Chapter 10 #2
"A couple. Zane's a fashion designer, but he was born in Virtue and ended up coming back for a while a few years ago.
Now he and his wife visit sometimes, but I guess a fashion designer's work is never done because some very Hollywood people have come to get fitted while he's been here. Do you know Benton Sinclair?"
"Benton Sinclair who was almost the first American to be cast as Bond? Everybody knows him."
"He landed a helicopter in the square a while ago."
Pete laughed again. "Okay, look, Virtue is way more interesting than Shkalnik.
I mean, we get our share of celebrities who are trying to get away from it all, but they don't land helicopters downtown!
Oh," he added, and put the doughnut box into Shanti's hands so he could hurry ahead and help a petite blonde woman carrying an extremely large box of books up the boardwalk stairs. "Here, let me?"
"I've got it," she said from behind the box, but also let him take it and shot him a grateful smile once she could see. "Thanks. Two doors to your left, the open door. I guess that's obvious."
It was: the storefront in question had a colorful stencil of an orange tabby cat sleeping on a stack of books on its front window, and the store name, Caturday Afternoon Bookshop, curved around it in white lettering.
Pete went inside just ahead of the blonde and Shanti, calling, "Baranov's Delivery Service! "
A woman—obviously a shifter, to Pete's senses—balanced gracefully on a short ladder at the back of the store.
Her hair was almost exactly the same color as the stenciled tabby cat on the window, with a flowing streak of blonde so pale it was almost white running through it.
She glanced toward him, first with surprised confusion, then with a smile.
"I don't know how Sabrina gets big strong handsome men to always do her heavy lifting, but thanks. "
"The impressive part is how this one isn't even my big strong handsome man," the blonde woman said cheerfully. "Thanks again."
"My pleasure. You're Sabrina Keep? The architect?"
Her dark eyebrows went up and she shot a glance toward the redhead at the back of the store. "Have you been talking about me again?"
"Yes. In the nanosecond between him announcing himself and you walking in behind him, I filled him in on your entire life history.
I'm Hannah Zimmer," she told Pete. "My sisters and I own the bookstore.
Sabrina is merely our lackey, here to carry heavy boxes and tell us what a good job we're doing. "
"Pete Baranov. This is Shanti Davis. I'm working on the railroad and Shanti's taking the first train out of town," he said to Sabrina.
She lit up. "Oh, fantastic! Great to meet you! I'm Sabrina." She offered her hand to Shanti, who shook it shyly.
"You've done a beautiful job with the station," Shanti murmured. "I've been down there almost every day since the doors opened, even if the grand opening hasn't happened yet."
"Oh! Yes, I've seen you. I should have come to say hi, but you looked like you were…zen. There's not enough zen in the world, so I didn't want to interrupt."
"Speaking of interrupting," Luke said from the door. "I come bearing doughnuts and coffee."
"Which we will eat on the boardwalk," Hannah said firmly. "I can't have sugar fingerprints all over the stock. Out. Out! Out, all of you, out! Not you two," she added to Pete and Shanti. "Unless you want to come out and eat doughnuts with us. But you're allowed to stay inside and shop."
Everyone looked around the bookstore, which was, at best, in a controlled state of chaos. "Shopping might be a little ambitious," Hannah admitted. "Grand opening soon and all. We're not quite ready for it."
Pete could all but see Shanti gather herself and make an effort to smile at the store owner. "It looks like it'll be great. We just ate doughnuts ourselves, but we'll come out and keep you company?"
"The more the merrier, but don't think you're getting free books out of it!"
Shanti nearly stumbled on her way out the door. "What? No, I wouldn't!"
Hannah laughed and made a reassuring patting gesture without actually touching Shanti's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I was kidding. I have a bad habit of acting like I've known people for a hundred years even if I've just met them. Sometimes it backfires because not everybody's as much of a dork as I am."
"I envy your dorkiness," Shanti said with quiet earnestness. "I'm not that good at people."
"Well, if you'd like to hide in here instead of coming out, that's fine." Hannah shooed her friends out, and Pete waited to see what Shanti preferred.
She looked up at him with a wry smile. "You're so easy to talk to I forgot I don't usually talk to strangers. For a minute there I thought maybe I was an extrovert. But I do have to warn you that if we stay in here I'll start compulsively shelving books."
"On one hand, I'd hate to stop you from doing something you enjoy. On the other, if it's actually a compulsion, those aren't always good?"
To his relief, Shanti's smile widened. "It is kind of a compulsion, but I do enjoy it. But Hannah might not like how I shelve things, so…here we go." She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and marched out of the bookshop ahead of him.