Chapter Twenty-Six #2
“We sure did.” Granny tapped the edge of the new computer’s monitor. “I’ll have to trust your word on the technology, but we were well overdue for an upgrade.”
“We really were.” Emma bit her tongue. She’d already chewed Granny’s ear off about all the new features of the website and the seamless integration with the inventory system, and she’d rambled on enough about her estimates for seeing a positive return on investment on the whole, upgraded system.
Granny shot her a pointed look. “That also means that I’ll be trusting you to handle any technical support with this new machine.”
A wide smile spread across Emma’s face—a real one this time. “Of course. And the other employees are already up to speed.”
“Good.” Granny flicked her gaze around the storefront. “As for the rest of the changes you made, I must say, they seem a little much for my taste, but what do I know? If you say they’re bringing in more foot traffic, then I trust you on that, too.”
“They are. All the new displays are moving copies, and they’re presenting great on social media—”
Granny waved her off. Emma had already gone on at length about that, too.
“You know what you’re doing. It looks beautiful, and fresh, and seasonal.”
“Thank you.”
“And anyway, it’ll be good to have some extra decor for our booth at Harvest Fest.” Granny chuckled to herself. “Latonya’s always telling me that our table’s too plain. I say who needs more pumpkins when there are already a million of the damn things? But we’ll see. Maybe the two of you are right.”
Emma’s smile faltered. “Wait. We have a booth at Harvest Fest?”
The Harvest Fest? With the black cat hotels and the festive fall sweaters and the best cider donuts in the Northeast? The one that was happening in just a couple of weeks?
“Every year. Didn’t I tell you?”
“Not that I remember,” Emma said faintly, alarm bells starting to ring in the back of her head.
“Oh, you’ll love it. We have seasonal books, bookshop merch, and three local authors coming in to do signings.”
The ringing was now a full-fledged alarm.
Oblivious, Granny stood and started making her way to the back stockroom.
“Speaking of which, did that special order I put in for their books come in? I know I was cutting it a little close—I meant to do it earlier, but with all the vacation prep, I forgot to put it in until that morning before we left.”
That exact morning floated back to her. They’d stood right here, Granny questioning her interest in redecorating, Granny springing her entire trip on her…
And the clunky old computer crashing about fifteen times in half as many days, to the point where Emma finally followed her gut, trusted her instincts…
And got a new computer and a whole new inventory and purchasing system.
“I’m not sure.” Her throat tightened, a sense of dread descending on her. “What was in the order?”
Granny rattled off at least a dozen titles, including several cases of books for each of their guest authors.
Stomach sinking, she dove for the new computer. She swore she’d ported over any outstanding orders from the old system, but with how finicky the old computer had been, could some have slipped through the cracks?
Her ribs squeezed inward. She couldn’t breathe.
Only…
This wasn’t her fault. Granny was the one who had put in the order at the last minute.
Granny was the one who hadn’t told her she was going on vacation until the last minute, either, and she sure as hell hadn’t mentioned a booth at Harvest Fest, or special appearances by local guest authors.
She hadn’t mentioned this special order.
If she had, Emma would have followed up on it and triple-checked that it hadn’t gotten lost in the shuffle.
At the end of the day, though, it didn’t matter who was at fault. The books had gotten lost in the shuffle, and the shuffle had happened on Emma’s watch.
She scoured the incoming and still-processing orders one more time. But nothing changed. If she put the orders in now, she might be able to get them in time, but with the warehouse they worked with, getting multiple cases of books sometimes took weeks.
Rising mechanically from behind the computer, she followed Granny into the back room.
In a strangled voice, she said, “Granny? I’m afraid I have some bad news…”
The Saturday afternoon mayhem was in full swing, but a herd of elephants could have wandered in asking for limited edition copies of Twilight, and Emma scarcely would have noticed.
“Isn’t there any way we can make this happen?” Her voice was frantic at this point. If she gripped her phone any more tightly, the screen might shatter.
The woman on the other end was the third representative she’d spoken to at the warehouse. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but between stocking, boxing, delivery… unless you want to drive to New Jersey to get them—”
“I can do that,” she blurted. North Jersey was only a few hours away, and South Jersey… well, fingers crossed they were talking about north. Either way, she could make it work.
“Oh.” The woman was clearly taken aback. “Well, then… Hold on one moment while I see what we can do. ”
While she waited, Emma sent up a silent prayer. Ever since Granny had dropped the news about their Harvest Fest booth that morning, she’d been scrambling, trying to figure out how to make the booth happen with approximately zero notice.
It wasn’t just the issue of the books, either.
There were a hundred other tasks to see to.
When she’d dared to voice her frustration about having this all tossed in her lap, Granny had merely waved a hand, assuring her she’d figure it out.
She had another one of her “good feelings” about the situation.
Well, Emma had some feelings, too. And none of them were good.
The customer service rep came back on the line. “Ma’am?”
“Yes?”
“All right, I think we have everything sorted. One of your titles is back-ordered, but the rest we can have packed up and ready for pickup by your deadline.”
If she could reach across the invisible line and kiss the woman, she would. “Oh, thank God.”