“Dead on my feet, thank you, but loving every minute of it.” Liddy grinned from ear to ear. “Tuck said everyone in town would show up today, but I never expected all this. I’m going to have to make calls tonight to reorder stock.”
“Uh-uh.” Grace sidled up to the counter. “I’m checking stock, and I’ll be emailing the distributors as soon as my mom gets here to relieve me as part of your sales force.”
Liddy looked up from the register. “I didn’t call Maggie.”
“I did. She’ll be here in fifteen minutes, and I’ll take care of the reorders. You just keep smiling and chatting up the customers, and I’ll take care of the floor.” Grace’s smile was almost as bright as Liddy’s.
Maggie was there in ten, and she took over for Emma, bagging books at the counter. Around five things settled down to a handful of shoppers, and Emma sent Liddy to the back of the shop to sit in one of the wingback chairs in the children’s section and rest for a few minutes. Grace ran the empty carafes back to Ground Me and returned with refills, anticipating an after-dinner crowd. She fixed a mug for Liddy and took it back to her.
“Hell of an opening, Lydia.” Grace plunked down into the other chair.
“Indeed.” Liddy smiled wearily. “If this kept up all week, I’ll be able to actually hire someone full-time. You might even get a raise.” She hastened to add, “Not that I expect this madness will continue, but just saying.”
“I think you’ll do really well. I put out those flyers we talked about, promoting all the things you’re going to do, and the today-only twenty percent discount didn’t hurt. The book clubs, the children’s story hour on Saturday.” She paused. “Though several people asked if we’d be doing the kids’ readings in the afternoons.”
“What did you tell them?” Liddy rested her head back against the chair and closed her eyes.
“I said we’d take it under advisement.”
“That’s up to you, if you want to do something extra like that. I’m too tired right now to make decisions on anything more complicated than when I will take my next sip of coffee.”
“One of the people inquiring was a teacher at the elementary school. She said it would make a great field trip for her class if they could come in for a special story hour once in a while.” Grace got up to offer her seat to her mother when Maggie joined them. “I said we’d think about it.”
“Are you sure you want to take on something else?” Liddy opened her eyes. It would be a win-win situation for her, but Grace would have to deal with the additional work involved with selecting the books for each grade level and making sure there was sufficient stock for those kids who might want to purchase their own copy of whichever book Grace chose.
“We’ll see.” Grace wandered over to the shelf where Jessie’s greeting cards were displayed. “We’re going to have to reorder the birthday cards. There are only two left. And I think we should pick a few more of the designs to print up. We have lots to choose from.”
“You do it.” Liddy sat up and drank some of the coffee Grace had prepared for her. It was already lukewarm but tasted delicious and served to remind her she hadn’t stopped for lunch. At least, she was pretty sure she hadn’t. “I’m putting you in charge of the cards. Birthdays, holidays, just-to-say-hi cards. All in your hands. Whatever you want.”
“Thanks. I’ll go through them tonight.”
Liddy heard the front door open, then close.
“Well, that was a short break.” She stood, stretched, finished the last of the coffee, and headed for the front of the shop. “Hi, come on in. Are you looking for anything in particular, or just checking us out?”
By closing time, Liddy was exhausted. Grateful for the shop’s smashing debut but more tired than she’d ever been.
At five minutes before nine, Tuck opened the door to let the last customer out, then came in.
“So how’d it go?” He came straight to the counter, where Liddy was leaning, hoping to hold herself up long enough to cash out for the night. “I drove by a few times and you looked busy.”
“Busy is an understatement. You were right.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I think I saw pretty much everyone I ever knew today.”
“Foot traffic only or paying customers?”
“Some of each, but I think most people bought something. Grace spent much of the evening reordering some of the new releases. The new thrillers and romances were gone by three this afternoon.”
“So all in all a good day?”
“All in all . . . a great day.” Liddy couldn’t help but smile in spite of her fatigue.
“I’m happy for you. You deserve this.” He reached across the counter and gave her hand a squeeze. “If you’re going to be here for a few more minutes, I want to run upstairs and check the work my guys did up there. Carlos said he finished the drywall this morning. I hope he didn’t disturb your customers. I told him to come and go through the back door.” He gestured toward the back of the shop.
“I didn’t even know he was here.” She frowned. That door had been locked. She’d checked it before she’d left on Sunday night. “How’d he get in?”
“He said it was unlocked.”
“Oh, Grace probably unlocked it. Maybe she stepped outside for some fresh air and a few moments’ peace at some point. It did get pretty wild in here for a while.”
“I won’t be long,” he told her as he walked through the aisle leading to the back of the shop. “And then I’ll drive you home. I don’t know if you’d make it on foot tonight.”
“No way would I make it all the way home to Jasper Street. Someone would find me sleeping on their front lawn in the morning.”
“I think that’s a given. You look like you’re ready to crash.” He disappeared around the corner, and she heard his boots thumping on the stairs as he headed up.
She was just finishing at the cash register when Tuck came down the steps at a fast clip.
“When I get my hands on those two. They know better than to ever leave anything on a job.” He held up one hand. “Potato chip bags, candy wrappers, an empty soda can. I’m going to have their heads in the morning. No one who works for me leaves their trash on a work site.”
“Oh, calm down. It’s no big deal. Besides, maybe it was Grace. She’s set up a makeshift office in that second-floor room.” She reached for the trash and he handed it over.
“Somehow Grace doesn’t strike me as the type to eat this crap. I could be wrong, though. I guess everyone has their weakness.” He stood next to the counter. “Need me to take anything for you?”
“Aw, like carry my books home from school?” she teased, and he laughed.
“Something like that.” He watched her drop the trash into a basket behind the counter.
“No, I’ve got it all. But I do appreciate the ride. I really am beat.”
They walked outside onto the dimly lit sidewalk, and she paused to lock the front door.
“Oh crap, I meant to lock the back door,” she said.
“I locked it with the dead bolt before I went upstairs.” Tuck steered her toward his truck, which was parked at the curb in front of the shop, and opened the door for her. Liddy climbed in and buckled her seat belt.