Chapter 24
Present day
Shelby already had the lights on and the store open by the time Gray arrived with his dog. She didn’t even wait for them to
reach the top of the stairs.
“Morning!” The mutt ran straight for her and she gave him some love. “I had an idea last night I wanted to run by you. Remember
Phoebe Bell, our local famous author? Well, she has a book releasing in— Hey, are you all right?” Gray’s blue eyes looked
tired, as if he’d just rolled from bed. Or maybe like he hadn’t slept at all. “Are you sick or something?”
“Just a late night. What’s this idea, and please tell me there’s coffee.”
“Down in the office. You and Patrick stay out late?”
“Something like that.”
Did he have a hangover? The old Gray refused so much as a sip of alcohol, but she didn’t really know him anymore. “If you
have a headache, I have Tylenol and Advil, or Gram kept essential oils in the desk drawer, and she has peppermint that is
really good for—”
“That’s okay. I just need to wake up.” He gave her a sideways glance. “How much coffee have you had?”
Maybe she was a little overcaffeinated. “Mind your own beeswax.”
The dog spotted Chaucer and dashed after him.
Gray frowned. “Shadow.”
Shadow, huh? Shelby smirked at him.
When he caught her eye he squelched a grin. “Shut up.”
“Someone’s getting attached.”
“It’s only temporary.”
“If you say so.” The bell jingled downstairs. Shelby tossed Gray a smug look as she headed down the stairs. “We can resume
the conversation about my idea when you’re properly caffeinated.”
Three more customers came and went before Shelby had a chance to hunt down Gray. She found him in the Religion section where
he was shelving books that had come in yesterday. “I just sold a One more chapter tee and a Bookmarks are for quitters cap. Also four novels. I love Saturdays.”
“That’s great. How’d your book club go last night?”
“The discussion went well. Everyone loved the book.” They’d read Annabel Monaghan’s summer release. “But as I anticipated,
the news about the reduced discount wasn’t exactly popular.”
“That’s to be expected. It won’t equate to that much per book, but it’ll add up over time for us.”
“Ellen Lyons all but threatened to buy hers from the evil empire. But when the others came to my defense, she backed off.”
“Good job. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”
Gray’s steady gaze and smile warmed her. He seemed almost... proud of her. She shook the thought away. “Thanks. How are
our numbers looking for the month so far?”
“Up from last November. I’m encouraged.” He held his hand up and they high-fived.
“That’s great news. We still have a long way to go though. Which brings me back to that idea I had.”
“Phoebe Bell, local author of mysteries, if I remember right.”
“Local, yes. But in the past ten years her book sales have exploded. She’s hit the USA Today list with her last several releases, and she has a zillion fans on social media—even if she does have someone else managing
the accounts.”
“She has to be, what? At least sixty by now.”
“Mid-sixties, I think. Anyway, she’s launching her new release here in early January, which will be great for the store.”
“I saw that on the schedule but didn’t realize what a boon it will be.”
“Last launch she sold over 150 hardcovers. We had a line out the door and past Patsy’s Boutique.”
“That’ll be great then.”
“So back to my idea. What if we set up a preorder special on the book? Don’t scowl. It doesn’t have to be huge. Just 10 percent
maybe and then Miss Phoebe could get the word out to her following that they can preorder a signed book at a discount. We’re
only two months away from her release, so we’d have to get right on it.”
“What about shipping costs?”
“We could either tack that onto the price or absorb it.”
“If we give a discount we can’t eat the mailing cost. Even if we ship them via media mail it won’t be cheap. What if we sell
at price and absorb the shipping cost? Her readers will still get a signed copy and that should excite her fan base.”
“We’d sell more copies if it’s discounted too.”
“But we’d earn less profit per book. And the more books we sell, the more we’ll have to package and ship. I can run the numbers
if you want, but we’ll be better off without the discount.”
He was probably right. She was beginning to trust his expertise as it was starting to pay off. He already had a basic website
up and running, so this would require minimal effort on the front end. “All right. I’ll take your word for it.”
“Awesome. And I love your idea.”
“Now all we have to do is get Phoebe on board.”
A while later Shelby hung up the phone and nearly pumped a fist in the air. Phoebe was open to talking about the idea, but she wanted to do so in person. Shelby wasn’t surprised. The woman lived alone—she’d been a widow for years.
Excitement winged through Shelby as she helped a customer, then assisted Zuri (fiction and self-help) with the POS system.
This preorder special could be big if Phoebe was able to spread the word to her fans far and wide.
“We’ve been busy today,” Zuri said after the last customer left. The college student majored in ethnic studies at GU and was
well read in almost every genre, which made her excellent at hand selling. “The apparel has been popular.”
“Gray’s been posting photos on our socials. I think it’s helping.”
“No doubt.”
“How are your classes going?”
“Great. I love my professors this semester. And the campus is so beautiful in the fall. We don’t get those colors back home.”
Zuri was from Florida. “Do you miss your family?”
“Tons. But I need to be here and they’re supportive of my education.” She checked her watch. “I can’t believe it’s noon already.”
“Why don’t you take your lunch break? I’ll send Theresa when you return.”
“Sounds good.” Zuri grabbed her purse from behind the counter. “Aw, when did you put this up?”
Shelby turned and followed Zuri’s gaze to the westerns Shelby had pared down to one shelf. The ledge now boasted an engraved
gold plate she hadn’t seen before.
In memory of Viola Thatcher
“A great book begins with an idea; a great life, with a determination.”
Louis L’Amour
She hunted down Gray and found him out back with Shadow. He was texting on his phone while the dog smelled every bush in the yard. Her heart softened at the sight of Gray—and it was pretty mushy already from seeing what he’d done.
“I saw the plaque,” she said when he noticed her. “That was really sweet of you to put that up. She liked that quote.”
He smiled. “I know. She quoted it to me a time or two.”
“Sounds about right.”
“I know this has been hard, making all these changes to the store. She’d be really proud of you, Shelby.”
“Thanks.” It had felt like uprooting Gram one volume at a time. It needed to be done, but gosh, it made her ache to change
the shop her grandma had worked so hard to build. Shelby just hoped it worked. Speaking of which...
“I got hold of Miss Phoebe. She invited us over to discuss the preorder deal tomorrow afternoon.”
“Us?”
“If you don’t have plans, I could use your help.”
He shrugged. “Sure. Why does she want to discuss it in person?”
“She’s lonely, I think. But she’s also closing in on her deadline and can’t afford time away from writing. That’s why I offered
to bring pizza.”
“I could pick it up. Or we could just have it delivered.”
Shelby held back a grin. “Um, yeah, that’ll work.”