The apartment was nice, far nicer than what I expected. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was clean and updated. It would work perfectly for the few months I was there.

I couldn’t believe Vicky had gone grocery shopping for me. She had seemed nice enough on the phone, but this went beyond nice. Hopefully it wasn’t just a first day thing. I was ready to have a good boss for a change.

I pulled off my sweatshirt and tossed it on the back of a chair. Although I was meticulous about my organization at work, outside of it I was anything but. It’s why I preferred to live alone in grad school rather than share a place with a roommate. I’d learned the hard way how angry girls could get when you forgot to wash dishes. It was easier for everyone if I kept my own space.

I walked around my new apartment. It was way larger than I expected. With an eat-in kitchen, living area, two bedrooms, and a nice sized bath. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with all the space. Thankfully it was furnished because buying furniture wasn’t in my budget.

I pulled back the heavy red curtains in the living room and gasped. They’d been hiding floor to ceiling windows that gave a beautiful view of the town. It was too dark to see the ocean, but I had a feeling the view would amazing in the morning. Now that would be a nice way to enjoy a cup of coffee.

My eyes immediately went to the large willow tree in the distance. It seemed to glow in the moonlight. I would have to check it out during the day. Maybe it had a plaque or something to explain its significance. Otherwise I’d have to look it up downstairs in the library. I had been able to find absolutely nothing on the town during my pre-move search. The only details I had came directly from Vicky, and she hadn’t shared very many.

If I strained my eyes I could see the black iron gates that surrounded the town. There was a silence here unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Instead of the noise machine I used to drown out the city noise, I was going to need a noise-maker. I left the curtains open before heading into the kitchen to fix a snack. Maybe taking a job in the boonies wasn’t such a bad decision after all. Theoretically, it might end up as a refreshing and much needed change from the city.

---

The knocking started before the sun was up. One quick glance at the clock told me I still had a full hour before my alarm went off, and I had built in tons of extra time for a shower and to dry my hair so I wasn’t running late on my first day. It looked like this place wasn’t quite as quiet as I thought.

The knocking stopped, and I wondered if I’d imagined it. I rolled over, ready to grab another hour of sleep. The knocking started again. I groaned, stretched, and reluctantly pulled myself out of bed. By the time I was up the knocking had stopped. Maybe they’d walked away.

I waited a full minute before letting out a sigh of relief. I was too awake to go back to sleep, so instead I dug out a towel from one of my bags—I’d finish unpacking later—and headed to the shower. Now that I was awake I might as well get a start on the day.

Before I made it to the bathroom, the knocking started again. I went to the front door and debated what to do. There was no peep hole or anything, so I wasn’t going to just pull it open. “Yes?” I called.

No one answered. “Can I help you?” I called a little louder. This was getting annoying. If I was going to be up early, there had to be a reason for it.

The knocking continued. I threw caution to the wind and opened the door.

“Hey Matilda!” A girl with long blonde hair with pink streaks stood just outside the door. She held a cardboard tray with two coffees and a white paper bag balancing on the empty two slots.

“Hi? Uh, I’m sorry, but can I help you?” I waited for the girl to say something.

“Oh. Sorry. I picked these up for us.” She held out the coffee.

“Uh, thanks.” I debated whether to pull out one coffee or take the whole tray. Instead I opened the door wider. “Do you want to come in?”

I looked down at my pajamas. Maybe inviting her in wasn’t such a great idea, but it was better than standing with the door open. I still wasn’t sure what the girl was doing there. Was this just small town hospitality?

She walked in and set the tray down on the counter. “I’m Delpha. I’m the children’s librarian here.” She held out her hand.

I readily accepted her offered handshake. “Oh, hi!” A co-worker. This made more sense. “Hey, sorry to greet you like this. I’m not dressed yet, obviously.” I gestured down to my dog pajamas.

“I like dogs too.” She leaned into the counter. “Vicky did such a nice job in here.”

“I get the sense it didn’t look so great before.” At least that’s what I assumed Pierce meant with his ‘old’ comment.

“Not at all—” Delpha stopped talking.

“What?”

“It’s just old.” She looked in my direction, and I noticed her aquamarine eyes. They were stunning. First Pierce’s grey eyes and now her blue-green ones. My brown eyes were going to stand out around here for being boring.

“Yeah, that’s the impression I’ve gotten.” I decided to drop it. The place had been updated, which was a good thing. “By the way, please call me Mattie.”

“Mattie? Got it!” She opened the white bag. “I’m sure these aren’t like the bagels you’re used to, but we think they are good.”

“You got bagels? Wow. Thanks.” Bagels were a surefire way to my good side.

“Of course! I’m excited Vicky found someone for your position. Now I’ll have more time to spend on the reading programs I’ve been developing. Plus I can add in another story-hour. I had to cut so much out.”

“Well then, I’m glad I can help.” Even if I wasn’t 100% sure what I would be doing. I’d gone to school for academic library work. I knew everything about the workings of a college library, specifically collections because that’s what I wanted to do, but I’d figure out what they needed me to do—I hoped.

“Breakfast first or shower? I don’t mind either way.” Delpha sounded like she meant it.

“Breakfast. I don’t want to leave you waiting around.”

“It’s not a big deal.” She flipped some hair off her shoulder, revealing the top of a faint blue-green tattoo that almost perfectly matched her eyes.

“I’m hungry anyway.” Clearly I wasn’t going to win that argument.

Delpha got out the bagel and a tub of cream cheese. “Who else told you this apartment was old?”

“Oh. Pierce. Vicky’s son.”

“You met Pierce?” She paused with her cream cheese spreading.

“Yeah. He actually helped me find town.”

“Oh.” She put an exceptionally thick layer of cream cheese on her bagel. “Interesting.”

“Why is that interesting?” I watched as she spread the other side. It was starting to look like cream cheese with a side of bagel, but I didn’t care. I didn’t need much of the spread for myself.

“Because he’s been in a funk lately, barely talking to anyone.”

“You know him well?” What I wanted to ask was whether she was involved with him. I would be sure to keep my distance if that was the case. Delpha seemed nice, but I’d learned even nice girls had claws when it came to the guys they were into.

“We all know each other well here. We graduated from high school together.”

“Oh, cool.” I wasn’t sure what that meant in terms of needing to keep my distance.

“He used to be pretty cool. Was on the baseball team. That kind of stuff.”

“And what happened?” I accepted the knife and spread a thin layer on the first side of my bagel.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably family stuff. Family stuff is usually the crux of everyone’s issues.”

“Or relationship problems,” I said automatically.

“I take it you’ve had some of those?” She grabbed one of the coffees and took a seat at the small kitchen table.

“Some.” That was putting it mildly, but she didn’t need to know all the nitty gritty details.

“I get it. I’ve had some too.”

I finished with the cream cheese, mentally preparing myself for a disappointing bagel. That way if it was halfway decent I would be happy. Nothing could compare to a New York bagel, but some places got close. I took my bagel and coffee and sat down across from Delpha.

I took a bite of the bagel. “Wow.”

“Decent?” She watched me intently.

“More than decent. These are from town?”

“Yeah, it’s from the coffee shop here called Urban Grind. They hired someone from your neck of the woods to make the bagels and some Italian style pastries.”

“Does he or she make pizza too?”

Delpha laughed. “Not that I know of, and I don’t think Cad would appreciate that. He’s the pizza chef in town.”

“So there is a pizza place in town?” I wasn’t sure what kind of restaurant options there would be in such a small town.

“We have a few restaurants.”

“Nice.” That was something. Maybe this wasn’t the complete middle of nowhere. If nothing else I could live on these bagels.

“We have a bar, an ice cream shop, a diner. You know the basics.”

“At least this isn’t a dry county or anything.”

“A dry county? You aren’t that far south.”

I took a sip of my coffee. “Maybe from your perspective but not mine.”

“I bet anything south of the Mason-Dixon line is far south for you.” There was a slight edge to her voice.

“You aren’t that far off,” I admitted. “But I am excited to try living somewhere new.” I finished my bagel. “I should probably get showered and ready.”

“Ok, cool.” She returned to her bagel.

“You don’t have to wait here.”

“I don’t mind. It’s cozy in here.” She leaned back in her chair.

Ok, she wasn’t getting it. I wanted her to leave. I felt weird showering when someone I barely knew was in the place. But making an enemy by kicking her out would be a bad idea. “If you are sure.”

“Completely sure. Take your time.” She sipped her coffee.

“Ok, thanks.” Getting her to leave wasn’t going to happen, so I went back to my room to grab some clothes before heading to the bathroom.

I turned on the water, ignoring the screeching of the pipes. I hoped they were like the sink and would quiet down after a few moments. They didn’t. If anything it got worse. Oh well, I stepped into the shower and turned the shower head on. The water pressure was lacking, but the water was hot. I’d had crappy showers before; I could survive for however long I lived there. But the screeching noise was going to be a problem. I would live with it for a while before asking Vicky who to go to for help. I didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but what if the pipes were so loud people could hear them downstairs? The library wasn’t open yet, but by Delpha’s arrival, I knew some employees arrived early.

And what about Pierce? Did he work at the library too? Why was I thinking about him in the shower? He was a jerk. The only reason he was being nice to me was because of his mom. Hopefully if I remembered that I would stop thinking about him.

I finished my shower and got dressed before heading back toward my room. I didn’t see Delpha, so I assumed she had left.

I stopped short when I entered my room. Half of my bags were empty and Delpha was putting some of my t-shirts into a drawer. “Hey, how was your shower?”

“You’re unpacking my stuff?” I tried to keep my voice level. Was she serious?

“Yeah, I figured I might as well be useful. I used my own organizational system, but I figured it would work for you.” She put another pile of clothes away.

“Your organizational system?” I walked over to the dresser. My stuff was color-coded. I don’t just mean blues with the blues. I mean the shades of blue were separated out and put together.

“Does it work for you? Do you need something more specific?”

“You don’t have to do this. I planned to unpack tonight.” She was unpacking my stuff. A girl I had just met was unpacking my stuff.

“But we have plans tonight.” She didn’t look up from unpacking my clothes.

“We do?” The situation was getting stranger by the second.

“Yes!” She jumped to her feet. “Oh wait. I guess I forgot to tell you. That was silly.”

“What are these plans?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“Your welcome party.”

“My welcome party?” I fought to keep my voice level.

“We don’t get newcomers all that often…”

I sat down on the edge of the queen-sized bed. “And you throw them parties?” Was this more of that small town friendliness? Admittedly it was more normal than unpacking my clothing.

“No. This will be a first, but since we’re co-workers I want to.”

“You really don’t have to.” A party with people I didn’t know wasn’t the most appealing of plans.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Telling me I don’t have to do things I really want to do. It’s almost like you’re telling me not to do them because you don’t want me to.” Her face fell, and her bright eyes dimmed.

“No.” She was completely right of course, but I couldn’t admit it. “I just don’t like people going out of their way for me. It makes me feel bad.”

“It should make you feel good. Don’t you want people to care about you?”

“Yes, of course.” I wanted people to care about me, but that was supposed to take time. It felt strange to get that kind of treatment from someone I’d just met.

“Then stop worrying. I don’t mind helping at all!”

“Ok. Great. Thanks.”

“Ok, you ready to go down?” She gestured to the door.

“I have to dry my hair.” I tapped on the towel wrapped around my hair.

“Why?” Her forehead furrowed.

“Because I can’t go to work with wet hair.”

“I do it a lot.” She twisted the pink part of her hair around her finger.

“Oh.” It was impossible to know what to say around this girl. Everything I said made her feel bad. “But it’s my first day.”

“Want me to help?”

“Help with…?”

“Your hair. I can dry it for you.”

Oh dear god. I chose my words carefully. “I like doing it myself, but thanks for the offer.”

“I get that.” She smiled. “I’ll finish up in here then.”

“Ok.” I bit down the scream that was about to surface and grabbed my hair dryer from where it sat on my bed. At least she hadn’t started organizing that kind of stuff yet.

I escaped to the bathroom already wondering how I was going to survive my first day here, let alone a few months. I stared at my reflection as I dried my hair. I was really doing this. I had moved to the boonies, a random co-worker I’d just met was unpacking my stuff, and I’d agreed to let her organize a welcome party for me. My craziness had reached a whole new level.

“You ready, Mattie?” Delpha called as soon as I turned off my hair dryer.

“Uh huh.” I hastily put on some lip gloss before leaving the bathroom.

“You look nice.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed my bag and headed to the door.

“This is going to be so much fun!”

“What is?” I hoped this wasn’t like the party where she forgot to tell me something important we were doing.

“Working together.”

“Oh, of course. Yes, it is. Although it sounds like you will be busy with your stuff.”

“But we’ll still see each other. Vicky closes up the library from 12-1 for lunch, so we’ll have that together.”

“Great.” They closed the library for lunch? That was a new one, but I guess it meant people didn’t have to stagger their breaks. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about who to go to lunch with. I needed to focus on the positive. I kind of, sort of had a friend already. That would make the job easier.

We started down the three flights of stairs toward the main floor of the library. “Short commute.”

Delpha laughed as if I had said the funniest thing ever. “I know, right! I can’t wait to move in so I can say the same thing.”

Move in? Had I heard her right? “Uh, sorry, I missed what you said.”

“The second bedroom. There’s already a twin bed in there. I don’t mind taking that one.”

“Oh wow. Yeah.”

“So you don’t mind then?” She clapped. “Perfect! I’ll move over my stuff tonight before the party.”

What had I just done? “What about your current place?”

“Don’t worry about that. I was planning to break up with Cad anyway. This is perfect timing.”

“Cad? The guy who owns the pizza place?”

“Yeah, we’ve been on again, off again for a few years. I told you I understood the relationship issues thing.”

“Yeah…” We reached the main floor, and I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. What was happening? First she unpacked my things and now she wanted to move in? How could I possibly get myself out of this mess?

“You are the best for inviting me to live with you!” She pulled me into a surprisingly tight hug.

And I was a doormat. A total and complete doormat. “Of course.”

“Let me give you a tour!” She took my hand, and I let her lead me toward the main circulation desk.

All of this and it wasn’t even eight a.m. yet.