When Winter Comes

Working together

Long and dark eyelashes. It was what he happened to notice about her first. They softly touched her rosy cheeks, and when she grew excited with a particular book, she would shut her eyes tightly and hug the book. He found her quite endearing. She often visited his book store and always waved or offered him a toothy smile.

Words were never exchanged until one afternoon. He knew it was her before even looking up from his book, she always hummed a tune. This time however she walked straight up to the front desk.

Her brown eyes revealed all her anxieties and he was quick to give her his undivided attention. "Hey mister, do you need a worker?"

She thought it was silly to ask but trying never hurt. Scanning his face, she gave him a small smile. "I need a job and my heart tells me this is the perfect place."

He raised a dark brow at her and leaned forward. "Your heart tells you that?" The statement was intriguing to him and quite obviously odd.

She nodded her head. "It does, because I feel happy when I'm here and I don't mind your staring at all. We'd get along just fine!"

The older man chuckled at her words. Her attitude attracted him and he thought maybe he wouldn't mind having her around. "I see. How old are you?"

"Nineteen!"

He hummed in response as he folded the corner of a page in his book. She looked younger. Or maybe she seemed younger now that her childlike words were wrapped around his brain.

"And how old are you, mister?" She didn't think he looked that old, but she came to the conclusion that a young man couldn't own his own establishment. Calling him 'mister' was out of politeness, a word like 'dude' seemed inappropriate used on him.

"I'm 25." He smiled as she gasped in awe, the shock evident on her face. Nothing about this girl was subtle.

"You trickster! I thought you were at least thirty!" she blushed and put a hand over her mouth realizing the weight of her words. "Not that you look super old but you always wear sweater vests and fancy grandfather clothing. You had me fooled mister!"

He chuckled and shook his head. "You tricked me too, I thought you were a kid." Her face seemed so impossibly young for her age and her small stature wasn't of much help either. "Though technically you are, you still have the word 'teen' in your age."

She frowned. "I'll be twenty when the winter comes so I'm practically all grown up, aren't I?"

He smiled and glanced around the empty shop. The sun left a warm hue around the brown wood and the young girl looked ethereal in his eyes. "I suppose so. My name is Landon. Now let's get all these formalities out the way so I can hire you."

"Nice to meet you, Landon! I'm Camille."

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