Mr. Anonymous

Chapter 12

The next morning, Audrey woke up bright and early for her first day at the Paradox Bookstore. After a quick shower and a cup of coffee, she made her way downtown.

As she approached the front door, she couldn't help but hear raised voices coming from inside the store. She hesitated outside, not wanting to be late for her first day of work, but also not wanting to awkwardly interrupt a heated conversation. Eventually, Audrey decided to swing the door open loudly, thus ringing the bells and announcing her presence.

Noah and Lorraine both whipped around from behind the front desk when they heard Audrey approach. Lorraine turned to her son.

"We will talk about this later." she said in a stern voice.

Turning to Audrey, she said, "Good morning, Audrey. Follow me."

Lorraine came out from behind the front desk and proceeded to show Audrey around the maze of bookshelves. She explained how they organized, priced, and sectioned the books in the store. She then showed her the cash register and explained how to work it, allowing Audrey to practice ringing up a few books until she got the hang of it.

"Normally, at the beginning or end of your shift, depending on if you open or close the shop, you will clean different parts of the store." Lorraine said, turning to a small supply closet behind the cash register. "This list here explains your cleaning duties when you open and when you close." she said, allowing Audrey to look over the list. "As long as you get these things checked off at some point during your shift, I don't mind if you hang out behind the counter most of the time. If a customer comes in, politely ask them if they need help finding anything." Lorraine reminded her. Audrey just nodded. It all seemed pretty straightforward.

"Now, I'm sure you've been wondering about the sign out front." Lorraine started with a sigh. "Use your best judgement with people who come into the store. All the books on the front porch are free to the public, but if they come in the store and look around, try to only give away books to people who seem to really need help. We've had a lot of people take advantage of our generosity." Lorraine said with a frown.

"If you don't mind my asking, why do you give away so many books? Don't get me wrong, I think it's great! I was just wondering..." Audrey trailed off.

"The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away. Dorothy Day said that." Lorraine quoted. She turned to face Audrey. "Books are the best thing in life to me, besides my family, of course. And the best thing I can do with them is share them with the world. We didn't have much growing up and I would hate for anyone to be deprived of the joy of reading because they were down on their luck. I know there are libraries, but a lot of the ones around here aren't well stocked and we just had one close down last year. I want to help and give back any way I can." Lorraine said passionately.

"That's wonderful, Lorraine." Audrey said with a smile.

"Thank you, Audrey." Lorraine said, patting her on the back as she passed by her and made her way up the stairs.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Noah and Audrey sat behind the front desk, talking and laughing and playing games.

As they sat talking, Audrey suddenly remembered her resolve to figure out if Noah could be Mr. Anonymous. Her first goal was to find out what happened to his dad. If he died when Noah was younger, that would be stronger evidence that he was Mr. Anonymous.

"So your mom is pretty awesome." Audrey started, glancing sideways at Noah.

Noah paused, but then said, "Yeah she is." with a shake of his head.

"Is everything okay between you, two?" Audrey asked hesitantly, not wanting to pry.

"Yeah... I just feel like sometimes she expects a lot from me. I'm just a teenager, but it's like she expects me to be the 'man of the house' and everything. I just want to have my own life, too, you know?" Noah let out, exasperatedly.

Audrey hesitated again. Wasn't this the exact opening she had been hoping for? But now it felt wrong. Noah was opening up to her and all she was worried about was her anonymous texter? All the same, her genuine curiosity got the best of her.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine, but.... what happened to your dad?" Audrey asked in a quiet voice.

After a long silence, Noah spoke.

"He.... he isn't around anymore." Noah said, his eyes glistening.

"Oh, Noah, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked." Audrey said, rubbing his shoulder, consolingly.

"No, it's okay. Nobody wants to ever mention his name - it's like he never existed. It's nice to be asked for once." Noah said, looking at the floor. "But if it's alright, can we change the subject to something less depressing?" Noah asked, glancing up to her.

"Of course!" Audrey exclaimed quickly, making them both laugh.

Near the end of her shift, Audrey felt her phone buzz.

Hey Audrey! This is Jessie - Jack asked me to text you (his phone is out of commission right now) and see if you wanted to meet up today to figure out more about your secret admirer? He said you guys talked about it last night during the movie?

Audrey's heart started beating faster.

And I was thinking, maybe afterwards, you could come over to our house for a sleepover! I already texted Jade and she's in! Let me know! :)

Audrey smiled at her words, but her heart was still beating fast.

How would she spend so much alone time with Jack without having a heart attack?

She pulled out her phone with shaky hands to text Jessie.

I'm in for the sleepover! That sounds fun!

And tell Jack yes :)

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Just a fun fact for you - the Paradox Bookstore is based on a real bookstore in Wheeling, WV that I like to frequent. I have used real pictures of the actual store throughout the story.