Chapter 9 #2
“Why did you agree to help me?” The question had been eating away at her all day, but even more so now.
Hawk was the real deal when it came to having a mind for business.
If he was giving advice to rich people in New York, then an hour of his time tonight likely would have cost her a couple thousand dollars.
She wasn’t anything special to the faire. Just a vendor that he barely tolerated. Surely he had better things to do than stand in a run down building, drinking K-Cup coffee and organizing files.
Lilian watched Hawk’s reaction to her question. The way his lips flattened in discomfort. How his eyes never left the Excel sheet in his hand. “There are a couple reasons. Which one do you want to hear?”
A couple reasons? Now her curiosity was piqued. “All of them, of course.”
“Mmm.” He took a long drink of his coffee. “You get one.”
“One out of how many?”
“That is for me to know and you to find out.”
“So you’ll tell me the other reasons eventually?”
He shook his head. “I make no promises.”
She gawked. “Fine. I guess tell me the simplest reason.” Lilian’s mind already had a list of what that reason might be. She looked so pathetic he had to step in. His mother liked the bookshop, and he didn't want it to fail. It was likely the latter, but she braced herself for anything.
He laced his fingers and leaned over the wood on his elbows. Lilian watched the movement, fascinated by the muscles that peeked out from under the T-shirt's sleeves. He said he worked in accounting, but those arms did not belong to a normal accountant.
“All right. I’m helping because you asked.”
“Because I…” She stared at him, waiting for the punchline to hit. Waiting for him to crack a smile and admit to joking. But it never came. “That can’t be it.”
“It is.” He nodded. “That’s the simplest reason.”
“Yeah but…” The other reasons she’d concocted threatened to tumble out of her mouth before she bit them back. “That can’t be it. There has to be more to it.”
“I said only one.”
“Okay, well can you expand on that simple answer? I’m sure other people have asked you for help before.”
Hawk shook his head. “Nope. I’ve seen vendors at the faire come and go. People who thought they were ready to expand but had no plan. Others who didn’t have the right product. You, however…” He looked as if he was about to say something more but stopped himself.
Lilian leaned forward. “I what?”
He ran a hand through his dark locks as he hesitated. “This is starting to brush against reason number two.”
“Goody. So I am getting my other reason?” She grinned at him and received an exasperated eye roll.
“Fine. Reason two. You have two foundational things every business needs. A good idea and, by asking me for help, you’ve shown you have the work ethic.”
“That’s it? Those are the only things a business needs to succeed?”
“And a little bit of luck. But who needs luck when you have me helping you?” That wasn’t a joke.
He was completely serious as he continued, “All the vendors who eventually fail make the same mistakes. Mistakes I can spot on day one, but they refuse to adjust. They’re convinced they can fix it on their own. ”
“And they can’t?”
“Most don’t,” he said. “You could have been like them. Determined to drown on your own. But you recognized something wasn’t working, and you're willing to fix it. Even if that means accepting help from someone you don’t like.”
“I don’t—”
“Please.” He held up a hand, cutting her off. “Let’s not lie to each other. We have to be honest if this is going to work. Can you do that for me?”
Her face flushed with embarrassment. She’d rarely talked to someone who was so…
blunt. Her Midwestern upbringing had taught her there was a certain level of politeness one must always show, even to people you didn’t like.
No, her feelings toward Hawk weren’t a secret.
But she was mortified at having to say that to his face.
Hesitantly, she agreed. “I can do that.”
“Good.” He held her gaze, and Lilian found herself unable to look away. “You saw things needed to change and you adapted. Not just asking me for help but by doing the show as well. That’s exactly what a business owner should do. Don’t let opportunities pass you by.”
Will it be enough?
She didn’t realize the words had come out of her mouth until Hawk spoke. “Sometimes it’s not.”
The bluntness of the statement hit like a punch to the gut. All this work she was doing—it could be for nothing? The disappointment was a bitter pill to swallow.
She must have been doing a terrible job with her emotions because Hawk quickly jumped in to ease the sting. “You’re doing the right thing here. Here's what happens next. I’ll come up with a profitable plan for your store, but you have to clean this place from top to bottom.”
Lilian stared at him, then at the piles of old paperbacks stacked in every available space of the shop. “Um, this is clean?”
“No. I can work with a lot of things, but this place makes your shop at the faire look like a Barnes & Noble.” He didn’t soften it.
“I may not know bookstores, but I know the value of a cozy space. Right now, this place is chaotic. That won’t attract customers from out of town.
We need to get rid of the junk and make it look more like a used bookstore instead of a landfill. ”
Ouch. She didn’t think it was that bad. “Alex said she liked places like mine.”
“Alex?” Hawk paused at the name, and something about his reaction left a sour taste in her mouth. “Alex thrives in messes. But I think I know where she’s coming from.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.” His eyes swept over the space again, like he was seeing it with fresh eyes.
“You’re going for an aesthetic. The dusty-unkempt bookstore vibe.
It’s not bad. People like that. But right now, the chaos is overpowering your intent.
You need to clear out the garbage, keep the gold, and make this place look like a disgruntled wizard lives here.
It still needs to be organized. Understand? ”
Unfortunately, she did. He had a point. The clutter got in the way.
There were days she couldn’t even find the book a customer was looking for.
And someday, a stack of books was going to topple over and kill her.
Her mother had never had a system. Not really.
And now Lilian was the one who had to fix that.
“It needs to be unorganized in looks only,” she said.
“Exactly. People like that feeling in bookstores. But as the owner, you need to still have a handle on the mess.”
“That seems impossible,” she muttered, taking in all the work surrounding her.
Hawk smiled. “That’s why you have me.”