❝ sometimes love isn't exactly
what we think it's going
to be. ❞
hearts & other breakable things
by cassidy smith
[ started: 2019 - 2021 ]
[ edited 2021 ]
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januarie robinson - december 22, 2018 -
THE SMELL OF COFFEE SMOTHERED out any other scent lingering in the air of Corner Store Books. Floor to ceiling shelves covered two of the four walls. The front wall consisted of nothing, but windows and the other was filled with the coffee bar. On the far wall, between two bookshelves, a sliding curtain hung over a threshold into the back room where we kept the inventory and hid a metal staircase leading to the roof. Not to mention the backdoor to my apartment with Nora.
Elena and Victoria sat by the windows, a small table separating them with two steaming cups resting on top. Hand drawn snowflakes littered the glass beside them and hung from the ceiling above. I'm sure when Lucas gave me the weekend of the festival off, he didn't realize most of it would consist of stacking books and serving hot drinks to people when they stopped in.
With every glance out the window, my heart ached a little more. You could probably see Kensington from outer space right now. The whimsical glow of the string lights lit up the entire street. They stretched lazily across the road only parting for the towns tree set up in the middle of the intersection with giant football sized ornaments and tinsel so long it draped down to the point of dangling off the front of the stage.
The curtain to the inventory room peeled back and out stepped my mom with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a book propped open in the other. Her fiery red hair was held up with only a pen sticking out of it. The reading glasses resting on the edge of her nose fogged up when she blew on her drink before taking a tentative sip.
The pile of books in my arms teetered and panic rose up my throat. Balancing them back out, a sigh escaped my lips. She looked up at the sound and jumped, the smallest squeak leaving her throat.
"What are you still doing here?" She glanced down at her watch and her eyes grew wide, "You girls better get dressed if you expect to make it to the show on time. You know Mrs. Hutcherson; she'd rather give your spot away than have any kind of gap."
"I know, but Josh stepped out and there was no one to watch the floor."
"Oh, Sweetie," she smiled, "you could have gotten me."
"You were busy." Putting the books on the coffee bar, I leaned against it, "I really don't mind, Mom."
She placed her coffee next to my stack of books and dog-eared her page. It crushed my soul a little to watch her do it, but I understood why she did. When she was younger, all her books looked brand new, but as she got older, she liked the fact that it was her book and no one would have one exactly like it.
"You better get ready down here then and hurry your pretty little butts down there."
"Thank you." I gave her a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug before running around the bar and grabbing my bag.
