Page 12 of It's a Brewtiful Day
“Do you need my help?” I wasn’t sure if that’s what her tone was implying.
“No, no. I’ll move it later.”
“Okay, great. I need to get going.” I shifted my backpack. “I can bring you some books this weekend. It’ll give me a chance to curate the ideal reads.”
Nina surveyed the area and the two customers walking in. “Yeah, that works, hon, unless you have a few I can put out today? I’m only wanting a max of twenty books, as I’ll be adding a few games too. Too many books and it could be overwhelming. And at first, they’ll likely take and run with the book anyway.”
“Depends on how things go today. If it’s slow, putting something together like that shouldn’t be a problem. We do have an excess of second-hand reads that came in from a drop-off. I could go through them and pick out ones I think would be suited for your store.” Instinctively, my focus shifted over Nina’s shoulder to the counter. Elliot was in serious concentration mode.
“Thanks a latte, Sage.” She shook her head at the pun. “Sorry, it’s an old habit from the Ridge Heights location. I’m trying to wean myself, but after years of saying them, it’s second nature.”
I beamed and pointed at her. “Don’t get rid of that. Ever. It’s endearing, and it makes visiting here more fun and personable.”
“You’re the sweetest.”
“I’ll be back later with a few books.” However, before I could walk away, I needed to sneak one more glance toward the counter.
Elliot grinned and pointed to the book tree, which was sitting atop the espresso machine, looking perfectly at home in its new spot. With a quick wave, I ducked out and walked down the street to Pages & Dreams.
* * *
Naturally, the day proved to be a quiet one. While Harvey worked on the business stuff in his back office, I set about unboxing a fresh assortment of brand-new reads, including some of the top ten books I’d read about that morning on the Publisher’s Weekly list. Lately, Harvey had been taking a vested interest in my ideas, which was great. Being stationed in the front part of the store and working with the customers directly, I was more equipped to notice what was being read and shelved back, and I appreciated a boss who listened to my novel ideas.
Someday, I was going to own this store and make it big, or at least bigger. I had plans, it was just a financial shortfall preventing me from achieving them. Well, that and I needed to finish my degree, so I actually knew the nitty gritty about running a business. For now, I told Harvey what I needed, and he took care of it – magically – because then thebooks arrived ready for me to sticker and shelve. However, I didn’t know the first thing about where or how to place the orders. Surely he got them cheaper than Amazon and the like.
In the meantime, I stacked the triple copies of the brand-new books and printed out the price tags, gently covering the old barcode. As a book reader, I hated when the stickers didn’t peel off easily, or they tore and you had to scratch at them to remove them fully. When explaining this to Harvey, he said it was because then it made it harder for thieves to price switch. I rolled my eyes at that comment because not everyone was evil like Harvey believed. Usually, I was the skeptic unless it came to books.
Harvey shuffled out of the back room. “Have you started the display for the Dark Sky Festival yet?”
I pulled out a small box of odds and ends of glow-in-the-dark stickers and various planet mobiles from under the counter and set it on top. “I will do something in the window display but haven’t come up with anything new and exciting.”
“It doesn’t have to be exciting, and there’s nothing wrong with doing what we did last year.”
“Okay.” But last year’s wasn’t that exciting; just the astronomy books on stands. That was hardly enticing, and if memory served me correctly, I was pretty sure we hadn’t sold many of them either.
He shuffled closer to the counter, moving much slower than normal.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“No, everything aches.”
I stepped back, fearing he had the flu or something. Now wasn’t the time to get sick, although… If I were to get sick, then I could get out of attending Alice’s volunteer meeting tonight. On second thought, I stepped closer to Harvey. “Flu?”
“No, joints. There’s a storm brewing.”
Instinctively, I tossed my gaze out the storefront window to the streets. Big, leafy trees, some as old as the town itself, lined the street and their branches were blowing at a steep angle in the wind.
“When did that pick up?” It was fine when I got to work a couple of hours ago, and the last few customers hadn’t mentioned anything.
“Weather station is predicting a doozy of a storm late tonight.”
“A doozy?” That didn’t sound promising. Thankfully, the store closed at six, so I’d be safe at home when it hit; it was the perfect excuse to skip out on the volunteer meetup.
“Yeah. With all this unseasonal weather we’ve been having, I guess Mother Nature isn’t ready to slumber and let Old Man Winter take over.”
“I’m okay with that. Winter lasts long enough.”
Wintery roads stalled business for a little bit and made the driving treacherous and the sidewalks icy patches of slips and falls. I wasn’t a fan of winter, but once I adapted to it, it was manageable. It wasgetting to that point that was the most difficult.