WILLOW by Julia Hoban

Author:Julia Hoban [Hoban, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2010-04-15T17:43:47+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

“You can only take this out overnight,” Willow says as she checks the girl’s ID to make sure that she has borrowing privileges.

“That’s all I need, because this paper’s due tomorrow,” the girl responds somewhat breathlessly. She grabs the book. “Thanks.”

“Good luck with the paper,” Willow says as she watches her dash down the stairs.

She settles back on her stool, careful not to check the clock again. Her shift isn’t over for another hour, but she’s so bored that she doesn’t think that she’ll be able to make it.

“So how’d it go?” Carlos comes up behind her.

“Hmm, no big deal,” Willow says innocently. “Just a simple checkout, she didn’t need an interlibrary loan or anything.”

“You idiot!” Carlos swats her arm. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He sits down and pulls his chair close to Willow’s. “Liven up my day, honey. C’mon. Tell me stuff.”

“Don’t you have anyone else you can bother?” Willow says.

“No.”

“All right,” she sighs. “Umm . . . it was good. Great strawberry tarts at that place a few blocks from here.”

“I want a restaurant review, I’ll read the paper.”

“Why are you so interested in what happened?” Willow turns to look at him.

“’Cause I’ve never seen you smile like this before.” Carlos tips his chair back and regards her solemnly.

Oh.

“Never mind.” He laughs at her. “You’re just fun to tease. Why don’t you get out of here now?”

“I have almost an hour left!” Willow objects.

“Like I told you before, this place is dead today. Really, I can handle it by myself,” Carlos assures her. “Besides, you work too hard.”

“A lot you know.” Willow thinks of the giant red Fsplashed across her quiz, which is nestled in among all the overdue homework assignments languishing in her bag. “But thanks, Carlos, you’re really kind.” If he’s willing to let her go, then she’s not about to argue. Willow slides off of the stool and grabs her things from underneath the circulation desk.

“Don’t worry, I intend to collect on this one,” Carlos says dryly. “You can cover one of my shifts later on, maybe next week.”

“Absolutely,” Willow calls over her shoulder as she runs down the stairs two at a time. It must be all the caffeine she had earlier, there’s no other reason for her to feel so buoyant.

It can hardly be that she’s that thrilled to get off forty minutes early. And it certainly can’t be that she has a hundred and fifty pages of the Bulfinchto read before tomorrow, as well as finally getting started on that stupid paper.

And it definitely isn’t the fact that she has to figure out some way of faking David’s signature on that quiz.

Willow slows down, her good mood plummeting as she thinks about the task ahead of her. Tracing seems like the best way to go, in spite of the thickness of the paper. If she rifles through his desk she should be able to find some cancelled checks fairly easily. She’ll just have to hold the paper up to a really strong light.

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