Iron & Wine

  ***

  A few days went by quietly. Max seemed prepared to refuse to believe that I even existed, which was fine with me. Will, Julie and I were together on a daily basis now. But the best part of my life was my new job. Never in my dreams would I have imagined that I’d be working there.

  "Avery that's awesome. Celadine is a well-respected artist. Have you seen any of her recent work?" Tess asked through the phone. I was trying to keep my promise of regular phone calls.

  "No, she's not actually there a whole lot. I only see her for the last hour before I go. She's pretty busy during the day," I replied. "But I've met some very interesting people working there."

  "Wonderful! Well, sweetie, I have to go. The girls are coming over to work on a few projects. Call me next week?"

  "You bet, Tess, love you."

  "Love you too. Say hi to Jules for me, bye."

  I hung up the phone and curled up in bed with a book. A few minutes later the phone rang again.

  "Hello?" I answered, expecting Tess to be on the other line.

  "Avery?" asked a familiar voice. Mona. "Celadine would like it very much if you could come into work tomorrow a little later. She would like to spend some time with you."

  I was so happy to hear that. Most of the reason I’d wanted to work there was to learn what I could from Celadine. "Um, sure, what time?"

  "Six thirty. See you then." A sudden ‘click’ told me that she’d hung up.

  "Okay," I said to myself and hung up the phone. Mona was so bizarre. I put away my book and went to sleep.