Yet she teared through the pages and the ink spilled.❞
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Days passed, but she did not.
Everyday felt like the same day, with more customers strolling in day and night, but this time she was not pulled by the tide. All the while, her mind would drift and wander to the boy she now saw in daylight.
She wasn't obsessed with him, of course. And even if she was, it wouldn't be in that way. It was more like encountering a closed book and dying to open it, only to discover that it was locked.
Sometimes she thought she caught sight of him. But she'd walk closer and he'd disappear. Maybe it was her mistaking someone else again, but she couldn't help feel like he was trying to avoid her. It became obvious he wanted space.
She just didn't know how long she could keep giving it without knowing why.
Their only brief interactions was with Zach, who acted as a buffer. There was always an underlying tension between Eleanor and Theo. A quiet, buzzing noise that was sometimes so loud, he looked away.
She never did.
"Hey."
Eleanor blinked at Jeff's fingers snapping in front of her face. "Hi."
He snorted. "What's the matter with you? Did you forget that we're closing the shack early from now on or what?"
"Look at you, being all cheeky," she teased, ruffling his hair.
"He's just grumpy because it's past his bedtime," Wanda, another co-worker, quipped.
"You two are pure evil."
The girls chuckled. Unlike Jeff, Wanda was older than her — twenty-one years old, around Travis's age. Despite the small gap between them, however, Eleanor always looked up to her for advice. That was why the woman was usually second-in-charge. She was also more mature than most twenty-year olds, and for certain reasons.
Eleanor was crouching down below the shelves to stock up some inventories, when a white flicker caught her eye. Something was wedged between the counter and one of Anchor's pillars.
