Chapter Seven
Tawny
Inga answered our call so fast, she must have been waiting by the phone. “Hello? Is this Tawny?”
“And Janis,” my friend said dryly. “Would you like to FaceTime?”
“Alfred!” the older lady yelled. “How do you do that facing thing again?”
Janis giggled, clapping a hand over her mouth as the screen lit up with the face of an elderly woman with pink cheeks and long white hair in braids wreathing her head.
“I see you, Janis. Don’t make fun of me because I don’t techno. Lucky I have my son here to help.” A man’s hand appeared in the screen, waving, before disappearing. “He is teaching me to gamble online.”
“Am not!” a deep voice called from off screen. “My wife will kill me if you tell her that.”
Inga smiled, blue eyes shining with innocence. “Of course. No gambling at all here. Now, did you see the store?”
“Yes.” I chewed my lip, nervous with wanting. I’d never desired anything more in my life. “It needs a lot of work.”
“Cleaning, for sure, and you’ll want to get new titles in.
I can give you the contact information for the suppliers I dealt with.
And a coat of paint wouldn’t go wrong. Oh, and there may be some problems with the electrical.
But the plumbing is good. And I would throw in all the stock and fixtures. If you want it.”
“I know Janis has been very nice about me, but I want to make sure and be honest. I’ve never even worked in any kind of store, and I will have to learn bookkeeping and how to do everything else. I know the shop is important to you, so I don’t want you to think I’m better than I am.”
“Do you read?”
“Do I…why yes! Everything I can get my hands on. I love books, and I-I—is it okay for the owner to read them all? If I’m careful.”
Inga nodded, her face creasing into wrinkles with her smile.
“My dear, it would be a travesty if you did not read them. How else could you refer people to the right books for them? Now, there is a safe in the back holding some very valuable volumes, so you’ll want to make sure to get full value for them.
I’ve had better luck online through a certain website my grandson taught me how to work with.
” She went on describing the repairs needed, the assets of the shop, and the benefits to the town at its restoration.
“That’s why I’ve held out so long for the right person.
The dust is not neglect, it’s patience.”
“And you think that’s me?” Besides Janis, nobody had ever treated me as if I could be more than a walking womb and helpmeet to a pack. “Why?”
“Don’t try to talk me out of it because it won’t work. You are the one to entrust my legacy to, and I will not be dissuaded.”
“But you didn’t even name a price yet.” I couldn’t get too excited until I learned if I could afford it.
She named it.
I gasped. “It’s too low.”
“I don’t think so.”
“There are a lot of books.”
“And what do you think I could get for them if I sold them as a bulk lot?” She tsked.
“You’re going to have to spend to get the doors open again.
I held out for a long time waiting for someone who shares my vision.
Bookstores have become rare, and the other offers were from people who wanted to gut it and put in something like a smoke shop or chain coffeehouse.
We don’t like chains in Pleasant, and there’s enough smoking without a store that sells nothing but.
You’re my choice. Now, do we have a deal or not? ”
“We…do.”
“Excellent. I’ll have the papers drawn up right away. Janis, you still there?”
She leaned in next to me. I hadn’t even seen her step away. “Yes, Inga.”
“Give our girl the keys. The documents will take a little time, but no reason to make her wait to get started. Every day we wait is a day the town has no bookstore.”
And then she was gone.
And I had the keys in my hand. I closed my fist over them, feeling the cool metal dig into my palm. “It’s mine, isn’t it? Really mine? I’m not just an omega who can’t even get a heat going for her assigned pack?”
“Assigned? Tawny, nobody could do that. Heat comes from finding your fated mates. Those males did not deserve a tough of your finger, much less your heat. It’s sacred, and anyone who tries to force it to be different deserves to be tarred and feathered.
Or maybe drawn and quartered.” Her eyes glittered with an emotion I couldn’t define, but then she patted my hand.
“Go now and see your new place of business. Make your plans. You’re in the right place. ”
The last sentence sounded a trifle prophetic, but as I skipped down the block, tossing the keys up and catching them, I decided I was overthinking. It must be all the excitement.
Every shop I passed with its gleaming windows showed what could happen with a little love and attention.
My windows would soon look just as good.
Better. I’d wash them every day if necessary.
Turning the key in the lock felt like more of a ceremony than the one I’d avoided, and once inside, I spun around and around.
All this belonged to me. Tawny the omega. Tawny the businesswoman.
Tawny who had a male peeking through her filthy windows at her.