Chapter Seven
Seven
I don’t have to wake Miguel the following morning. “Team meeting today, dog,” he says, pulling on the same shirt and shorts he wore yesterday. “But are you sure you’re up for walking to the store? It’s cooler than it has been, but it’s still a little swampy out here.”
I stare up at him. Does a cat piss in a pan full of gravel? I may be old, but I am not about to miss the opportunity to sniff dog puddles and munch on rabbit droppings.
Wait, forget about snacks—this is a chance to find Miguel a mate! We’re out and about so infrequently that I must remind myself of what I’ve been charged with. I tug on the leash to tell him I’m raring to go.
Raina’s pulling into her driveway as we’re leaving.
Miguel’s never been big on small talk, but he used to be the one neighbors turned to if, say, they needed help hauling an oversized Christmas tree into the house.
Now Raina pretends not to see Miguel, who either pretends not to notice or simply doesn’t care, and I can’t decide which is worse.
As we make our way down Main Street, he grumbles about this rickin’ frickin’ sidewalk and that family that hasn’t mowed their lawn since May.
I ignore him and busy myself by searching for suitable partners.
A cheerful woman on a bike whizzes past us, and while I’m guessing she’d like her smile returned, perhaps she prefers the brooding type.
Unfortunately, Miguel doesn’t even seem to register her.
Nor does he notice the woman in a pantsuit who’s clearly checking him out as we stroll past the little café with the big metal spoon over the door.
I personally can’t tell what makes humans hot for each other, but Amelia often told Miguel how handsome he was; I don’t think the shadows under his eyes or the rug on his face or even the cloud of grief hanging over his head have negated that.
No, the trouble is that Miguel lost a fundamental part of himself when Amelia passed.
Because once upon a time—well, he loved love, too.
He’d hum salsa songs and spin Amelia around the kitchen as she laughed and laughed because even with his help, she had the rhythm of one of those capybaras I saw on Animal Planet, which Miguel leaves on for me when he goes out for groceries.
Sometimes he’d tuck a tiny note under the guava cakes he baked for her and deliver them with an espresso while she was wrestling with a tough chapter.
And though they’d been together for years, his face lit up when she walked into the room. Every time!
Just like most of the characters Amelia wrote about, they were a pair of opposites who couldn’t help but attract.
While Miguel would have lived in a book if he could have, people loved to talk to Amelia—and she loved to listen.
“That’s half a novelist’s job,” she told Miguel over dinner one evening after he’d been teasing her about collecting “randos.” “How am I supposed to write convincingly about the lives of others if I don’t know how they live? ”
“Read about them like I do and call it a day,” said Miguel with mock seriousness, and she threw her napkin at him and laughed.
Oh, but they were perfect together.
Now the oven’s cold and the house is quiet, and I can’t remember the last time I saw Miguel pick up a book outside of work.
No wonder Amelia said she was asking the impossible of me; I’ll learn to meow before I find someone like her for him to love.
She was the most wonderful human I’ve known. She was irreplaceable.
I’ll just have to find Miguel a person who understands this. Someone who won’t mind that he can’t be the way he once was. Except…who would accept being loved a little when you could be loved all the way?
I’d better not think about it too much, lest I get discouraged.
We turn the corner, and he ties me up outside the bakery that sells the good donuts.
Excellent—he’s getting food for everyone.
He hasn’t done that since Before. “Have to get the team revved up. We need all hands on deck now,” he says, patting me before he heads inside. “I’ll be as fast as I can, Harold.”
He returns a few minutes later holding a box full of something doughy and delicious.
It’s that time of year when the sky’s bright until the fireflies take over, but it isn’t intolerably warm.
Still, my hips feel like they’re on fire as I rise from the pavement.
I can’t let the pain bother me, though. Not when Miguel’s actually trying.
It’s unfortunate that it took a series of calamities to get him to care, but at this point, I’ll take what I can get.
When we reach Lakeside, Riley unlocks the front door for us.
“Sorry I’m late,” says Miguel. Under his breath, he adds, “I didn’t want to come.”
She laughs. “I heard that. I also noticed you brought provisions, so all is forgiven.”
“Don’t thank me yet—we’ve got a lot to discuss,” he says as we make our way to the reading nook.
He sets the box in the center of the wood coffee table that Amelia bought at a garage sale back when I was still young.
Someone, probably Dane, has set out a pot of coffee and brought over my water bowl from the stockroom.
I slurp down its contents, splashing Natalie’s toes in the process.
She’s a college student who’s worked here the past few summers, and she’s on the couch beside Brenna.
Riley and Brenna used to sit together, but that was before they broke up.
Now they act like a couple of people who can’t stand the smell of each other.
Dane’s seated in a folding chair across from them.
Riley takes the folding chair next to him, and Miguel takes the last one in the row.
No one sits in the yellow armchair. That’s where Amelia used to sit.
“Good to have you here, chief,” says Dane, reaching for a donut.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I’ve missed the last couple.
It’s been a busy summer,” he says, as though we don’t all know that his idea of busy is having to leave the house for groceries.
“But I’m here now, and unfortunately, I’ve got some not-great news.
” His eyes roam the store for a second. “For anyone who hasn’t already heard, our rent’s raising in September. ”
“How much?” asks Brenna. She’s not a big talker, but Amelia used to say that if you needed to figure something out, you could give it to Brenna and she’d have three solutions for you in an hour.
“A lot.” He swallows hard, then says, “A thousand a month.”
Dane whistles.
“It’s not ideal,” Miguel acknowledges. “I understand why Kathy has to do it, but we’re all aware that Lakeside’s barely scraping by these days. Brenna, how are July sales?”
She tugs on her tie, and I find myself wondering, not for the first time, why some humans willingly collar themselves. “Not awful, but down almost ten percent compared to this time last year.”
He grimaces. “That seems to be the trend. A couple years ago, I wouldn’t worry so much, but prices are up on everything, not just our rent.
Kathy mentioned the war, but I wonder if this is the reality of running a bookstore in the new millennium.
Maybe people just want to buy everything online now. ”
Riley drops a piece of donut in front of me, then asks, “And JMB?”
Miguel looks down. “His assistant doesn’t know where he is.”
“Someone asked for a refund for the event yesterday,” says Natalie, nearly whispering.
“Did you give it to them?”
She grimaces, then nods.
“It’s okay,” he assures her. “We can’t say no. But it’s only a matter of time before more people ask, and I can’t promise a rain date when I have no idea where he is or how to reach him.”
Dane raises his hand like a kid at Story Hour. “If we’re tight on cash, I could work for free. I’ve got savings.”
“That’s generous, but I’m not going to not pay you,” Miguel tells him.
“No one’s working for free except me—and no one’s losing their job, either.
Amelia was adamant that you all are the heart of this business, and since she’s been gone, I’ve learned just how right she was about that.
” He swallows hard. “I know I haven’t been around enough the past year, but that changes now. ”
“Boss, we’re fine holding down the fort. You’ve got to take care of yourself,” says Riley.
“I appreciate that, but it’s time,” he says, meeting her gaze.
“It’s been time. I need to step up again and right the ship, and I can’t do that without being here more often.
Of course, I’ll have to be careful with Harold,” he says in my direction.
“He can’t be home by himself for long stretches, but sometimes he overdoes it when he’s here.
If you all see him wearing himself out, please let me know. ”
I turn and give him a withering look. I do not overdo anything. In fact, I feel my best at Lakeside. He’s not the only one who needs this place.
“We’ll be careful with him,” Dane says, scratching my head. “He’s our mascot, after all.”
I sit up on my hind legs to indicate that I accept the honor.
“Boss, Dane and I were talking, and we do have one idea…” Riley begins.
Miguel groans. “Not online books again. We already know that there’s no competing with tech giants. Our ethernet barely works half the time.”
“We’re not suggesting we compete.” She glances at Dane, who nods. “Just join the game. We could put a selection of romance books up—I know some of Amelia’s colleagues are selling well online.”
He shifts in his seat. “We’re running a skeleton crew here, and I’m not sure we’re equipped to deal with delivery, never mind the whole online aspect. Besides, our romance sales are down right now.”
“Only three percent,” Brenna volunteers.
Riley steals a quick glance at Brenna before looking at Miguel.
I still don’t know how they went from love to loathe so quickly, but I wish they’d make up already.
“I think that’s because we’re not marketing them effectively.
Sales go up when we display them on the front tables.
I have to wonder if we should move Romance up to where Nonfiction is.
Aside from a couple bestsellers, that category’s definitely not selling as well as it should. ”
Miguel frowns. “I really feel we should be going harder on literary fiction, since that’s what the people who signed up for JMB’s event are into.”
“I’m sure a good number of JMB’s readers read lots of genres, just like us,” she says, gesturing to the rest of the staff.
Maybe they do, but Amelia used to joke that Miguel only read serious books by authors named Jonathan and David.
“There’s barely enough time to read what I already know I like,” he told her once when she pressed one of her friend’s novels into his hands and said he had to give it a shot.
“That’s why I’m not going to make you suffer through Infinite Jest—you have your own favorites.
Our taste is what makes Lakeside so great.
There’s a little bit of something for everyone,” he said, and kissed her neck in the way that always made her shiver with delight.
“Maybe, but I don’t know that anyone spending fifty dollars to see Jonathan Middleton-Biggs is into romance or thrillers,” Miguel tells Riley now.
“We need to get the right books in front of them when they come back in here. We want them to leave with a book in hand and the impression that this is the best place to buy literature, since a lot of the people who own vacation homes around here end up coming back for a week or two in the fall and winter. If we can do that, we could boost revenue long-term. But I’ll tell you what, Riley—as soon as I find JMB, we can have a conversation about romance. ”
When he leans forward and puts his hands on his knees, there’s a glimmer of the man he used to be—just a glimmer, but it’s enough to give me hope.
He turns to Dane. “While I’m going to skip the whole kidnapping thing, you’re right on one count. I need to go to Chicago and track down JMB. Is there any way you can watch Harold for me?”