Crain's Landing by Cayce Poponea Read Free Book Online Page A

sleeves. The second was a blonde-haired girl who was sitting atop the counter, talking on her cell.
    Approaching the elongated desk, I cleared my throat as I spoke. “Miss? Excuse me, Miss?" I tapped my hand on the counter to get her attention. It worked only to aggravate her as she met my gaze and then proceeded to snap her fingers at the brown-haired girl whose arms were now full of books. The brown-haired girl looked at her, the blonde mouthed to her that she was on the phone, and then she pointed at me. The poor girl looked as if she were worn out. I shook my head at her and looked back to the blonde who I had figured out was talking with a boy. I had witnessed enough. This was going to be a tough job and one I wanted to tackle head-on.
    "May I help you, Ma'am?" The brown-haired girl had loaded the book cart and returned to help me. Looking at her, she reminded me of myself in so many ways. Her long dress was nearly touching her white tennis shoes and I could tell the gray cardigan she was wearing was her favorite, as it was well-worn and fraying at the sleeves. Her hair was pulled back at the top half of her head, her glasses perched and secured to her face.
    "Yes, your name, please?"
    "Ashley, Ashley Porter."
    I saw the blonde roll her eyes and continue to talk on her phone. "Hi, Ashley, I was wondering if you could show me where any of your classic literature books are located?"
    Ashley unnecessarily pushed her glasses up against the top of her nose. "If we had copies of any, I'd gladly show you where they were, Ma'am."
    I looked at her puzzled. Had any? "You don't have any? No Cervantes, Poe, Austin?"
    Ashley shook her head as each name left my lips. “Not even the Bronte sisters.” She added that information in a hushed voice as the blonde was pushing her phone closer to her ear, our conversation aggravating her. Ashley looked to the blonde and then lowered her face.
    I'd had enough of the rudeness of the blonde, so I turned my attention to her. I'd had this professor in college who was duller than watching paint dry. Many people fell asleep in his class. When he caught one of the students doing that, he would make his way over to their desk and place his face directly in line with their sleeping one. When the sleeping student awoke, his face was right there to scare the shit out of them. I decided to use what I had learned from him. Turning my back to the desk, placed my hands behind me, and lifted myself up to sit on the desk. The blonde was too busy talking and didn't notice me. I then turned my entire body around and faced her.
    I wasn’t certain how long I sat beside her before she noticed me, but I learned a guy named Colton was screwing someone named Ellen, behind his cousin's back. I learned the football coach at the high school was very hot when he wore his muscle shirt and flexed for the girls. Also, her aunt had volunteered to take Kathy's baby to the doctor so she could get a good look at Dr. Crain.
    I was becoming nauseated at her ramblings on the lascivious behaviors of others, so I reached over and took the phone from her hand. She had wasted entirely too much time on her personal phone call.
    "Hey!" she shouted as I hit the end button on her phone.
    I tossed it back to her as I pushed myself behind the counter "Don't you hey me." I spun around and pointed my finger in her face.
    "Who the fuck…?"
    I smiled as I cut off her sentence. "I'm Ms. Reid, your new boss. For how long, remains to be seen." Her eyes became huge, her face stunned as she looked me up and down. I glanced at an open-mouthed Ashley, who abruptly turned and made her way to the book cart. "Hold it, Ashley." She stopped pushing the cart, but didn’t look up at me. "You are…?" I questioned the still-stunned blonde.
    "Um…" She wasn't as confident facing me as she had been bossing around poor Ashley.
    "Hurry up, Pop-Tart; the questions get more complex from here." She looked to Ashley, who was still looking down at the book cart.