When Autumn Leaves: A Novel Read Online Free Page A

comfortable upon entering. As often as Ellie had felt uncomfortable in her life, she never felt truly out of place in that building.
    She climbed the familiar groaning steps up to the second floor. The heat from the old radiators made the windows steam from floor to ceiling like abstract canvases. Here she moved ghostlike past the maze of mahogany desks. If her coworkers took any notice of her arrival, they might have called out a greeting, but Ellie slipped into her invisibility and moved past them all without being seen.
    Quiet was the excuse she gave for needing her own small office. Ellie was the paper researcher and often had to make phone calls. The separate office didn’t prevent her from overhearing her coworker’s phone calls and chats. She was a serial voyeur. It wasn’t spying, not exactly. Only her way of feeling included, like she was part of something other than her own small life.
    Ellie opened the door to her office and sat down at her desk. She felt foggy, like she hadn’t slept well, except that she had. Justy’s face with its deep lines and his perfect long fingers swam behind her eyes. Normally, she loved her job. She would have never believed that something like research on a small town paper could ever be satisfying, but it turned out Ellie loved a great story, playing detective, pulling those stories out from dusty books. Today, though, she was just lacking energy. She turned on her computer and looked despairingly at her inbox. Some of those memos would have to wait until after vacation.
    Vacation. She suddenly remembered today was her last day of work until after the new year. She rolled her eyes, irritated that she had not made any plans at all. She had just plain forgot. She supposed that she could go away, but this time of year was one of her favorite parts of living here—the lights, the trees, the excitement and happiness everywhere. No, she would definitely stay. Nothing in that moment seemed more blissful than the idea of all the movies she could watch, the books she could read, the organizing she could do. She might even finish that embroidery project that she had started two years ago.
    She smelled Stella before she heard the knock. The sickening sweet smell of Shalimar was made bearable only by a hint of rain and mud.
    “Well hey there, Sugar. I didn’t see you come in!”
    Of course Stella hadn’t seen Ellie come in; no one had. No one ever saw her come in. “Hello, Stella,” Ellie muttered. It really was too early in the day to deal with all of that energy. She didn’t dislike Stella Darling. More than anything Ellie felt a twitch of pity for her. At just under five feet, Stella could barely contain herself within her clothes. Ellie wasn’t sure if they were too small for her, or if she just happened to own one of those unlucky bodies nothing seemed to fit right. Her hair was an unnatural red that flew out in every direction and she wore too much makeup.
    At the paper, Stella’s specialty was weather and farm reports. She also knew a fair bit about natural remedies for everyday problems. She always had great tips for things like curing earaches with a hair dryer and various surefire stain removal techniques. Truth be told, Ellie often felt like she had more in common with Stella than she did anyone else. She recognized the invisibility magic wrapped around Stella’s uncontrollable curves. But unlike Ellie, Stella fought it with everything she had. She tried too hard, and although she was not invisible physically the way Ellie could be, she slipped the minds of those around her. She invited herself loudly, brazenly to be included. It was that brazen energy that Ellie wasn’t always keen to deal with at nine in the morning.
    “Don’t take this the wrong way, Ellie, but you don’t look so good,” Stella chirped in her thick Southern accent.
    “I’m just tired,” Ellie said, fighting to urge to roll her eyes.
    “No, I don’t think it’s that.” Stella walked her way