The Last Page

Chapter 15 #2

“But something isn’t working,” he said firmly. “I won’t take away the stools and I’ll let people drink coffee while shelving. But free coffee in the break room is surprisingly expensive. These are the easy things to take away, otherwise it’ll be people and their hours.”

I looked away, knowing he was right. This place was my home, and I hated the idea of all the little things that made this place run beautifully going away. How many homeless people came in and made a quick buck for coffee by selling us a book? How many struggling families?

“Does it really have to be this one, though?”

“Why don’t we do it on a trial period? See if any money comes in from it. And if it doesn’t work out, then we go back?”

Begrudgingly, I agreed.

It went like that all day. While he shelved, he pointed out how many of the same copy we had.

Or how there had been a spillage that damaged some books.

The worst was when he caught Ameerah sitting in the romance section reading Ali Hazelwood’s newest release.

I had quickly guided him away before he could say anything.

“I’m surprised by how much of this I remember,” he said when we were at the art info desk. A few of the booksellers were obviously sent upstairs as spies, walking back and forth in front of the desk with the same stack of books in their hands.

“When my dad was still around, I’d shadow him and pretend to be a bookseller. Some of the same booksellers still work here.”

“No way,” I said, intrigued. “Who?”

“Mabel definitely. She was still old as hell when I was a kid.”

I laughed at that. “I think she was born a seventy-five-year-old woman.”

“Jack was here, too. He scared the hell out of me, though,” Henry said. “But all the other booksellers didn’t mind letting a little kid follow them around. Then when we moved, I came back for a couple of weeks in the summer and worked full-time until I left.”

“We must’ve just missed each other,” I said quietly. “I started working here when I was fifteen, but in the summers, we’d go back to Peru to visit family.”

“We must’ve,” he agreed. “Because I would’ve remembered you.”

His eyes held mine, heat rushing to my face.

“I’m gonna take this stack of books to their section,” I said, my voice tight. “I’ll be right back.”

Inevitably, Henry and I were going to spend more time together over the next few months. I needed to be careful to not let my attraction to Henry sway my emotions or decisions. Thank God it was just attraction, though. That was easy to ignore. This was just a phase and it’d all fade away.

I had shown Henry a lot, so I thought we’d call it a day, but he wanted to learn the registers. Realistically, he’d probably never work on registers in his time here, so I tried to get him to cut the training early, but he insisted.

“You’re only going to look for something wrong,” I argued.

He simply nodded. “That’s the whole point of this. Try to trust me.”

Henry was obviously not used to a New York City pace. The line had gotten backed up a few times, causing the booksellers to side-eye him, and he spent a little too much time chitchatting with the customers, but I figured those Southern tendencies would soon leave him.

“Let me ask her,” he said to an older customer. He turned to me, holding out a receipt, and said, “They want to do an exchange. What’s the policy?”

“Sure,” I said, nudging Henry out of the way with my hip.

I glanced at their receipt, and according to our policy, they were out of time to make an exchange.

We didn’t want people to treat us like the public library, checking books in and out.

But this man was obviously not well off.

He had a cart of what seemed like his life belongings with him.

The deep chill of winter had left as April kicked into gear, but he still wore his tattered winter coat against the spring wind.

Leo believed that reading should be accessible to all. Of course libraries were a great resource, but there was a certain pride that came with owning something. With it being completely yours.

I should know.

When I stepped in front of the counter, the man pushed his book toward me sheepishly.

He began pulling loose change out of his pocket and said, “I can pay the difference.”

I waved him off. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Here’s your receipt. For next time,” I said gently.

The man nodded his thanks. Once he left the store, I side-eyed Henry, who raised his eyebrows at me.

“I’m not changing that.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I can read it in your eyes,” I insisted. “I get it’s not a good business practice and blah blah blah, but Leo would always—”

“I know,” he said with a sad smile. “There was a mom who came in every week. She’d do the exact same thing, but with children’s books.

Never had a book for herself. Leo noticed after a while and made her her own ‘library’ card.

Laminated it and everything. I remember someone told him if he wasn’t careful, they’d abuse his kindness.

Leo got mad and told him there were worse things someone could do with his kindness. ”

Henry stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, leaning against the counter. “Not everything has to change,” he said quietly.

My eyes welled up with tears and I blinked them away, hoping Henry didn’t see them. Henry was the key to so many memories of Leo. And maybe the closest thing I’d ever get to him again. I grasped onto the story and held it close to my heart, wanting more.

“I think you’re trained on everything now,” I said, trying to hide the fading emotion in my voice. “Ready for some real-life practice?”

I stationed him downstairs in the basement’s info desk. It was definitely the slowest part of the store, but the downside was that Jack was working down there today. Even though I’d love to get a little revenge on Henry, leaving him alone with Jack was too much.

“Hi, Jack,” I said brightly as we approached the information desk. “You’ve got company for the rest of the day. Henry and I are going to join you.”

“Oh. Great,” he said flatly.

“There’s that can-do attitude.”

Jack rolled his eyes, then turned toward Henry. “I don’t care what you say. I’m going to sit and read my book.”

“As you can tell, Jack is The Last Page’s resident grump,” I said to Henry. “But I happen to believe he secretly has a heart of gold.”

Jack snorted. “Yeah, unlike Ella over here.”

“Stop being a jerk,” I said sharply to Jack. “I get that you’re upset about no one taking your shift next Saturday—”

“You should just let me have it off,” he seethed.

“You’re out of vacation days,” I said. “They renew in May and then you can have all of them for the rest of the year. It’s not my fault you didn’t plan.”

“It’s your fault that you run an authoritarian ship.”

“Hey,” Henry said, stepping forward, but I cut him off.

“Knock it off, Jack. The answer is no,” I said. There were two stools, and Jack had already occupied one, so I took the other. “Henry, you can have that computer and station. I’m here if you’ve got questions.”

“And if you want a day off,” Jack said bitingly, “I guess you can just have it. Ella here would milk her relationship with Leo to get whatever she wanted, and I bet she’ll do that with you, too.”

“Don’t talk to her that way,” Henry snapped, his jaw tense. He had straightened, somehow seeming broader than before. I held up a hand before Henry could say anything else.

“Fine. Go home, Jack,” I said.

Jack did a double take. “What?”

“I said, go home. If you’re going to live up to your name as a jackass, then go home. Obviously you don’t need this paycheck and I don’t need this attitude. Go. Home.”

Jack began to sputter. “Ella, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”

“You’ve been pushing me all fucking week,” I barked.

“Well, I’m officially off the edge. Clock out and go home.

Henry and I will man the basement until close and maybe tomorrow, if you stop being rude, you can stay your whole shift.

Otherwise, congrats, you’ve got a really long vacation coming your way. ”

“Ella, I’m sorry,” Jack repeated. “Let me stay.”

“Are you done pouting?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes,” he said, properly miffed.

“You can go shelve in Finance then. Henry and I will stay here.”

Without another word, Jack stalked off. I pulled his stool toward Henry and said, “Here, you take this one.”

Henry was watching me carefully. “He shouldn’t talk to you like that.”

“Oh, pish posh. It’s fine.”

“You should’ve actually sent him home.”

I turned my stool to face him. “The Last Page is like a family. Leo was the patriarch and Jack is the weird uncle that’s mean to everyone, but we keep inviting to Thanksgiving anyway.”

Henry made a face at that. “I can’t believe my grandfather tolerated that.”

“Oh, he didn’t,” I said, laughing. “Leo probably threatened to fire him every month. That’s how I know it works.”

“Why not just actually fire him?”

I shrugged. “He’s the only one with the same tastes as our pretentious, deep-cut readers. Besides, it’d feel wrong.”

“Huh,” Henry said, his brows furrowed. “You really are loyal to everyone here.”

“The Last Page has always been a family business. The family is from within, you know.”

Henry looked down, smiling, and said, “Leo would’ve loved to hear that.”

“He would,” I agreed, grinning back. “I bet you don’t have bookstores like this in Tennessee.”

Henry laughed at that. “We don’t have anything like this in Tennessee. Not to say we don’t have chaotic stuff going on. My best friend, Charlie, is a Little League football coach and there’s new drama every week.”

“Like a dads’ version of Dance Moms?” I asked.

“If you think I know what Dance Moms is …” He trailed off, eliciting a laugh from me.

“Touché. Are you from a small town?” In the back of my mind, I told myself not to ask questions. Not to put myself in danger of actually liking him. But we had both laid our armor down. If I couldn’t be standoffish to him, then I had to be a little friendly.

“Nah, Knoxville’s fairly sized. It’s a cool place to live, honestly. I was happy when we moved there.”

“You were happy to leave New York?” I asked, incredulously. The thought was inconceivable to me. New York could be too much for some people, but I could never get enough of it.

“At the time, no, but in the end, I think life in Knoxville suits me better. It’s quieter, slower.”

“Boring,” I added.

“Charlie and I know how to have a good time. You don’t need bright lights to do that.”

“Yeah, right,” I said with a snort.

“I’m curious as to what you think Tennessee is like.”

“Oh, you know. Horses, farms, lots of grass.”

“You’re forgetting the saloons.” He clicked his tongue. “If you could see Tennessee, though? There’s no finer place.”

“I don’t know about that,” I guffawed.

A sad smile painted across his face, Henry said, “Sure, it’s flawed like every place. But you couldn’t turn in a circle without finding some green. Everyone there is automatically patient and kind. Quick to smile and slow to judge. It’s—”

“Where’s the computer science section?” a customer interrupted Henry abruptly.

“I’ll show you, ma’am,” Henry said, quickly standing from his stool. Surprisingly, I wanted him to stay. Since he’d arrived, Henry had seemed like a bit of a loner. A little sad. But the way his eyes lit up when he spoke about his home state. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit curious.

We got slammed pretty soon after that. A couple of tourist groups came into the store which kept Henry and I busy, running back and forth between sections and frantically looking up books. Although the main floor got most of the customers, the basement got the ultra-weird customers.

Henry nearly fainted when a man came in with a rat in his shirt pocket and a rat tail peeking out from under his hat but still helped him with a smile.

Everyone also had a customer service voice.

The voice with faux pleasantness soaked in it.

If you didn’t know Henry was from Tennessee, his customer service voice made it obvious.

His voice had more of a drawl, a twang on some words.

I’d lived in New York my whole life and never thought I would find that accent attractive. I hated that I did.

Once we closed up, I walked Henry through the closing duties.

“I can’t believe how many people asked for recommendations.” He shot me a sheepish look as we restocked the basement. “Thanks for stepping in.”

“I swear, most of the job is telling people what books are trending and what books aren’t.”

We walked side by side to a few different sections, placing books on their carts.

I always thought the store was serene after it closed. The lights were dimmed with only the sound of feet shuffling and books stacking, as if they finally got to rest.

Once we finished up, I said, “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m thinking you’ll be at main info.”

Henry shuddered. “After this afternoon, I don’t know if I can keep up.”

“Sarah will be right next to you. And she’s a talker. You’ll be fine.”

“Thank you for today,” Henry said quietly. Before we left, he had run upstairs to snatch the binder I made off his desk and patted it under his arm. “And for this.”

“Don’t thank me until the store is saved.”

He hesitated. “I know I’m not in any position to ask you for a favor …” he began.

“Sorry, I can’t give you a raise,” I said, joking. “You have to know the big guy in the office in the sky to get one.”

Henry ignored me. “Could you make me a reading list?”

My eyebrows raised. “A reading list? I thought you didn’t like to read?”

“It’s not that I don’t like to,” he said, his ears burning red. “I just never made it a priority. And I know as Leo’s grandson that’s shameful—”

“That’s okay!” I said quickly. “I can make you a list. Some of the customer favorites and bestsellers from the store, that way you can get acquainted—”

“And your favorites,” he said. “I want to know which ones you like the best.” When my face turned red he said, “You’ve got a similar taste to Leo. I’m sure some of your favorites overlapped.”

“They do,” I said softly, refusing to use Leo in the past tense.

“Then I want to read the books you love.”

I’m not necessarily a romantic. But saying that to any booklover would make them a little weak in the knees, too.