The Magic of Stories

6 - About Conny

"Not if she keeps pushing everyone away. But you're right, I just wish for Danny's sake she'll find her smile again."

She glanced over at the boy, who had snuggled up on the sofa with the blue tabby curled in his lap and a tiny spaceship zipping around his head. It resembled the Millennium Falcon a lot.

Amber's eyes lit up. "Aren't they adorable?"

"They?" I raised my brows.

Her smile faded. "Oh, just Danny, of course."

"I heard you well and clear, and I think you're right, they are adorable."

Her eyes widened, and I winked. "And since you can see Cat, I'd love to know if you have met Luca?"

The blood rushed into her cheeks. "The hottie? I wish he would be less elusive and half as talkative as Cat. Have you seen his dimples? His gorgeous eyes and his permanent melancholic expression are to die for."

I suppressed a grin at her swooning. "Seems you know him far better than I do."

"Not as good as I'd like to know him, unfortunately. I can't believe you see him too. Aren't adults—aside from Marjorie—supposed to be blind to the magic of the stories?"

"Either they aren't or I don't count as an adult." I was about to ask her which story Luca had slipped out of when the office door opened and her mother interrupted our conversation.

"Oh, Amber, I didn't realise you're already here. Is it that late?"

The girl checked the time on her phone. "No rush, just finish your job. Lynn and I were discussing a few reads."

"That's great. What did she recommend to you?"

Amber's cheeks flushed the colour of rose petals, and I grinned.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide," I volunteered.

Conny reached for the book. "Oh, I love Douglas Adam's stories. Such a pity he died so young."

Her daughter's expression was priceless, but the girl was saved from further embarrassment by her brother. He trudged over with a stack of comic books, the blue cat perched on his shoulder. "Mum, may I take these home?" Baby Yoda grinned at us from the cover of the top book.

"Of course. Lynn will check them out for you." She tousled his hair and Cat jumped to the floor with an indignant meow before he stalked away, his tail a stiff question mark. I had to fight down my urge to join Amber in a fit of girlish giggles.

"What's so funny?"

We exchanged a glance, and she pointed at the novel in Conny's hand. "Oh, just that Lynn told me you might have read this book, and I wouldn't believe her."

I had to admit the girl was a quick thinker. A shadow crossed her mother's face as she turned the book over to read the blurb. "Way back when I met your father, we went to see the movie together. Perhaps we can find it on the internet and watch it tonight. What do you think?"

Danny perked up. "Does it have a spaceship?"

Our laughter earned us a frown from a few customers, and Conny hushed us. "Alright, let Lynn and me finish here and we will see what we can do."

Amber nodded and took her brother by the hand to return to the sitting corner. I checked my phone and how many visitors we still had. "Listen, there's only half an hour left. If you like, I can finish alone tonight."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"There remains not much to do. I already rearranged most returns."

She pressed my arm. "You're the best. I'll just switch off my computer while you check out the children's books. See you tomorrow then."

Right, I had almost forgotten that the library was open for a few hours on Saturday mornings. I had agreed, especially since I'd have Monday mornings off as a compensation.

Ten minutes later, Conny and her kids were out the door, leaving me to wrap up business with the last few customers. A young mother carrying a baby checked out with three books on child care. Only when the door closed behind her, a weird emptiness spread in my stomach. I was alone in the haunted library.

With a rising feeling of dread, I stacked the last returns on my trolley and wondered if this was a good idea. But before my fears could overwhelm me, Cat appeared on top of my book stack, grinning as usual. "Well done, with Conny and her kids."

"Thanks, even if this left me stranded here with a bunch of inhabitants of another plane of the multiverse."

Despite my gruff tone, Cat's presence made my anxiety subside as I rolled the trolley with its passenger down the aisle. "Can you explain why Conny and the regular guests here can't see you and the other ghosts?"

"I don't know how many of the regulars can or can't see us. But we're not ghosts."

"Right, beings of another realm. Will you answer my question, or do I have to ask Luca?"

He let me retrieve the top two volumes from the stack and yawned. "Good luck with questioning him. Well, it's rather easy. Like most adults, your coworker has lost her ability to see the wondrous things and doesn't believe in magic anymore."

"This sounds like a sad state to be in. Is there a way to help her?"

Cat contemplated a paw, extending and retracting the claws. "I don't know if it can be fixed. As a first thing, she would have to want it, and I'm not sure she is ready to leave the dark place she built in her thoughts. Adult humans have too many sorrows on their mind to keep it open for wonders at the same time."

He might be right, and despite what I said the other day to Marjorie, I hoped I would never lose this ability. "Amber thinks her mum should meet a man."

"She's a clever young lady—she might even know the buff maintenance worker who has a crush on her mother."

It took me only seconds to get whom he referred to. "Paco? I agree he seems to admire Conny, but she doesn't even look at him."

"Some humans need a bit of pushing, as you know. You could prompt her."

Cat's proposition seemed like interfering, but then—

"Good luck with that."

The unfamiliar, deep voice made me jump. Luca leaned against a shelf only two steps away, the gaze of his unnatural blue eyes on me and his arms crossed in front of his see-through chest.

I steadied myself on the trolley and waited until the staccato of my heartbeat slowed to an acceptable da-dum again. "Please, not you, too. If all of you multiverse people keep appearing out of nowhere, I'll die of a hear attack before I can even decide if I want to meddle with Conny's love life."

Cat purred, and the corners of Luca's mouth twitched. Amber was right, his dimples were cute. Unwilling to let them distract me, I planted my hands on my hips and shook my head. "The two of you seriously think I should play Cupid? Do you know how tough this is going to be? And what if Conny isn't ready for a relationship? She hardly looked at Paco while he was here the other day." While I had fought to keep myself from staring, but I didn't need to point this out to Luca, of all people.

He shrugged. "It's a fact she doesn't allow him or anyone else to get close, but what do you have to lose?"

"Her friendship, I guess."

Cat snorted. "Don't be dramatic, my dear Lynn. We're talking about an opening, about creating an opportunity for them, not about elaborate matchmaking. But I'm sure you want to finish your day. Come, Luca, we have places to be and things to discuss."

Without a further word, my two companions dissolved and left me in the empty, quiet library to wonder what all this had been about.