The rest of the morning continues like normal, but that interaction stays with me for a while, including during my break, when I treat myself to a white hot mocha. (I’m allowed one fancy drink every half a shift, I swear.) I’d been completely stunned by Jasmine’s reading choices over the summer, assuming she was one of those chic ice princesses who always seemed to be reading Anna Karenina, but the way she told it, her mom got her started with Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Maus by Art Spiegelman, and a love of reading words mixed with visuals fell into place.

She lent me book after book, though I only got through maybe a quarter of what she did. I had no idea speed-reading was a real thing until I watched her devour four books in a single day. We spent a lot of time at the Kill Devil Hills Library, enjoying the air conditioning and browsing the artful displays. Jasmine was horrified to learn I’d given up a job at a bookstore to come to OBX. Apparently, she’d dreamed of being a librarian as a kid, something she confided she’d never told anyone else. Web design and photography were more her thing now, but she said even if she kept up with them in college, in reality, she was probably gonna go to business school and do something boring.

I really, really hoped she wouldn’t.

“Hey, Larissa.” I look up to see Beth standing in front of the counter, a pile of flyers in her hands. “Can you hang these up around the store, and take a few to hang up around town?”

“Sure.” I take a bunch from her and skim the paper. “Holy crap, you’re getting Clementine Walker to the store?”

“You’ve read her stuff?”

“Every single book.” I look at the date. It’s a Sunday, two days after Homecoming, but no matter how exhausted I am, I will absolutely be here working.

Jasmine’s bookish thing is graphic novels; mine are smutty romances with a heavy dose of humor, and Clementine Walker is the best of the best. She’s the author who first made me want to try my hand at writing my own. Jasmine read a few of her books in exchange for my reading her favorites, and let’s just say they went over very well.

Goddammit, it would be really fun to bring her to this.