Part One
ADA
It was a chilly Thursday evening when Sabrina Campbell walked into Lady Quill’s bookshop at around 4:30 pm. Clouds had filled the sky since early morning and it felt like rain, but it was possibly only one of those dreary days you only get in the winter.
Ada had been distracted that day, and had barely noticed the petite young lady with the red beret perched on her head and wrapped in a green sweater enter the shop. Truthfully, she’d barely paid attention to any customers at all that day. Ada had spent most of the day hunched over her phone which she kept hidden behind the cash register where the customers couldn’t see, carefully crafting the perfect message to send to a guy she’d been interested in. She’d been so distracted that she’d gaze off as she rung up the customers and only heard the little bell by the door ring once or twice the entire day.
Of course, Lady Quill’s had been slow on business lately. Ada didn’t own the bookshop, but she’d been nervous about the lack of customers coming in. And she was sure Helen, the owner of Lady Quill’s, was worried too. She’d dropped by much more often recently, just to poke around and make sure Ada wasn’t driving customers away. But she’d never been able to do much and always left with a fading smile that seemed to dim every time she left.
Besides Helen, Ada was now the only person working at Lady Quill’s. Simon, the tall, glasses wearing one who enjoyed poetry and Ernest Hemingway had worked there but left last month, for reasons that no one explained to Ada. And Paula, the pretty redhead who pressed flowers had taken the other shifts but Helen fired her on account of her pressing flowers into the books she was supposed to be selling. Actually, she was a natural blonde but dyed her hair and spilled hair dye in the single bathroom of the bookshop, which stained the pretty tiles. Helen didn’t like that either. Ada didn’t miss them much, they’d barely worked together and she’d never made efforts to hang out with coworkers. She didn’t see the point.
Ada had noticed Sabrina, now that she thought about it. Mostly, she noticed her purchase; a greeting card with the words “With Sympathy” written in cursive golden letters and lavender colored flowers sprinkled across the cover. Helen had the idea that if Lady Quill’s was a bookshop/stationery shop, they’d attract more customers, so she added a greeting card section complete with cards and envelopes, but no one ever perused that section. Ada had tried on several occasions to persuade Helen that the section was useless, but all her attempts had been unsuccessful. And so the cards remained, gathering dust. Ada could almost see them turning yellow with age.
Sabrina had slid the card across the desk to Ada, who looked at it, and then up to Sabrina. Sabrina’s expression didn’t change as Ada rung up the purchase, nor when she gave Ada exact change, down to the last coin.
Sabrina had those sort of piercing eyes, the ones that made you look a second time. Her eyes were intense, yet calming, like an ocean wave crashing on top of you, then pulling away from the shore, leaving you in the sand. Ada couldn’t keep from glancing back up to Sabrina, and then back down to the register.
“No one’s ever bought one of these cards before. Guess you’re the first person who’s ever needed one,” Ada said, trying to break the silence, which permeated the room and bounced back to her. She hated awkward silences and didn’t want to drink in the silence with this girl much longer.
Sabrina regarded her for a moment, but said nothing. Ada swallowed and slid the greeting card back to her. “Right, so did you want your receipt?” Ada asked, hoping that the girl would leave and she could curl back up into the safe glow of her phone.
Sabrina nodded and Ada printed the receipt and handed it to Sabrina, who tucked it into her pocket. She picked up the greeting card gingerly and made to leave, before pausing and thinking for a moment.
“Do you have a pen?” Sabrina asked, turning back towards Ada, who’d already grabbed her phone. “Oh, yeah,” Ada said, putting her phone in her lap and placing a ballpoint pen on the desk. Sabrina walked back to the desk, removed the plastic covering of the card and began writing in a rushed handwriting that spilled across the paper. Ada was never good at reading upside down, so she didn’t snoop, but she did watch Sabrina as she wrote quickly, pausing only to adjust her beret, which kept slipping down towards her forehead.
Sabrina finished writing and put the card in the envelope, sealing it closed by licking it. Ada unconsciously winced when she remembered the sharp taste of envelope glue. Sabrina addressed the envelope and capped the pen, putting it back on the desk.
Ada watched her go, lavender envelope in hand. She peered through the window as Sabrina placed a stamp from her purse onto the envelope and slipped it through the opening of the blue postal mailbox on the sidewalk. She then took the receipt from her pocket, examined it, and crumpled it, dropping it into the large garbage bin near the mailbox as she left, her shoes clicking on the sidewalk.