Loving Sunday

Kate knocked softly on Sunday’s bedroom door, cracking the door open and peering inside. Her niece looked up from an orange and brown notebook, her brown eyes watching her from behind glasses as she stepped into the room.

“Hey kiddo,” Kate said clipping a piece of hair from her face. “I’m headed to work now. Here’s twenty bucks for supper and the keys to the truck if you wanna go explore the town, I’m riding to work with Beck. I’ll be back late, so don’t wait up for me.”

She turned to leave.

“Hey Kate, are there any book shops or anything around here? Or a library maybe,” Sunday asked closing her notebook and removing her glasses, setting them both on her bed side table.

“There’s one, it’s across from the grocery store,” her aunt told her. “Bye, see you tomorrow.” Kate waved and then disappeared. Sunday heard the front door open and close a couple of moments later and then a car pulling out of the gravely driveway.

Standing up, Sunday stretched her arms above her head and let out a yawn. She glanced at the alarm clock and read five thirty. It was too early for supper, so she decided to go check out the library. After changing out of her sweats and into jeans, she slid in her jacket and left the house.

Having only lived in La Push for two days, Sunday knew where very little in the town was. But the day she’d first arrived, she and Kate had stopped at the grocery store before getting to Kate’s house. Besides that, she only knew where the dinner that Kate worked at was.

She found the book store without much trouble. It was a small red brick building with a small parking lot. After parking the car, Sunday sprinted through the rain and into the shop, hearing a small bell ding when she pushed the door open.

An old quileute woman with silver hair pulled back in a braid sat behind the counter, a brown leather bound book in her wrinkled hands. She looked up and smiled at Sunday, her deep blue eyes shining behind her spectacles.

“Hello dear, I am Grace. What can I help you with?” Grace asked setting down her book and pushing her wire rimmed glasses up her nose. Sunday brushed the water droplets from her jacket and stepped up to the counter.

“I’m Sunday Baxter, Kate Hadley’s niece. I’m just here to look around,” Sunday replied glancing around the room. There were about ten shelves filled with books and some books sitting on tables. She inhaled and could smell the old book smell on the books, but with a new book smell mixed in.

“I’ll be here if you need anything Sunday.” Grace picked her book back up and began reading. Sunday took a couple of steps away from the counter and searched the papers tapped on the shelves. She spotted the Romance section and decided to start there.

While running her hands lightly over the spines on the books, Sunday read each title, fining some she knew and some she didn’t. When she came to Jane Austin’s books, she strained her eyes for one in particular, Emma, the only one she hadn’t read yet.

The bell rang, signaling that someone else had just entered the shop. Sunday tried not to listen in as the person began talking to Grace at the front desk.

“Hey Nana, how are you? I thought I’d bring you a sandwich, I made it myself,” a man’s deep voice said, sounding proud of himself. Sunday peeped around the shelf and bit her lip to keep from laughing. It was a man, a big muscular man calling the woman Nana.

“Thank you Paul, it was sweet of you to think of me,” Grace chuckled opening the brown bag her grandson had just brought her. Sunday pulled her head back and pulled out a couple of random books, surprising herself that they were actually good books, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and The Princess Bride by William Goldman. She didn’t have either of these books yet.

“No problem, I was already making some for myself and then I thought about you and how you’ve been here all day. You should really get someone else to work here so you don’t have to work everyday,” Paul said, concern in his voice.

Sunday pulled the three books to her chest and stepped out from behind the shelf. Grace’s eye went to her immediately and she smiled kindly. The man, Paul, turned around and their eyes locked, brown and brown. She felt a shock go through her body and jumped in surprise.

“Is there something you need dear?” Grace asked, causing Sunday to break eye contact with Paul. She smiled and stepped up to the counter, right beside Paul. Silently, she set the pile of books on the counter. “Ah, I see you’re a romance girl,” the older woman teased, ringing the books up.

Sunday blushed, but didn’t say anything. She could feel Paul’s eyes on her. Grace told her the price and she paid it, ready to leave. She didn’t usually notice when someone was looking at her, but she could feel these eyes on her.

“Have a good day Sunday and tell you’re aunt I said hello.” Grace handed her the bag and she took it on her hands, wrapping the plastic twice around her right hand.

“You too and, I will,” Sunday said barley above a whisper. Then she left the shop as fast as she could without running, sighing in relief when she made it to her truck. It was then that she realized how stupid she was, running away from someone who was probably just curious about who she was. She scolded herself all the ride home.

Meanwhile back at the book shop, Grace was giving her grandson a knowing look, while he just stood there, mouth opened in bewilderment. He’d just imprinted.