Christmas By The Book

Chapter One

Jorja

“I THINK THIS IS THE last one!” Haley puffed, as she planted the final box down beside the front door.

“I hope so,” I replied, planting my hands on my hips and surveying the stack in front of us. “I don’t think the store can take much more.”

“Yeah, let me just check the van,” Haley remarked, dusting off her hands and heading outside, where the van that had dropped off our latest delivery was waiting. “I’ll give you a hand unpacking when I get back.”

But, before she could head outside once more, the bell over the door chimed, and I glanced up to see a customer stepping inside. She would be better off dealing with that than I would, and honestly. I didn’t want to deal with anyone right now. Not when there were so many new books to get my hands on.

“Haley, could you check if that customer needs any help?” I asked her. “I’ll deal with the books.”

“You sure?” she replied. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m dumping this on you.”

“I’m good, Haley,” I promised her, offering her a smile.

She pushed a hand through her crop of blonde hair, and shrugged. “Hey, you’re the boss,” she replied, flashing me a smile, and then turning to go greet our latest customer.

I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was in conversation with him, glad that I wasn’t the one who had to handle that. I probably should have been better at chatting with customers after so many years working in this place, but honestly, I was better suited to the books.

Once I had checked that all of the books had been unloaded, I turned my attention to unpacking the boxes of new stock that had just come in. It was coming up to Christmas, and I knew plenty of people would be looking to grab a book or two as an easy present for the people they found hard to buy for. It was one of our better times of year, and I knew we really needed that boost right now, after the way everything had been going.

I listened in idly as Haley chatted to the customer, who was looking for a specific children’s book for his daughter. She was so much better at this conversation thing than I ever had been, and one of the reasons I had hired her. Though she was just as bookish as me, she was a student, and had a little more of that outgoing energy that seemed to suit working in customer service. When I talked to people, I always felt as though I was on the brink of revealing too much—like I was exposing more of myself than they had ever asked for.

I bustled around, putting the books where they belonged, filling the shelves with the latest bestsellers across all genres, pausing once in a while to read the back covers of the ones that looked particularly interesting, and making a mental note to add a few to my reading list. The upside to running a bookstore like this was that I had access to more books than I could ever have read, and I made it a point to read as much of our stock as possible. Hey, what kind of vendor would I be if I didn’t at least try the product, right?

I reached the final box, and, when I saw the books that were waiting for me in there, I decided to pass that one off to Haley when she was finished with that customer. It was stacked with romance novels, all of them featuring some sexy, smoldering man on the cover. I mean, I had no problem with people reading that stuff, but it wasn’t for me. I closed the lid of the box and planted it on the checkout counter, figuring Haley would have a better idea of what to do with all of this than I would.

I had never been much for romance—either in fiction or in real life. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the idea of it, of course. Who wouldn’t have enjoyed being swept off their feet, treated like a queen, and romanced by one of the sexy dudes on the front of those book covers?

But that kind of thing didn’t happen to people like me. I was more likely to be at home with a book, a cup of hot chocolate, and my cat Mia than I was at the club, flirting and looking to find someone to go home with. I took no issue with people who did like to live their lives that way, but it just wasn’t for me.

I wouldn’t even know how to handle myself at a club, to be honest. What would I wear? I mean, my wardrobe was mostly made up of sweaters and jeans, comfy stuff I could work in and keep warm when the chilly winter months swept in. Not exactly the kind of clothing that would catch the eye of an eligible bachelor.

Besides, I was happy the way I was. I saw what it did to girls, when they got into relationships, the way they seemed to give up some part of themselves, just so they could make their man happy. I mean, I got it, I did, you had to make sacrifices to balance your life with someone else’s, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to change the way I went about my days just to make room for a random guy, did I?

I fiddled with some of the decorations I had started to lay out on the desk, trying to keep myself busy until Haley came back. I wanted to get the store looking pretty for the Christmas season; it was my favorite time of year, and I loved piling up the fake snow in the two windows that looked out into the street, draping them with fairy lights, making sure everyone who walked by knew how perfectly festive this place was.

Haley made her way over to the desk, where I had planted the last box of books, and she cocked an eyebrow when she saw what I had left untouched.

“Not a romance fan?” she teased me lightly.

I shook my head. “Not my thing,” I replied, as casually as possible. I was sure people had plenty of questions about why I chose to live my life the way I did, why I had stayed so resolutely single over the course of my adult life, but it suited me. Sure, it was a little lonely sometimes, but I wasn’t looking to change that anytime soon.

Haley began unpacking the books, setting them up on the shelves. I eyed the pouty models on the cover. See, those were the kind of women who got swept off their feet and romanced. Those girls with long blonde hair and blue eyes and perfect skin. Not me, with my messy dark hair, picking cat fur out of every piece of clothing that I owned. I didn’t think that would make a particularly good cover.

“You know, you never unpack the romance books,” Haley remarked to me. Oh, so she’d noticed that. I had hoped it might have slid under the radar, but clearly, I wasn’t going to get so lucky.

“I guess not,” I agreed, keeping my voice as casual as possible.

“You don’t want to get too close to these guys?” she asked, as she flashed me one of the cover models. “I don’t blame you. Guys who look like that are bad news.”

I laughed. “You sound like you’re talking from experience,” I remarked, and she shrugged as she placed the book on the shelf beside her.

“I might be,” she replied. “I should know better, I guess.”

“Oh, you’re young,” I replied, waving my hand. “You’re supposed to be making mistakes. Having fun...”

“You’re young, too, Jorja!” she reminded me, raising her eyebrows. “Look, I know you inherited this place from your grandma, but that doesn’t mean you’re as old as her yet!”

“I know, I know,” I replied, shaking my head. She was right. My grandmother, Maria, had run this shop for years, all the way through my childhood, and she was the person I looked up to most in the world. After my parents had passed away, she had been the one to raise me, and it had been a no-brainer for me to take over the shop when I was old enough. She had practically raised me between these shelves, and I wanted to keep her legacy going, no matter what.

“She’s the one you got your name from, right?” she remarked.

I shook my head. “No, it was my great-aunt,” I corrected her. “She was half-German. That’s why the spelling is so funky.”

“Yeah, when I first saw it written down, I had no freaking idea how to pronounce it.” She laughed. “I was so worried, coming in to interview with you, I thought I was going to screw it up.”

“Trust me, you wouldn’t be the first one,” I assured her. “I try to tell people it’s just pronounced like Georgia, but people still get it wrong all the time.”

“It’s a unique name, at least,” she replied. “Not like Haley. I feel like I’ve met fifty Haleys at college already, it’s ridiculous.”

The two of us chatted a little about what was going on with her college courses. I tried my best to keep up with what was going on in her life, enjoying the stories she shared with me of her college experience. I hadn’t gone to college myself, getting all the training I’d needed from my grandmother when I was growing up, and sometimes I wondered if I had missed out. I had lived in Mastin Falls for my entire life, and I felt like getting out into the world a little might have changed my opinion on some things.

But hey, I was happy enough here. Why try to fix what clearly wasn’t broken? I didn’t intend to let myself get distracted by everything else going on in the world. Not when this store needed all the help it could get.

As Haley chatted about her college courses, I hoped she hadn’t clocked on to the fact that things hadn’t... exactly been going well here lately. People purchased books online now, and it was harder to shift them in person than it ever had been before. We’d only had a couple of customers in today, and I hated the thought of what that might have meant for our bottom line this month. She had to pay her college expenses, and the last thing I wanted was to have to let her down. Even if paying her wages this month was going to be tough.

Haley checked her watch and pulled a face. “I need to get going if I’m going to make it to my class on time,” she told me apologetically.

I smiled at her. “Yeah, you said you needed to clock out a little early today,” I reminded her. “It’s fine. I can handle everything else.”

“You sure?” she asked. “I can always stop by after my classes if you need any more help.”

“I’ll be fine, Haley, really,” I assured her.

“Okay, but as long as you don’t do all the Christmas decorating without me,” she warned, flashing me a grin as she went into the tiny breakroom to grab her coat. “That’s the best part of this time of year.”

I planted a hand on my chest like I was pledging allegiance.

“You have my word,” I promised her. “No decorations until you’re back.”

“Thanks!” she called, as she headed to the door. I heard the bell chime as she headed outside, the sudden quiet of the bookstore filling my ear—what I wouldn’t have given for just a few more customers right now.

I sighed as I leaned my head into my hands. Soon. People would start coming more often soon. I had to believe that.

And I had to believe that I was going to be able to pay Haley’s wages when the month ended. Because I couldn’t expect her to work here on good faith only, even if the money was starting to dwindle dangerously low.