Fact or Fiction?

The streets were busy and I shivered.

“Dude, why is it so cold!?” I complained, dodging a little girl as she ran down the sidewalk.

Lucy laughed. “It’s October, Ophelia,” she said. “Not only that, it’s October in Oklahoma.”

“Oh shut up,” I grumbled.

We got to the local coffee shop and I rubbed my hands together. She went to order the coffee and I grabbed a small table by the window. I got my phone out and pulled up the app that had been created for me by Charles’s boyfriend Martin. It gave me all the stats about my book sales both in hardback/paperback and through downloads. It was encouraging. Even now they were still selling well.

Lucy returned with two lattes and I cuddled close to mine. I had forgotten how cold it would be so I was simply in a short sleeved graphic tee. That was stupid of me.

“So, how was Bora Bora?” Lucy asked and I pouted.

“It was beautiful but Charles booked me so that I couldn’t spend much time there.”

“Well that’s rude,” she said.

I laughed. “Ooh! I had my first crazy stalker fan!” I said, remembering.

She laughed. “Only you would be excited about a stalker.”

“No, it was fascinating,” I said. “She had to be like, 50 years old. She was at every single book signing. Somehow, she got her hands on my schedule and followed me the whole time. At my last signing, she tried to kidnap me.”

“Like that crazy lady from Misery?” Lucy asked, her eyes wide.

“Yeah, I think so,” I nodded. “I’m just glad I got out of there without having my ankles hobbled.”

Lucy shuddered. “That’s creepy, Ophelia. Like, super creepy.”

I shrugged. “Still cool, though. It means I’m really getting super famous.”

She laughed again and we fell into silence for a little while. I looked out the window and smiled at the small town.

On Main Street was where the businesses were. There was a school that doubled as middle school and high school. They were where I got most of my second hand books. Eventually, when books weren’t being checked out for a while, they sent them to me. They were pretty beat up so I only charged maybe a quarter if anyone showed interest.

I was anxious to get back to the bookstore but Lucy insisted on taking our time.

“You just got back from a long tour,” she said when I complained. “Give yourself some time to cool down.”

“Have there been any updates?” I asked, finishing my coffee.

“Well, I hired that weird high school girl you were interested in,” she said. “She’s a good worker but she kind of freaks out the customers….”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She leaned forward and looked around to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard.

“Every time someone tries to check out their purchases, she tells them all about this project she’s doing at school about belly button lint. Sometimes she asks them for samples.”

My jaw dropped in horror.

“What!?”

The people around us looked over and I gripped the mug. Lucy smiled sheepishly.

“Why haven’t you stopped her?” I hissed.

“I’ve warned her twice now,” Lucy promised. “If she does it again, I’ll leave that up to you.”

I groaned and pulled up the Yelp app. I nearly threw my phone out the window. There were three ‘one’ stars from that very thing. Fuck.

“Let’s go,” I said, standing up.

“Ophelia,” she began.

“Shut up and come on or I’ll leave you behind,” I snapped.

No way. There was no way some high school girl was going to ruin my business. Lucy was shouting for me to slow down but I didn’t. I worked too damn hard for that bookstore to have a creep to ruin it.

I was so blinded by my anger that I didn’t realize someone was walking around the corner, too, and we collided. We both landed on our asses and I groaned.

“Damn,” I said, rubbing my lower back. I stood up and held my hand out. “Sorry man.”

“It’s okay,” he said but he sounded winded. “Wow. I’ve never known a woman strong enough to knock me over.”

I laughed and looked at him. I froze. He was gorgeous. He had short black hair and hazel eyes. He was a few inches taller than me and dressed in a navy blue business suit. I blushed when I realized he was staring at me, too.

The moment was shattered when Lucy finally caught up with me.

“Jesus, woman!” she snapped, pushing my purse in my hand. “I realize you’re pissed but you could at least slow the fuck down!”

I cleared my throat and gestured with my head.

“Oh, hi,” she said shortly then turned to scold me some more. She did a double take. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were talking to someone.”

He held up his hand with a smile. “It’s all right. I need to go put some ice on my back and you probably should, too.”

I grimaced. “I really am sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

He laughed. He had a deep laugh to match his voice.

“Well, if you feel that guilty, join me for dinner one night,” he said and passed me a business card.

He winked and continued walking down the street, rubbing his back. My jaw was hanging open.

“Hello!” Lucy said, waving her hand in front of my face. “Yo! Snap out of it and tell me who that hunk was.”

“Huh?” I asked, blinking at her. “Oh. I was rounding the corner and ran into him.”

We started walking but I went slower. That sidewalk really hurt. I looked over my back but he had disappeared into the crowd.

“What’s his name?” she pressed.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I didn’t get the chance to ask.”

“He gave you a card, dimwit,” she said and I shook my head.

“He did, didn’t he?”

She snorted and we stopped outside the bookstore. I looked at it.

Zackary Hamilton, Attorney at Law

Under his name was his phone number and business address.

“Great,” I muttered. “I just had to injure an attorney.”

She giggled and opened the door. “So? Are you going to call him?”

“Probably not,” I said. “He’s too freakin’ hot and smooth. Those guys are too good to be true.”

Lucy scoffed. “Haven’t you heard of one night stands?”

I was about to answer until I saw Marcey, the high school kid, behind the counter. I then remembered why I was storming around the corner to begin with.

“We need to talk,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Sure, Miss Ramsey,” she said, popping her gum. “Hey, I’m doing this awesome project at school and-”

I had her walk into my office. “Yes,” I said. “I’ve heard.”

-

I felt like being sick by the time I was done talking to Marcey. She had begged me not to fire her but I cut off her interaction with customers.

Belly button lint!? I shuddered and went out to the store.

I smiled around at it happily. It was huge and smelled of fresh books. I loved that smell. While Lucy handled the customers and Marcey rushed out with it being the end of her shift, I went into the back to see if we had any new shipments. I frowned. We had one and it was in a box that had definitely seen better days.

I pulled a chair over and looked at the shipping label. I whistled. This thing had been all over the world. There were stamps all over it so that my address was barely legible.

There wasn’t a point in getting a knife; the tape had been through so much it nearly broke just by me touching it a little. Inside were about a hundred green packing peanuts and I pushed them aside. I hated packing peanuts. I’d give my left arm if they would just stick with bubble wrap.

Underneath it all was the book. I frowned at it. The cover was made of some kind of heavy metal. Perhaps it was copper? I lifted it out. It was incredibly heavy and didn’t have a title. There were clasps on the side and I undid them, opening it to the first page.

It was blank.

“What the h?” I whispered, flipping through the pages.

They were all blank. I looked inside and saw a note.

Don’t judge a book by its cover. – H.P.L.

I blinked a few times at the note and the book. I nibbled my lower lip and pondered for about ten minutes. Finally, I put it in the book bag I used to transport manuscripts. I didn’t want to put this book on the shelves until I knew what it was.

As I walked out, I didn’t see the golden glow through the holes in the bag.