating sight I now faced. Stealing myself, I walked up the sidewalk and pushed open the heavy glass doors. A large front desk was situated to my right and an old lady was sitting there, focused on the computer in front of her.
"Excuse me" I interrupted her. "My name's Bella Swan. I'm here to see Marcus – I'm starting my new position here today."
Her old, craggy face broke into a toothy smile. "Oh, Bella, honey! Yes yes, Marcus told me you'd be arriving. I'll show you to the staff room – he should be there – he never actually starts working until 9 on the dot. Says it's a principle, whatever that means."
She was a sweet old dear, chatting amicably as we walked through the high-ceiling-ed spacious foyer towards a set of elevators. We rode up to the 5th floor and she led me down a narrower hallway until we found the staff room. It was small and cosy, crammed with sofas and tables and had a full kitchen against one wall.
A middle-aged man in baggy chinos and a rather horrible mustard yellow sweater vest was dunking a tea-bag into a mug of hot water. He turned to face us when the old lady introduced me. I realised ashamedly that I didn't know her name yet.
"Bella, Bella!" He cried, pumping my hand furiously and smiling. His face was ruddy but his eyes twinkled kindly. "Thanks, Eliza," he said, dismissing the receptionist. "Well now, you found the place ok?"
"It was hard to miss," I admitted with a smile.
He barked with laughter. "Oh, Bella, Bella. Come! Let's go for a tour."
The library was huge – almost three times the size of the University library I'd been working at in London. As we walked through the levels and sections, Marcus took me through the procedures and introduced me to staff members we met along the way.
When we reached the brightly decorated children's section, he introduced me to the resident librarian. "Melissa is the Director of Children's Literature," Marcus explained. "You two will collaborate over guest visitors and speakers. Mel gets a lot of children's authors in to do readings but often they will be happy to run seminars as well."
"Right," I said.
Mel, who was small, round and extremely pretty, smiled at me. She looked about my age and had long red hair that fell in waves down her back. "I hope Marcus hasn't been scaring you," she scolded and Marcus let out his now familiar bark of laughter. "We have a really friendly staff here, and we all help each other out."
"Mel is a whiz with the computer systems, so she's the one to go to if you need any help."
"Thanks," I said gratefully, knowing I would soon have a million and one questions.
"Not a problem. I also know where the best coffee shops are and the quietest places in the library if you feel like a nap." She smiled and winked. Marcus barked again.
The tension in my body, which had been so extreme this morning, was beginning to fade. The butterflies in my stomach were also less intense. All of the staff I had met so far seemed friendly and relaxed and I knew they would be supportive if I needed help with anything.
We left the Children's Literature section and Marcus took me to see my new office and go through my responsibilities and contract. As we walked up to my office door, I smiled to see my name already printed onto the metal slider on the wall.
Bella Swan
Library Quality and Planning Manager
The office was small, but very bright due to the floor to ceiling window that made up one wall. I had a beautiful view of the water and could see the ferries making their slow crossings. A sturdy desk stood against one wall, bookshelves and filing cabinets against the opposite.
"Bit sparse," Marcus said. "Ben didn't leave much behind – we'll get you a pot plant."
"It's wonderful," I replied honestly. I hadn't been expecting my own office space – maybe a cubicle, but not this.
We sat in the two comfy armchairs with our backs to the window as we went through my contract. I was in charge of organising guest speakers and lecturers. "You'll need to be in touch with Susan, our Business Manager and head of Marketing who'll help you advertise these events. All the calendars and bookings are on our intranet – I'll show you that in a minute. Your busiest time of year will be around stocktake – luckily Ben handled that a few months ago before he left. You'll have a budget for purchasing, but your team will let you know of stock requirements."
"I have a team?"
Marcus barked a laugh. "Of course you have a team! This is a pretty big library, Bella, each department has their own stock needs which they'll generally take care of themselves. You are in charge of quality, so that involves a bit of research, a bit of reading. Ultimate decisions lie with me of course, and then I'll send requests through to purchasing."
My head was spinning, and I hoped I'd learn quickly.
"Most of the time, you'll be organising for authors and guest speakers to visit. Again – research and reading."
"Well, I love to read," I told him honestly.
"Good, good. If we're understaffed we'll occasionally have you doing more menial jobs, but for the most part you won't be in the stacks much."
I remembered my last job in a library, where I had spent days without a glimpse of sunlight, burrowed away in the never-ending dusty stacks. "Thank goodness," I said with a smile.
We moved on to the subject of contract and pay and I had to fill in a lot of forms and sign all sorts of documents. Before I knew it, lunchtime had arrived and the pretty Children's Literature Director, Mel was knocking on my open door.
"Want to go get some lunch?" she asked. I remembered the brown paper bag with sandwich and apple that I had been so proud of that morning. Making new friends was more important though, so I agreed and grabbed my purse and cardigan.
"We'll go through computer systems when you get back!" Marcus called after us as we left.
"It'll be nice having a fresh face around," Mel said as we left the library and walked out into the bright sunlight. "We have lots of volunteers coming and going but the main staff hasn't changed much in the last few years I've been there. They guy before you, Ben, was about 80. He finally retired. Marcus is over the moon about getting someone new in – Ben was very old school." Mel was very friendly and chatty and I warmed to her quickly.
"I've got so much to learn," I admitted as we approached a small coffee cart in the park. The wafting smell of toasting baguettes made my stomach grumble. "I'm not sure how qualified I am for this job."
"Don't be silly!" Mel laughed. "You'll do just fine. The hardest part is learning the computer systems and accessing the database. Ben used to run through the same old authors to present here – he had them on a bi-yearly cycle and all their details are in the database. But there are so many new and up and coming authors willing to come in. All the publishing houses details are there too – it's just learning how to use the computer system and doing a bit of quality research, that's all. At least you won't be dealing with school groups. I really enjoy my job – especially running Quality Literature Programming Workshops with teachers, but reading to a group of 90 or so 11 year olds? Those days just about kill me." She only stopped chatting when it was our turn to order and I could feel a kind of warmth building inside me as I realised that I had already had a friend at the library.
The afternoon was spent exploring the library intranet and database. Ben, my predecessor, had already booked visitors to the library for the next two months. I made my first phone call to a publishing house and they organised to post me some pre-release samples from new authors who would be, in their words, "delighted" to give seminars at the Seattle Public Library.
By the time 4 o'clock rolled around, I was pleased with my productive afternoon. Marcus poked his head around my open door.
"Go home," he instructed me. "If you ever have the opportunity to leave here by four, take it! There will be plenty of evenings around stock-take where you will be pulling all-nighters."
"Thanks," I said, glad for the early mark.
"How have you enjoyed your first day?"
"I loved it," I replied honestly. "I'm really enjoying my work here."
Marcus nodded. "I'm glad. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out. Oh and here," he held out a light blue paper back novel to me. "Mel asked me to bring this up. New teen fiction – she wants to get this guy in."
I took the book from him and glanced at the title, Wonder. "Thanks. When do I need to read it by?"
Marcus shrugged. "Don't matter really. Take your time. You'll have lots of books coming in and out. Read the ones you want. I know Ben used to just look up reviews when he didn't have time to read them. That'll do – get a real-world perspective. If you're meeting the author though, helps to know their work."
"Right," I said, about to put the novel in my bag then hesitated. "Oh am I allowed to take it home?"
"'Course you are!" he barked. "It's yours. Any books you're done with or don't wanna keep, just send to the librarian's centre where it will be accessioned and put on the shelves."
I was too early to meet Jacob, but there wasn't much point heading home only to come back in. The sky had clouded over a little and I didn't want to sit in the park with my new book if it was going to rain. Instead, I made my way across the road to Starbucks.
"Hey, Bella! Wait a second!" I turned to see Mel hurrying across the road after me. "You heading home?"
"I'm meeting a friend at 5:30. I thought I'd hang out and read until then."
"I had 70 middle school-ers in today, and could seriously do with a glass of wine. Want to join me?"
I agreed happily and we walked together to a local wine bar a few doors down from the Starbucks.
"So how are you liking Seattle?" she asked once we'd sat down at a table outdoors, where we could watch the people walking by.
'So far I'm loving it," I admitted. "It reminds me a little of London – the little cafes and how it's so easy to walk around everywhere."
"You lived in London?" We talked for a while about my time overseas and she told me about her life. She'd grown up in Oklahoma and had come to Seattle for college. She'd been living with her long-term boyfriend for the past few years, but they'd broken up last year and she was still adjusting to single life. "It's strange," she said, sipping her cold glass of chardonnay. "I know we wanted different things out of life, and we were very different people but I still miss him a lot."
I told her about Edward and how I'd practically fled the country when we broke up. Then, without meaning to, I told her all about Jacob as well. She was just too easy to talk to.
"So, he was in love with you?" she asked.
"Yea, I guess. But we were just kids then. He's two years younger than me after all."
"Still, love is love. You sure he doesn't feel the same way now?"
"No," I sighed. "He told me the other night that he doesn't love me like that anymore. And besides, he's kinda got a girlfriend."
Mel raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean 'kinda'?"
"I think he wants to break up with her."
"I dunno, Bella, if someone wants to break up with someone, then they do." She looked miserable as she said this.
"Mel? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she mumbled then she shook her head. "If I tell you, you're going to judge me so badly."
"No I won't!" I promised not understanding what had suddenly upset her.
"I'm kind of seeing someone. Except…" she cringed. "God, this sounds so bad. The thing is, this guy is kinda… well… he's married."
"Oh, Mel!" I exclaimed. She was one of my only friends in Seattle and I didn't want to upset her, but married? I couldn't approve of that.
"I know!" she wailed. "It's terrible. I met him at the library – he's an academic at the university and was always around. When we started dating he didn't tell me, and it was only later I found out about her. He's really miserable in his marriage though. He says he's going to leave her…"
"Oh, Mel," I whispered again and rubbed her arm sympathetically. She looked so dejected.
"I wish I could just leave him, but I can't just switch off my feelings. It doesn't work that way."
"I know," I sympathised. "But what kind of future do you two have? How long have you been seeing him anyway?"
"A couple of months now. I think I'm falling in love with him."
There was nothing I could say. She was still such a new friend I couldn't tell her off, as I would have done with Karin.
Before I knew it, 5:30 had arrived and I had to hurry off to meet Jacob. My heart beat faster as I walked into the Starbucks and saw him sitting at a booth, playing on his phone, a light frown creasing his forehead. He must have gone home, showered and changed before he arrived, because he was wearing a clean grey t-shirt and the same pair of jeans he'd been wearing on Saturday night. His hair was still slightly damp and I noticed the skin on his face was smooth and freshly shaven. I desperately wanted to run my fingers over his soft skin and had to shake myself.
Pull yourself together, Bella, I thought. He's your friend, nothing more.
It's difficult; lying to yourself.
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