HOME | Gilbert Blythe

| 04. DON'T CRY OVER SPILLED MILK

JAX felt like a pouty child. She sat on a stool, her school bag crumpled on the floor next to her, fingers drumming on the front desk of Elle's library. This had been her spot for quite a while, after she rushed into the building all flustered and Elle shooed her away, promising she would come talk soon. She tossed the happenings of the school day around in her head, waiting for the older woman to finish up so she could finally complain. It was taking quite a while.

The brunette never liked to dwell, in fact, she tried her hardest to avoid caring about awkward or offensive situations. There were many inconsiderate people out there in the world—and those who are sensitive simply don't survive. However, she was quite shocked by the lack of common courtesy the students had at school. Even the teacher was rude!

A huff escaped her mouth, and she rolled her eyes. She was taking these people way too seriously. They didn't deserve a second thought from her. She could step on them if she wanted to.

People left the library, but a few minutes still went by with no Elle. The clock ticked slowly, and her patience quickly ran thin. She uncrossed her legs and left the front office, weaving her way through the tall shelves of books to finally find the blonde woman she was looking for.

"There you are!" The American exclaimed. "What in the world is taking you so long?"

Elle was perched on a step stool, struggling to put a book back on the top shelf. It was funny, through all the craziness of getting accustomed to this new town, Jax never came to realize the shortness of her foreign exchange mother. Although strong-looking, Elle still stood about seven inches short of Jax.

Jax tried her hardest to hold back her laughter, but it did not work. Elle shot her a dirty look, continuing to stretch as far as she could. Still, she did not reach.

"You better not be making fun of me down there, that's very rude." She huffed. "Not all of us were born giants, Jacquelyn."

Jax gestured for Elle to get down, then replaced her on the step stool. "I don't think that I'm the giant." She grunted as she reached the top shelf, sliding the book in easily. "You're just a midget."

She returned to the ground to stand next to the blonde, her neck craning to look at the very top shelf. "And how in the world do you expect anyone to reach that?"

"That's why we have the step stool!" When Jax just stared wordlessly, she sighed in defeat. "If I'm being honest, I'm having trouble keeping up. I've been meaning to reorganize the store,  but I never seem to get around to it."

"And it's only you working here?"

Elle pulled a rack stacked with books up to the shelf, and smiled breathlessly. "Yep! This building has been in my family for two generations, and my parents didn't seem to need any help running this place, so..."

Jax shook her head. "But they at least had each other."

"Maybe it is time to hire some help," Elle considered. She once again grabbed the step stool and moved to start putting the books back, but was quickly stopped by Jax.

"Hire help?" Elle was surprised by Jax's incredulous tone.

"Yes?"

"Why would you pay money to have some random person work here when you have someone right here?"

Elle looked around jokingly. "Who?"

Jax rolled her eyes, but laughed.

"I appreciate that, Jacquelyn, but that isn't fair to you. You didn't come to Avonlea to work." The blonde sighed, continuing her work.