Juliana – Chapter 87 Missing Harriett

Time in Willow Creek: 1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks, 2 days

No one would ever attempt to measure who hurt the most while grieving Harriett. But, Juliana’s situation was a bit unfortunate. Everyone else could get away from the memories if they wanted to. Hillary and Harold could leave the house. Axel, Rebecca, and the family were already used to not seeing her on the daily. But, Juliana felt the emptiness not only at home but also at work. The void at the library was so tangible. Nothing in that tiny building worked well without Harriett. Her heavy footsteps and high-pitched twang used to echo throughout the place constantly. Now, there was only tapping of keys, swipes of pages, sliding of books on and off shelves and the occasional innocent conversation between children. It was so quiet. Juliana wasn’t sure how long she could stand it. She had her green card and could get another job if she wanted. But, she couldn’t leave. It would feel like a betrayal.

Sometimes, Juliana wondered if Harriett knew she was going to die. It would certainly explain why she trained her so feverishly. But, she knew it wasn’t true. Harriett probably wanted someone who knew her ways and would keep them so she could step back and enjoy the golden years she never received.

Trish was struggling too. She was the librarian, but she allowed Harriett to fulfill many of her duties and then some while she took the opportunity to take a back seat. She hid in the office most of the time doing only she knew what. At the end of the night, she’d come out of hiding to shelve the books and help with the book drop. But now, she had to do her whole job, and it was tiring. What seemed to tire her the most was being nice.

However, sometimes she showed signs that her heart was not 100% stone.

“Hey….You look terrible. We only have a couple more hours to go…why don’t you just go on home?”

Juliana shook her head.

“It’s cool, you know. I can handle it. It’s pretty slow anyway. Go home.”

“Thank you. But, no. I’ll stay.”

Trish shrugged. “Ok.”

There was a gentleman sitting in the children’s section waiting to speak with Juliana. She didn’t see him come in. When Trish went back into the office, he made his move.

“Hi…excuse me,” he said.

She looked up and saw the temp who was working there while Kara was on maternity leave. The corners of her mouth rose ever so slightly. “Hi, Genji. How are you?”

“I’m good. Listen…I heard about Harriett. I just stopped by to see how you were and to say I’m sorry.”

“That is kind. Thank you.”

He leaned in closer and whispered. “Look…if you guys need any help, let me know. I’ll come back. Broomhilda doesn’t look like she’s handling things very well.”

Juliana chuckled quietly. Trish came out of the office, and the man stepped away from the desk.

“Since you’re going to stay, and it’s slow, I’m going to go ahead and leave. That ok with you?”

Juliana cut her eyes at the gentleman who was giving Trish the evil eye. “Yeah. Sure.”