Chapter 6 #2
More varieties of soup, Jenna reflected wryly as her partner began to lay her tiles on the board. Somehow she didn’t think that was going to be nearly enough to save her store.
* * *
A week passed with Jenna coming up with no new ideas, at least none that she felt had any traction.
She considered turning part of the store into a café, but she feared she was too far out of town to get the necessary foot traffic, and there were several coffee places already—besides the boardgame café, Laurie’s pet shop and bakery, and also Joshua’s bookshop all offered coffee.
The Rolling Pin, too, had an espresso machine up and running.
For a town the size of Starr’s Fall, there were certainly quite a few coffee options.
Then she’d considered turning over a section of the store to home goods—blankets and pillows and the odd chair, maybe, but didn’t people just get that kind of stuff online? She already had a hardware section that got a little business, although not really enough to justify it.
The trouble was, Jenna didn’t actually know what the good people of Starr’s Fall wanted in a general store, besides Henrietta Starr wanting some hefty soup, anyway, and in her heart of hearts she was afraid that Miller’s Mercantile might have already had its heyday.
People liked the convenience of the big Stop plus, as everyone knew, she didn’t like change.
When was she going to start embracing it? Maybe not until she was forced to turn the “closed” sign on the mercantile—forever.
“Hey, Jenna,” Zoe called over to her, flicking her bright pink hair out of her eyes.
Zoe was twenty-eight and, at least to Jenna, impossibly cool.
She wished she could be the kind of person to rock pink hair and a nose ring, but she just wasn’t, and she’d come to accept that.
Still, every time she caught sight of Zoe with her laid-back, uber-confident attitude, Jenna felt a little pang…
of something. Not strong enough to be actual envy, but definitely something.
Maybe it was just getting older. She would be forty in less than a year, and there was no escaping that, or how she’d wished her life had turned out a little differently by this point.
It was what it was, Jenna told herself as she steeled her spine.
No use being sorry about it. As Liz said, self-pity wasn’t a good look on a woman her age… or to be fair, on anyone.
“Hey, Zoe,” she called back with a smile, and then greeted the others around the table.
Annie was usually in attendance but had been missing the last few to spend time with her mom.
Still, it was a good showing. Just as Lizzy Harper, the new chair, came to the head of the table to start them off, Rhonda breezed in with a cocky grin for everyone as she plopped herself down at the end, fanning her face.
“I power walked here and I’m a little hot,” she explained cheerfully. “Also I was checking out the nice set of wheels parked in front of the church.” She let out a wheezing cough. “ Someone won the lottery.”
Nice set of wheels? Alarm pinged through Jenna as Lizzy banged the gavel to call them to order. There was only one person in Starr’s Fall who had a car that answered to that description, and he had no business being here…
“Meeting come to order!” Michael called cheerfully.
Jenna had been the Business Association’s chair last year, but over the summer it had moved to Lizzy and Michael, and Jenna had told herself she was glad.
She didn’t need the extra hassle of running Starr’s Fall’s sometimes-struggling association, but as Michael banged the gavel again, clearly enjoying the mini power trip, something in her chafed, just a little bit.
She was used to being in charge, but it was just as well she wasn’t, she told herself, as she needed to focus on her own business.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, let’s get started,” Michael began.
“Tonight we need to discuss the Fall Festival next week, then we’ve got Winter Wonderland to organize in December, plus the continuing issue with the streetlights, and any ideas we might have to beautify our lovely Main Street, including the empty storefronts. ”
He paused, looking around the table with eyes that were bright with enthusiasm.
“Now, before we begin with all that… I’m thrilled to say we have someone new joining us today, to act as a consultant to the association.
He comes with plenty of experience and wisdom from working on Wall Street for twenty years, starting his own venture capital firm, investing in new and innovative technologies and businesses, and he lives right here in Starr’s Fall!
I’m sure everyone will be thrilled to welcome…
” He paused to take a breath, and Jenna tensed instinctively, because she just knew what was coming next… “ Jack Wexler to our group!”
Then, like he was a celebrity arriving on a talk show, Jack strolled in from the hallway, giving everyone a lazy wave before he joined Michael at the head of the table, looking relaxed and assured in a crisp white button-down shirt, open at the throat, and well-ironed khakis.
The Rolex Jenna had seen before glinted on one wrist, and as he leaned back in his folding chair and crossed his legs, Jenna saw he was wearing designer loafers of what looked like Italian leather with no socks.
Such a rich guy cliché , she thought, her lip curling before she made herself iron out her expression to something approaching neutrality. So Jack Wexler was going to advise all the residents of Starr’s Fall how to operate their businesses. Great. Just what she needed right now.
Her lip curling again, Jenna folded her arms, sat back in her seat, and waited for what wisdom Jack Wexler would no doubt smirkingly impart.