Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ella
“Blankets by Craig Thompson is the perfect snowy-day read. Achingly romantic and soft, just like snow.”
—Mina’s Staff Pick
I was jumpy all day, waiting to spot Henry. That morning, I went straight to his office, but in a surprising turn of events, he wasn’t there. I used to be the first one in the store every single day, but ever since he arrived, he took my place. I swear, some nights he slept there.
By eleven, there was still no sight of him.
I kept looking over my shoulder, trying to spot his dirty brown hair and wiry little glasses.
I had stayed up nearly all night, chugging Monster drinks as I worked.
And this morning maybe I got an iced vanilla latte with an extra shot (or two).
It was easy to just believe saving the store was hopeless, but this was war and I had to be prepared.
“Are you having a stroke?” Joey asked. We were at the basement info desk, sorting some books to be shelved.
“No,” I said. “I would be on the floor.”
Joey leaned against the desk, studying me. “But don’t people act crazy before they have a stroke? Or is that a heart attack?”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“It’s like you have a tic. You keep looking over your shoulder.”
“Maybe I’m customer shopping,” I said, lifting a shoulder and resisting the urge to take in my surroundings again for a glimpse of Henry.
Joey gasped. “But you never do! You made me stop last time I was doing that.”
Customer shopping was a game the booksellers played. While the customers shopped, the booksellers shopped the customers, trying to find the most attractive one. Once you saw someone hot, you would say, “The weather is crazy today,” and because we were in New York, it often was.
“That’s because you kept saying ‘Pass’ super loudly,” I said. “And they heard you.”
“Well, I would’ve passed on those customers,” he muttered.
“I’m just looking out for shoplifters,” I lied. “It’s been an issue recently, so I wanted to keep an eye out. Don’t worry about it.”
Joey started grumbling something about how I never play customer shopping with him as he moved toward the computer to help out a customer.
I grabbed a stack of books for our X-rated section, weaving through the customers. There was a group of customers blocking my way, so I had to take a detour through Business.
Henry was standing there, his head tilted, reading the titles, sliding one out.
“I’ve been looking for you,” I said as I approached him.
He jumped, dropping his book. When we both bent down to grab it, his head bumped into mine.
“This is karma for the subway, by the way,” he said as we stood up. He watched carefully as I rubbed my forehead where we collided.
“Har har. I need to talk to you.” I looked around us and two shelves over, Jack was shelving in Finance. “C’mere.” I grabbed his bicep, firm beneath my hand, and dragged him with me into the X section. It was in a very back corner of the store, a small hidden alcove.
A woman snapped a book with two shirtless men and a woman in a bra on the cover shut and shuffled past us, head down.
“What’d you drag me in here for?” he hissed. We were surrounded by near-nude models and titles full of innuendos.
“I don’t want anyone to hear us. And no one’s going to come in here,” I said, setting the stack of books down on the shelving cart. “I think we can save the store.”
Henry said nothing, studying me as he leaned against the bookshelf. I inhaled sharply, looking away.
This was the worst part about working in a bookstore. Men instantly became more attractive surrounded by books or holding a paperback in their hands. And when they leaned against a shelf? God, it was almost unbearable.
Especially when a man was as attractive as Henry Martin.
His glasses had slipped off from the bridge of his nose a bit. It all suddenly felt so intimate, even without all the books of literal porn. Henry’s chest was close enough to touch mine.
“I have ideas,” I continued. “Lots. A whole binder full. I left it in your office because Joey would’ve definitely seen it and start to freak out and I don’t really think—”
“Until the start of August,” he said. “We’ve got until then to try and save it, otherwise we’ve got no choice but to sell.”
Relief flooded through me as a smile spread across my face. “Really?”
He smiled, too. “August is the hard deadline. I’m serious. I know it’s only a few months, but after that we’ll be too far gone that we’ll have to change store hours and let people go. If we can’t raise the money, someone might not even want to take on all the debt that’s been accumulated—”
I couldn’t help myself and threw my arms around his shoulders, grateful. I squeezed him tight as his arms hesitantly came around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
“I do,” he whispered back.
He was right. If there was anyone else on this planet who knew exactly how I felt, it would be Henry.
I pulled back from him, suddenly bashful about my impassioned hug.
Okay, obviously I found Henry attractive.
I wouldn’t admit it to Julie, because I had been trying my best to ignore how much his mere presence affected me, especially when I could chalk it up to hate.
I’d be lying if I said the feel of being held in his arms or the smell of his cologne didn’t send warmth through me.
Henry cleared his throat, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his forefinger. “I want to be involved though.”
“In the fundraising?”
“In everything. I want to understand the store, I want to help brainstorm. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem.”
For this to work, I’d have to push all my frustrations into the past. “I can do that.” An idea clicked into place and I brightened. “Why don’t you shadow me today? See how the store is really run?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re busy and all—”
“No, no, it’s really no problem,” I said. “Maybe if you understand the mechanics of the store, you’d see some things that are more necessary than you think.”
“Well, if you don’t mind, it’d be helpful. It’s been so long since I was actually on the floor. I’d love to regain a lay of the land with a business mindset.”
“This whole thing will only work if we trust each other. And that means I can’t lie to you and you can’t lie to me.”
His brows dipped. “Right.”
“So you’ll tell me how we’re actually doing and if we’ve actually got a chance of staying open. And if at some point it all rears an ugly head, I want to know.”
“I can do that,” he said, sincerely. “I know it hasn’t seemed that way, but we’re on the same team.”
I smiled. “I’m glad you said that. Because if we’re going to keep this store afloat, we should run it the way Leo intended.
” I barreled on before he could interrupt.
“And that means restoring the policies you took away. So when I show you how this store is supposed to be run, I’m going to show you all the things that would make a corporate guy like you cringe. ”
“I’m not a corporate guy.”
I shot him a flat look. “I think if you worked for a company that ends in ‘Inc.,’ that qualifies you.”
One side of his mouth lifted in a self-satisfied grin. “You looked me up.”
“What?” I laughed it off. “No way. I’m an adult, I’m not in high school.”
“You know LinkedIn can show you who views your profile right?”
“Anyway!” I said loudly. “I’ll treat you like a new hire. Let’s start with a tour of the store, okay?”
Henry was going to have a panic attack. Or something of the sort.
The tour was pretty painless, but when I started training him on different tasks, I could tell he was trying really hard to bite his tongue.
There was plenty we did right, just to be clear. But … as a charming independent bookstore, we tended to stray away from some of the practices of bigger bookstores.
We had started off at the buying desk in the back of the store. No matter what, we paid at least one dollar for every book brought in. Depending on our stock and demand, we could give up to five bucks per book.
“You have at least a hundred copies of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,” he said, confused. “Why give someone a dollar for something you don’t need?”
“We’ll sell it anyway,” I explained. “That title will go on one of the outside carts for a discount price instead of the used book price, which would be around ten bucks, or a brand new copy, which would be about twenty.”
Henry shook his head and muttered, “That’s so dumb.”
“Hey!”
“Sorry, but it is.” He shrugged.
“Well, what would you do?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips.
“I’d tell them we can take the book off their hands for free then sell it outside at a discounted price. That way you’re not earning a net zero back.”
I scoffed. “People won’t go for that.”
“Well then, they can find somewhere else to offload their books. Don’t you all do inventory twice a year?
” he pressed. I had a sneaking feeling Leo used to make Henry join in on summer inventory because it was everyone’s least favorite activity.
“How many times have you donated something to a Goodwill for free? There’s no information on what we buy in, put outside, and eventually donate. That’s a loss.”
“We can’t start this policy now,” I reasoned. “We’ve been in business for decades with loyal customers.”
“This would actually bring in a bit of revenue,” he said, working through the thoughts out loud. “Not enough to keep the store afloat, but something is better than nothing—”
“Hold it there, buster,” I said. “We had an agreement. No significant changes.”
“Ella,” he said gently. I’d spent the past month or so pretending that every word out of his mouth was pure venom, but now I could hear how sweetly he said my name. Like it was a lyric to a song he’s always known. “There have to be changes.”
“But—”