Her eyes twinkled with amusement. “I’m good. I’m looking for a film.”

“Well, you’re in the right place. We have quite a lot of those.”

“I’m not really sure what one to get. Any suggestions?”

Normally I hated when customers came in and asked me what movie I thought they should watch. We had thousands of films stacked up along the shelves of every genre and while I might have considered myself a rather apt film connoisseur, I wouldn’t dare suggest that I even made a dent in our collection. Sometimes it was easy to guess what sort of film a customer might be looking for—older, single men were hardly interested in Disney classics or teen comedies. But customers like the blushing girl before me were a little more challenging to read and more often than not were a bane to deal with, humming and hawing over films like they had all the time in the world. But Julia made me pause, smile at her kindly—stand up and lean across the counter.

“I guess that depends. What kind of films do you normally like?”

She bit down on her lip, chewing it before she released it with a pop. “I’ve always enjoyed sci-fi and fantasy, I guess…Not a fan of comedies. Or romances.”

“Well, it’s not fantasy or sci-fi, but have you seen Silence of the Lambs?”

“Silence—No, I don’t think so?”

“Believe me, you’d know if you did.” I headed into the back room and plucked one of our copies. “It came out a few years ago.”

I handed her the film and she quickly scanned the blurb. “I remember seeing a few ads for this but wasn’t too sure…”

“It’s a good film. Trust me.”

She hesitated, shifting from foot to foot. “Alright then. I’ll take it. But if I don’t enjoy it, I’ll be sending a formal complaint to your boss.” Her eyebrows shot up. “How are you, anyway? How’s Connie?”

The very name sent a spark down my spine. “I, er—don’t know, really. I haven’t seen her in a while.”

The look she sent me then was more knowing than I might have liked. There was a twinge of something else there, too—pity, perhaps, or compassion. But before she could comment her eyes flickered to the clock behind me. “Shit, my mam is waiting in the car outside—”

“No worries. I’ll be here tomorrow when you bring the film back.”

And then she was gone, leaving my stomach reeling in her wake.

* * * *

I brushed my hair the next afternoon, twenty minutes before the time Julia had popped in the day before. I was waiting behind the counter when she arrived and offered her the warmest smile I could muster, my heart accelerating when she threw me a timid wave before bouncing toward me.

“There’s a spring in your step today,” I noted, leaning back in my chair. “What’s up?”

“Well, it’s Friday, isn’t it? I’m always in a good mood on a Friday.”