Chapter Twelve
THE COZY NOOK BOOKSHOP didn’t open until noon on Mondays, but at nine a.m., Emma found herself in the basement storage area, digging her way through a pile of boxes that had been shoved into a corner.
After almost two weeks, she’d more or less gotten up to speed with how the store operated, but things had been so busy that she really hadn’t had a chance to fully acquaint herself with the stuff that happened behind the scenes.
And based on the thick layer of dust that had accumulated over in this corner, no one else had been acquainting themself with it, either.
Covering her nose and mouth with one arm, she used the other hand to pry open a box. To her delight, it contained a variety of winter holiday decorations. Those would come in handy in another month or two.
All weekend, as she’d been running around helping customers, her gaze kept coming back to the sad, faded window displays.
In addition to continuing to lobby Granny to modernize their computer system, she was determined to get the store’s look updated this fall.
Seasonal decorations could go a long way toward making the entire place more inviting to potential customers—especially the flocks of folks who supposedly traveled this way during peak foliage.
It would also look better on their social media, which she’d been getting more and more involved with.
Now that she was free to play around online without Brock’s judgment, she’d fallen in with a whole community of readers.
It was fun to recommend books she loved, or help people find books they couldn’t remember the title of, or just generally get inspired by other people’s beautifully curated shelves.
The next couple of boxes were winter holiday themed as well.
There were a few for Valentine’s Day—which made sense, considering how dedicated the store’s romance readers were.
Then the pickings got slimmer, with one box for all the spring holidays, from St. Patrick’s Day to Easter, and another packed with a few flags and seashells for the summer.
The autumn box was the saddest of the lot.
She blew the dust off a red-and-orange maple leaf wreath and watched one of a handful of sunflower decorations literally crumble to pieces when she tried to lift it out of the box.
There were a few serviceable Halloween items toward the bottom, but for the rest of September, this was what she had to work with.
She shook her head. This was not going to cut it.
She was about to put the wreath back in the box, but a moment’s inspiration struck her.
After checking it for spiders and cobwebs, she put it on her head and took a selfie.
The result wasn’t bad—silly but not unflattering.
She gave it a quick crop and a filter, then posted it to her bookseller social media account with the caption What do you think?
Autumnal bookstore decoration or forest fae crown?
Before putting her phone away and hauling the sad box of autumn cheer upstairs, she hesitated. She pulled up the text message thread she had going with Hunter and bit the inside of her cheek.
She hadn’t seen Hunter since he’d dropped her off after their line dancing class on Saturday.
After they’d both shied away from taking the next step together, she’d been all but despairing.
Things had the potential to be so awkward between them.
But then he’d sent her that wild photo of Granny and Mayor Thompson—who had apparently been crowned king and queen of the after-party after dancing a tango for some reason?
The next day she’d worked up her courage and sent him a picture of the pumpkin bars she’d made a special trip to the bakery for, after missing out on the last of them at the community center snack table.
He’d replied with envy, and before she’d known it, they’d gotten something close to an actual conversation going on.
Nothing deep, of course, but just little tidbits about their day.
Earlier this morning, he’d sent her a shot of the sunrise from outside his cabin. She wasn’t a night owl, but after years of living in the shadow of skyscrapers, it hadn’t even occurred to her to head outside before dawn to watch the sky.
Maybe she should.
It felt extra silly to follow that stunning photograph with the picture of her wearing a wreath, but she took a deep breath and did it anyway, posing the same question to him that she had to her followers.
She didn’t really expect a reply. His reception up at the preserve was intermittent at best, and he didn’t like to check his phone very often, even when he did have a signal. He must have been free at that particular moment, though, because he replied almost immediately.
Remind me to show you how to make a crown out of real leaves the next time we go hiking
A little shiver of excitement raced down her spine, but she did her best to ignore it.
On the one hand, she couldn’t wait to see him again.
On the other, it was probably best not to rush things.
She needed time to settle into this new friendship they were forging through their texts, without the pressure of being hideously attracted to him.
Resolute, she reacted to his message with a heart and then put her phone away.
She spent a little more time sorting through boxes, but by ten a.m., she’d hit her quota for cobwebs.
It would all still be here another day, and she’d promised herself she’d get outside for a bit before the store opened.
She wasn’t going to fall back into the bad habit of spending all of her time either working or holed up at home introverting.
Bringing the box of autumn decorations with her, she headed upstairs and into the shop, where she nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice called, “Good morning.”
It was just Granny, doing something on the ancient computer next to the register.
“Jeez.” Emma set the box down on the other end of the counter and placed her hand over her heart. “You startled me. What are you doing here so early?”
“Just taking care of a bit of last-minute business before I head out.”
“Head out?”
“First vacation in a decade.” Granny smiled as she clicked at something on the screen.
But Emma frowned. “Vacation?”
“Oh, yes, didn’t I tell you?”
She definitely had not. “I don’t think so…”
Surreptitiously, Emma glanced at the store calendar. Owen’s unavailability for next Wednesday was scrawled in big letters, but there was nothing at all about Granny skipping town.
“Well, that’s half of why I brought you on,” Granny said, waving a hand as if this was no big deal.
“So my husband and I could spend some of our golden years traveling. Jerry and I aren’t getting any younger, you know, and we have a lot of places we want to see.
” A bright grin spread across her face. “We’re flying to Phoenix first thing tomorrow. ”
“For how long?” Emma was totally calm.
“Two and a half glorious weeks. We’ll see the Grand Canyon—now that school’s in session it shouldn’t be too crowded. Tour around Sedona. I have a whole spa day booked.”
Granny sounded so excited that Emma refused to rain on her parade. She’d just been saying to herself that she’d more or less learned the ropes. She’d be fine running the place for a couple of weeks. Right?
She swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Sounds amazing.”
“I know, right?” Granny held up a finger, like she’d just remembered something.
“By the way, I’m glad I caught you. Mercutio is staying with a neighbor for most of the time, but they’re going to be gone this coming Monday.
Any chance you could stop by and take him for a walk before you open the shop? ”
“Mercutio?”
“My dog, of course. Sweetest pooch you’ve ever met. But he does need his exercise.”
Emma didn’t have a lot of experience with dogs; they’d never had one when she was a kid, on account of her grandmother’s allergies. But she could probably handle one walk with one pup. “Sure, I guess.”
“Great, thanks—I’ll text you the details.
” Granny looked up from the computer again.
When she spotted the box Emma had hauled out of the basement, her eyes lit up.
“Oh! I remember these.” She tugged open the flaps and waved away the cloud of dust that rose up from inside.
She pulled out the wreath and one of the fake sunflowers that had more or less survived. “You thinking about putting these out?”
How best to phrase this? “The place could use a little sprucing up, and the leaf peepers would probably appreciate things looking a bit more autumnal.”
“And those are the big ideas I was looking for in a new manager. You’ll have to send me pictures of the new displays.” She laughed. “Though I don’t promise to look at them right away if it’s my spa day.”
“Of course not.” Emma ran her nail nervously along the edge of the counter. “Thought I might pick up a few fresh decorations, too.” She tried to project confidence, but at the last minute, she hedged herself. “If you don’t mind.”
For the first time, Granny’s enthusiasm faded. “You don’t have enough with all this?”
Emma reached in and grabbed what was left of the sunflower that had crumbled to pieces over the years. “Just, some of it’s looking a little worse for wear.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Granny set the other sunflower down. “Well, you know best. Like I said, the store is your baby now. Do with it as you will.”
Granny had said that—repeatedly now. But for someone who was handing over the reins, she sure had a lot of opinions.
“Thanks,” Emma said. “I’ll give it some thought.”
“You do that.”
She should probably stay and pick Granny’s brain about anything else she might have forgotten to mention about her upcoming absence, but she could really stand to clear her head—now more than ever.
She excused herself, gesturing toward the door.
“If you don’t mind, I was just about to head out for a bit. ”
“Oh?” Granny smirked as she turned back toward the computer. “Going to meet up with anyone special?”