Early morning sunlight glimmered through the curtains of Caroline Power's apartment. The city of Toronto was just starting to wake up, as businessmen and women were filling the streets, heading off to work.

Mercutio, Caroline's orange tabby cat, acted as her alarm clock. He meowed loudly, sitting on the edge of the bed, wanting his food for the morning. Caroline squinted as she lifted her head, tousling her sandy blonde hair before rubbing her eyes open. The two looked at each other for a moment, a silent staring match as Caroline tried to wake herself up.

"Cutio," Caroline narrowed her green eyes as if she was trying to read his mind, "Eggs?"

The cat meowed in reply, hopping off the bed and trotting to the kitchen. Caroline followed soon behind him, starting up the coffee machine before grabbing a pan for eggs. Mercutio jumped up onto the kitchen counter, watching her as she cooked.

The one bedroom, one bathroom, apartment was small, but it suited the duo just nicely. The only thing Caroline could complain about was the shower-head being far too low for her height, leaving her to crouch when she wanted to wash her face and hair. The perks of being six feet tall.

Humming an unknown tune, she moved around the kitchen, grabbing a plate and a fork for herself before serving up the eggs. Mercutio meowed loudly at her as she sat down at her table, "No, it has to cool down first."

The tabby simply chirped at her before jumping onto the table and rushing for the eggs. Scooping the cat up just in time, Caroline scolded him, "That's a bad kitty, I told you not to jump on the table," she said sternly before setting him on the floor.

Mercutio marched over to his food bowl, looking at its empty contents and then looking back to his owner. The blonde rolled her eyes, "Don't get sassy with me, young man," she said before picking up one of the eggs with her fork, blowing on it, and then setting it in his bowl, "If you burn your tongue that's your own fault."

The cat gratefully dug into his food as Caroline finished her own. After eating, she made herself a cup of coffee and got dressed. Opting more for skirts and leggings, since most pants her size met her at the shins, she grabbed a floral skirt and some pink colored tights that matched one of the colors in the pattern. She donned a simple white button-down and a grey cardigan before putting on her name tag and a pair of plain black Mary Janes.

In A Bind was her brainchild, her dream come to life. As a child she always wanted to live in a bookstore, now she lived above her own, and that was good enough for her. She always had a love for reading, so she knew that she'd want to make it a career. The shop was her driving force, it kept her going throughout the day.

Before heading down to the shop, she quickly made a coffee for her coworker Nancy, who had worked with her for a little over two years now. Catherine started up the store on her own, but after a year of running the business by herself, she decided she could use more help. Nancy was the first person that applied, and they had quickly become best friends.

She grabbed the two mugs, careful not to spill them, before locking her apartment door and walking down the stairs to the shop. Mercutio followed closely behind, wanting to curl up on the kitty castle she had set up for him down there. It was in with the reading nook, so people could pet him as they read. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

She set the coffee mugs down at the cashier counter before going behind it and crouching down to look at the numerous records she had hidden behind it. She grabbed one and set it on the turntable that sat on the display window's ledge. The voices of the Beatles filled the shop as they cried for "Help!"

As soon as the clock struck eight, she unlocked the door and flipped the sign to open. The door opened and there stood Nancy, struggling to hold a box, "This was on the doorstep," she explained, stumbling into the small bookstore.

"It must be the new shipment of romance novels I ordered," She explained, grabbing the box from her friend, "Dorothy was complaining that she'd read all the ones we had already."

The store had its regulars. Dorothy, a woman of about sixty who complained about her husband and read nothing but romance novels. George, a man in his mid-thirties, he would come in for a variety of books, sometimes grabbing children's books for his two daughters. Rosie, a teen who had an interest in the history of the world, she would often come in for books on faraway places. Then there was Todd, a man around her age, who had a love for the classics. There were a few others who came in once or twice a week, but those were the people who always stuck out to her. They were kind and shared her passion for reading.

These people became Caroline's friends in a way since she rarely left her little world that was made up of her store and apartment. Aside from getting groceries or going out to lunch with Nancy.

Setting down the box onto the counter, she looked for something to open it with, deciding that her keys would do the trick.

"You should come grab drinks with me tonight, it's ladies night at that one bar downtown," Nancy nudged Caroline as she opened the package, revealing two stacks of new books, "You know the one with the disco music?"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Who needs bars when I can stay at home and drink wine with my cat and settle in with a nice book?"

"You should get out there more, meet new people," Nancy told her, "Maybe meet a man, go on a date."

"Who," Caroline looked around the empty shop, "me? On a date? Oh, you're funny."

Nancy crossed her arms in front of her chest, "You're twenty-five years old, and you haven't been on a date in what-"

"Three years," the blonde mumbled.

"Three years!" the brunette shouted, throwing her hands up, "I swear Caroline I'm gonna find you someone."

"The bookstore is more important, besides why is my love life mean so much to you?" Caroline grabbed one of the stacks and started stocking the shelves with it, Nancy following her as she did so, "You tried to get me to go out last Friday and it didn't work, remember?"

"You're love life matters to me because you're my best friend," Nancy explained, "and I want you to be happy."

"I find my romance in the books I read," Caroline smiled, "Sure, I'd love to have my fairytale moment. But I'm this-" she gestured to her body with a handful of books, "I'm probably going to be taller than half the men I meet. Plus, I can barely get a sentence out when I meet new people. You know this."

"Don't you start with that," Nancy warned, "I will sit you down and tell you how amazing you are. Don't test me."

Caroline shook her head with a smile, "Nancy, I love you, but I am happy. I promise," She held out her pinky to Nancy, who narrowed her eyes before intertwining it with her own.

The bell above the door rang, indicating a new customer. Both girls heads turned towards the direction of the door since it was being blocked by a shelf. They shouted a polite, "Hello!" at the same time, unintentionally, before chortling quietly at each other.

"I'll go man the cash register," Nancy told Caroline, who nodded and resumed stocking the shelves.

"Oh, don't forget to change your book of the week!" Caroline called to her, reminding herself that she needed to do it too.

"Will do!" Nancy shouted, grabbing a random book from a shelf along her way back to the counter and setting it on her book of the week display.

Caroline was semi-focused on stocking, but she tried to pick up on the conversation Nancy was having with the customer. It was a new voice, a man's voice she'd never heard before. She turned towards the counter, seeing a tall man talking to Nancy. A new customer was pretty rare at this time of day.

She couldn't make up much of their conversation as they both were being fairly quiet and Caroline was a bit far from them, but she could make out Nancy saying, much louder, "That'd be a perfect question to ask Caroline!" The man turned and caught her staring, causing Caroline to blush and look at the shelf in front of her. Not wanting to meet his gaze, "He's asking where we keep the Ayn Rand novels."

"Ayn Rand?" The blonde perked up, he was asking about her favorite author. She turned to look at him, to really look at him, and she had to admit that he was handsome.

"Yeah, I must've lost my copy of the Fountainhead," He explained, "Do you happen to have it in stock?"

Caroline blinked a moment, at a loss for words. A cute mystery customer coming into her shop and asking about her favorite book- this was her fairytale moment.

She mentally shouted at herself, 'for the love of god, Caroline, don't fuck this up.'

Nancy peered over the man's shoulder from behind the counter, giving shy girl a wide eyed look. A look that screamed, "say something!"

"I- We- uh," She paused, giving Nancy a "help me," look.

"I'm sure we have it in stock, it's one of Caroline's favorites," She told the man with a smile, before shooting Caroline another look.

"Yes- uh, right this way," Caroline flashed him as small smile before heading towards the back of the shop where Mercutio lay on his cat throne.

'Oh boy, don't screw this up.'