Page 13 of It's a Brewtiful Day
“Anyway,” he tapped the countertop – a long live edge piece of wood stacked on top of several hundred books positioned perfectly as the supportive base. There were no drawers or anything, but it sure looked amazing. “I’m going to go home and rest. Lock up, will you?”
“Sure, of course.”
He tossed me the spare set of keys. “And Nina has requested a few of our second-hand books. Take a small box over to her when you leave.”
“Of course, and we already talked. I’m slowly working on what books would best fit the coffee shop.”
“Add in the coupons too. It’ll be good for business.”
“For sure.”
He leaned heavily on his left foot. “And staple them in. That way the customers have to take the book and not just the coupon.”
“You know, I’ve created a spreadsheet with the titles of the books we discard, so they don’t come back in for resale.”
A quizzical expression deepened the creases in his forehead. “When did you manage that?”
“A month ago? I’m still testing it out. I scan the ISBN into the computer, and it populates whether it’s something we’ve shelved, sold, or discarded.”
“Wow. I’m impressed.” He shuffled and lifted his shoulders one at a time as a grimace stretchedacross his face. “With all the neat little extras you do, you’re going to have to take over the store when I retire.”
That’s my plan.
“Anyway. Have a good night.” His expression flat-lined, a look I was all too familiar with. This conversation was finished.
A gust of wind whipped an empty box against the window. Heart pounding from the unexpected noise, I watched as it dipped toward the ground and then lifted back into the air. Shivering from the thought of the late-night storm, I pushed a pile of books off to the side and turned my back to the window. I didn’t need to see what was going on.
“Going to be a doozy alright.” Harvey inched toward the exit.
I swallowed down the slow build of anxiety rising in the back of my throat. “Have a good night, Harvey.”
“Don’t forget the window display and the books to Nina. I think there’s a game or two in there as well.” As he descended the two stairs and opened the door, a gust of wind pushed against it and Harvey had to hunker down and hold on tight to close the door properly on his way out.
Shaking my head as another piece of garbage angrily danced down the road, I produced a box of discarded books, debating which were coffee shop appropriate.
My cell phone rang, and seeing as the storewas devoid of souls, I answered, putting it on speaker. It was my sister.
“Hey, Cassie. What’s up?”
“Change of plans for tonight.” The voice was a mixture of sadness and disappointment.
Yes! I fist-bumped the air and tried to keep the happiness out of my voice. “Awe, that’s too bad.”
“Not really. Alice needs to run to Hinton this afternoon and isn’t sure if she’ll be back in time, so she’s asked Fox to run the volunteer night.”
“Well, if he’s busy running the event, then it’s not like he’ll have the chance to visit.” This was getting better with each spoken word.
“Actually. Don’t hate me.”
“Oh no, you didn’t.” I knew where this was going, and a surge of anger pulsed through me, lighting the tip of my tongue on fire. “You didn’t volunteerme,did you?” But I already knew the answer.
The winds picked up, knocking the heavy raindrops against the window.
Her tone changed to an apologetic sound, but it was likely fake. “Alice said she was short on volunteers.”
“I only agreed to watch from afar, I never signed up for actually helping, I was only supposed to show up tonight to meet this guy. End of story.” My blood was boiling. “Plus, I don’t even know the first thing about astronomy.” Which was why the display window for the Dark Sky Event still hadn’t beendecorated. I needed to consult a reference book for hanging the planets in the correct order.
“You don’t need to have a Ph.D. in rocket science to help out, you’ll just be directing the visitors to the buses if they’re heading out to the lake or helping out in rocket park. They’ll just be letting you know what’s involved with the festival and how best to assist.”