Ana parks her jeep in front of the apartment she shares with her best friend, Kate. They met freshman year of college as roommates and instantly hit it off. People are often surprised they are such good friends because they seem like complete opposites, like a modern version of Felix and Oscar.
Kate is tall, curvaceous, and blonde with big honey-colored eyes. She lights up a room the instant she enters it and can capture the heart of any guy she likes. She was so sociable and well-liked she was even voted Student Body President by a landslide, unseating the incumbent who was a poli-sci major.
Luther, their doorman, helps her carry the tv up to their apartment. The building is beautiful and was built in the 1920's, but there is no elevator which makes carrying anything to their second-floor apartment a pain.
"Thank you, Luther." Ana thanks the doorman for his help as she awkwardly carries the tv into the apartment.
"My pleasure, Miss Steele. Don't hurt yourself with that," he tells her as he turns and walks back down the stairs to the lobby.
The apartment is dark and quiet. Kate and her family usually spend the holidays at their vacation home in Rogue River, Oregon. It's a beautiful place; Kate has invited Ana to spend the holidays or summer break with them a few times. She likes spending the holidays with the Kavanaghs. The large family of aunts and uncles, cousins, and siblings are loud and loving who make her feel like part of the family. She even gets along with Kate's older brother, Ethan. Kate used to tease Ana and say she hoped Ana and Ethan would get married so they could become sisters.
But, Ana knows she isn't Ethan's type. She's always been small for her age and still gets told she's too thin. Her long, thick brown hair seems to do whatever it wants and her blue eyes, the only trait she received from her biological father, are too big for her face. Aside from that she is also incredibly shy and prefers to be curled up in a chair reading a good book than out at a party or shopping.
It's only late morning, but she's exhausted. She spent Thanksgiving with her stepdad, Ray, and drove from his house in Montesano to Seattle late at night and went right to get the tv for him. Ray loves to watch soccer games, and he's always done so much for her that she wants to give him something special for Christmas. Ana has worked hard at two jobs for the past year to save money to get him a new UHD tv. It was the most expensive thing she ever bought besides her car, and that she bought for herself as a 21st birthday present. It took her five years to save the money but she was able to do it, and she loves her jeep. She even named him Larry and says he's the most reliable man she's ever met.
Ana has never had good luck in the boyfriend department. Maybe it's because her mom is a hopeless romantic and is on her fourth marriage, but it's probably because most guys in their early 20's don't want a shy bookworm for a date. When Kate was getting dressed up and going to college formals, Ana was studying. Kate offered to hook her up with one of her guy friends, but Ana didn't want to be some guy's charity case who was hoping to get into Kate's pants.
She sits down on her bed and yawns. She works at the bookstore from 5 until midnight tonight. The bookstore doesn't get as crowded on Black Friday as other stores, but they are open for over 12 hours to appease their loyal customers and hopefully attract new customers who are shopping at other stores on the block.
It's not crazy, but there is a steady stream of customers in the store up until about 10 pm, then as the shoppers go home to relax or get ready for a night out it dies down. Ana is OK with that - it would take a while to clean up the store and put misplaced books back where they belong. She closes the store tonight with her coworker, Nolan.
Nolan is a substitute English teacher who works at the bookstore to supplement his income. He lives with his partner, John, who is a celebrated chef at the hottest restaurant in town. Nolan is like the responsible big brother Ana never had. "Be careful driving home, Ana. There are crazy and drunk people out there." He tells Ana as she is getting into her jeep to leave.
She rolls her eyes, "I know." Then she turns around and smiles at him. "Tell John I said hi, and he still owes me dinner for feeding your cat and watering your plants when you two went on vacation."
"We'll make a plan. G'night my love."
"G'night, my love." Ana smiles and gets in her jeep to go home.
The following two weeks were almost as busy as it was on Black Friday. It helped that a popular New York Times bestselling author did a book signing at the shop the first week of December. The bookstore is finally back to normal, and Ana is putting out some new releases on the shelves that they just got in.
"Ana?" Ana hears someone call her name and turns around. She recognizes the girl asking her name, but she doesn't recall from where.
"Oh, hi." Ana smiles trying not to be rude.
"It's Mia. My brother helped you put a tv in your jeep on Black Friday." Ana then remembers Mia and her kind face.
"Right! Sorry about that. How are you?" Ana gives Mia a genuine smile, amazed at what a small world it is.
"I'm good. How is your new tv?" Mia asks, and there's something about her that makes Ana know she is genuine.
"Oh, it was a gift I got for my dad."
"Do you work here?" Mia asks her.
"Um, yeah. Can I help you find something?"
"Yeah, actually you can. I want to buy my dad a book for his birthday coming up that he'll really like, but I don't read much."
"OK, what does he like to read?" Ana asks Mia, trying to get an idea of where to start.
"I don't know. He's a lawyer though so I thought maybe something in that area?" Mia shrugs unsure of what her father likes to read.
"Well, James Patterson is a pretty popular writer who is on best sellers lists. He writes legal thrillers and just released a new book. John Grisham also just released a new book. Let me show them to you." Mia follows Ana to the section of the fiction new releases.
Mia picks up the books and looks them over. "This is great. I think I'm going to get him both. Thanks, Ana."
"You're welcome, Mia. Why don't I ring you up?" Ana walks behind the register and enters her password to log herself into the bookstore's system.
"Thanks again. Do you work here often?" Mia asks Ana as she runs her credit card through the machine.
"Yeah, pretty much. It's supposed to be a side thing but the pay is pretty good, and they give me hours that work around my other job."
"Really? What's your other job?" Mia asks her.
"Oh, I'm a freelance copywriter."
"Really? That sounds interesting. How do you get into that?" Mia asks Ana. Ana is unlike any other of Mia's friends - she's kind, smart, and interesting. She loves her friends, but she realizes that Lily and the other girls are pretty materialistic and she doesn't want to turn into them. Mia has always tried hard to not be like a rich, spoiled brat but it's hard when she has never had to want for anything. It seems like things just come easy to her and she's afraid she's going to become insipid.
"I was an English major in college, and I love to read. It seemed like an easy fit." Ana places the books in a bag and hands Mia the receipt. "I hope he likes them."
"Thanks, Ana. It was good to see you again." Mia walks out of the bookstore to a convertible parked at the curb and drives off.