Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ella
“Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is gritty, intense, and an overall thrill. And it shows how a found family is just as worthy as your biological one.”
—Julie’s Staff Pick
The same words had been running through my head all day: The store is going to close.
This morning when I stormed out of Leo’s office, everyone had been waiting downstairs for the morning meeting.
Before anyone could ask, I snapped, “No cupcakes. End of story.”
“But—” Joey had started.
“Not right now,” I snapped again. “If you want to buy them on your dime, go for it.”
“It’s Ren’s birthday!” Mabel cried out. “When they come in for their afternoon shift, they’re going to be so disappointed.”
“I’m not in the mood today,” I said sternly. “So let me just read the schedule and you all can do clearance carts and bitch about me all you want.”
Everyone was shooting each other side-eyes and curious looks, but no one said a word.
Later, when I was on the floor, everyone was on their best behavior, which had never happened in the entire history of The Last Page.
Julie offered to take over storytime today, but I knew it would be the one thing that soothed me.
Even though I had calmed down, I was obviously off my game. Word spread like wildfire when I blanked three times on recommendations for customers.
I was doing more harm than good at main info, so I hung out at the registers, helping out the line.
Julie sidled up next to me. “Hi.”
I glanced at her. “Hi. Going on your lunch break?”
“Uh-huh, and you are, too.”
I frowned, moving to check the schedule we kept at the registers, but Julie put a hand out to stop me.
“That trick only worked on Leo. And he knew you were tricking him. Everyone knows you’re a free bird and aren’t on the schedule. You can take your lunch now.”
“I’m working.”
“And guess what? We’ve got plenty of booksellers who can take over.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Begrudgingly, I followed her upstairs to the break room. Most people liked to sit in the event space for lunch, especially now that there weren’t any events scheduled, so we were sitting up here all alone.
“So. How’s your day been?” I asked.
Julie rolled her eyes. “Cut the bullshit. I’m worried about you.”
“Why are you worried about me?” I asked with a little laugh. “I’m fine. You should be worried about Mabel. I think she had a hot flash at the buyer’s desk. Alice said—”
“Three booksellers came up to me and said you got lost in the store today.”
I waved my hand. “Oh, pish posh, don’t you ever get tired?”
“And you told a customer we don’t sell J. K. Rowling’s books?”
“Well, we shouldn’t.” I crossed my arms.
“This isn’t you,” she said insistently. “You know this store like the back of your eyelids. Something’s up. Did something happen with your family? Your parents?”
“It’s really nothing.”
“Ella,” Julie said softly. “You are my best friend in the entire world. There’s nothing you can’t trust with me, okay? Look, I know last year when we played poker for Sarah’s birthday party—”
“Oh my God!” I threw up my hands, refusing to have this conversation again.
“You just got really into it!” she said quickly. “It was … concerning how competitive you were. And I saw in your email on one of the computers that you had sent yourself different poker strategies—”
“I have to remember to log out of the computers,” I muttered.
“So if you owe money to the Mafia or something, you can tell me. We’ll figure it out. I still love you. It could happen to anyone, getting tangled up in something like this.”
“I do not have a gambling addiction and I do not owe money to some Mafia lord.” I paused. “It’s far worse,” I said gravely.
Her hands flew up to her mouth. “You started listening to Morgan Wallen.”
“Never!” I sighed, pushing my lunch away from me. I had made empanadas from my mother’s old recipe, but my appetite had vanished. “The Last Page is going to close.”
Julie’s brow furrowed. “What? Like for the day for construction or something?”
I shook my head. “No. For good, apparently.”
Her mouth dropped open. “But … how?”
I explained what had happened that morning in Leo’s office.
How Henry and I yelled at each other and how badly the pure defeat in his eyes scared me.
How horrible I was to him just because I was hurting.
How soon enough, I wouldn’t even be able to pretend that the store was mine.
(I didn’t mention how unnervingly sexy Henry was when he backed me up against the door.
Who woulda thought the nerd had it in him?)
“Oh, Ella,” Julie said softly, reaching across the table to grasp my hand.
I wiped a falling tear from my eye. This morning marked the first time I’d cried since Leo died, and even then it was only just a few stray tears.
I’d been terrified of opening up the floodgates because if I started, how could I stop?
No matter how many tears I shed, I wouldn’t be able to bring Leo back.
Instead, I contained my grief, hoping I could swallow it like some awful pill. To lose the store and Leo in one fell swoop was too much to bear.
“I could handle Henry owning the store,” I said, choking back tears.
“I don’t need to own it, but I need to be in it.
I’ve been walking around here like I still have authority, knowing that Henry couldn’t ever really take away my reputation here.
If Barnes & Noble buys us out? Or some random billionaire chock-full of greed with a boner for capitalism? ”
“These are worst-case scenarios. You never know what could happen,” Julie said softly. “You forget that there are thousands of people in New York who love this store. Even rich ones who would want to keep it exactly as is.”
Ignorance was truly bliss, and I yearned to go back to a time when none of this was real. This had all felt like a horrible, near delusional, dream, but now there was no denying reality.
“I know I’m not technically family to Leo, but—” I broke off, my voice strained from trying to hold back tears.
Julie shot me a stern look. “None of that bullshit. You are Leo’s family.”
Family never had a strict definition in my life, especially as a Peruvian.
I had plenty of aunts and uncles who had no relation to me.
Cousins who were just neighbors down the block.
It didn’t matter that we didn’t share blood because family was more than that.
I knew if I ever needed them, they’d come in a heartbeat, and vice versa.
All that mattered was that we loved each other.
And that made Leo family in my eyes, but when it came down to brass tacks, did that matter?
When Henry’s name was in the will, and mine had only ever been in Leo’s heart?
I shrugged, not meeting her gaze. “It doesn’t matter anymore.
Family won’t mean anything when Elon Musk buys the store and fills it with robots that recommend The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Extreme Ownership to every man with a protein shake in his hands.
” I wiped my tears quickly and looked down at my lap. “I also think my family is in trouble.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maya is calling to ask me for money all the time. Last time I went home, there was a stack of unpaid overdue bills and my parents were working way over time. I think they’re in financial trouble and they just haven’t told me.”
“You can’t control that, Ella. It’s not your job to provide for them.”
“But it’s my job to love them,” I said quietly, sniffling. “I took the stack of bills and have been sending in checks. What will I do when the store closes? Just go to another bookstore like this place means nothing to me?”
Julie came around to the other side of the table and, expecting a hug, I held my arms out, but instead she thumped my head.
“Ow! What the hell?” I rubbed the back of my head, frowning.
“Since when do you give up?” Julie asked, grabbing my shoulders.
“You are Carmella Sanchez. When Jack refused to try romance novels, you made him a binder full of reasons he should read them along with recommendations. And he actually read some of them. When those pipes burst all those years ago, you jumped into action and spread flyers all over the West Village encouraging people to sell their books here. You don’t ever give up. ”
“There’s nothing I can do! I have no power—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Julie covered my mouth with her hand. “You asked Henry for some time, right? So, use that big beautiful brain of yours to come up with something.”
“But there’s no guarantee he’ll listen to me.”
“Then he’ll fuck right off to Kentucky or wherever he came from.”
“Tennessee.”
“Like it matters.”
“You’re right,” I said, wiping my tears, straightening. “If we have to say goodbye, they’ll have to drag it out of us.”
“Exactly.”
“I think we have to stop hating Henry if I come up with something. I hate to say it, but we’ll probably have to work together.”
“Oh, you don’t hate him,” Julie said, taking a big bite of her sandwich. “I know you.” She spoke through the food in her mouth, pointing a finger at me. “And you think he’s hot.”
“I do not!” I said, my face flushing.
“I have worked those registers with you a million times. I’ve seen the way you act when you think a customer is hot.”
“Oh really? And how’s that?”
“Standoffish.”
I scoffed. “I’m a ray of sunshine.”
Julie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Listen, the point is, the fight isn’t over until it’s over. And we’re not saying goodbye to The Last Page until they drag us away from it kicking and screaming.”