Page 5 of Grimoires & Glamoury

I needed to be able to move yet still appear professional and put together. Snagging my black, stylish wedge-soled shoes, I slipped them on and adjusted the wide criss cross straps. They had been a wonderful find and were secretly orthopedic shoes, but you’d never know it to look at them—perfect for being on your feet most of the day.

Ducking into my bathroom, I brushed my teeth and added the final touches to my face, all the while keeping my mind blessedly blank. I slid my glasses down my nose and deepened the charcoal eye shadow, so my pale gray eyes would pop more against the darker cosmetics. With a nod of approval for my reflection, I turned from the mirror.

“I’ll be damned if my quiet cozy morning is ruined by Charles Montgomery,” I muttered. I had boundaries in place for a reason, and community issues were never addressed in my home.

Returning to my bedroom, I grabbed my phone, tucked it in my pocket, and gathered what I would need for the day. With the thunder still rumbling, I stepped onto my covered back porch, locked the house, and finally snapped open a wide umbrella.

Dashing through the rain, I made my way to my garage. The trip to work wasn’t bad, despite folks driving like they’d never seen rain before. I opened the back door and found Dex already there. Bless him, he had the electric kettle on for tea and was already holding out his hand to take the umbrella from me.

“Morning,” Dex said. “It’s a wet one out there.”

“It is,” I said, “but it’s good for the flowers.”

“Hope it lets up before the books are delivered. Wet weather and cardboard boxes full of books are a bad combination.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” I said. “Steve typically delivers to the front if it’s raining,”

In my back pocket my phone vibrated, signaling another text message. Somehow, without even looking, I knew it was Charles Montgomery. Again.

Once more, I ignored it.

Dex and I rolled into our opening routine, and despite the rain, we had steady foot traffic in the bookstore all morning. The rain was down to a drizzle by the time the delivery truck pulled up out front. I smiled at the fortuitous timing, knowing the narrow, striped awning at the front of my building would also help shield the boxes.

Steve, our regular delivery guy, rolled a stack of boxes in on a dolly. “Morning, Miss Lorna!” he said cheerfully.

“Good morning, Steve.” I waved.

“Here you go,” he said as he rolled the dolly over to the front counter. “There’s one more load. Be right back.”

Dex grabbed the top box and took it to the back room for me. There were hotly anticipated new releases in this shipment, and their sales date was still a week or so away.

Steve rolled up with the second stack on the dolly. “Don’t understand why you go to the gym, brother,” he said to Dex. “Seems to me you do plenty of weightlifting here.”

That made Dex laugh. “Never hurts to get in a few more reps of dead lifting.”

“If you say so.” Steve shook his head, then shifted his eyes to me. “You mind if I leave the truck out front for a few? I have a delivery for Circe’s candle shop too.”

“Fine with me,” I told him.

With a cheerful wave, Steve was gone and on his way to make a delivery to Circe.

Picking up the top box from the new stack, I began to carry it to the back.

Dex was right behind me with two more. While I took the invoices, I reminded him about the new hardback releases and to set them aside until their release date. He nodded and began to open the boxes.

“I’ll be out front,” I told him. “Entering the titles into our point of sales program.”

Dex nodded. “I’ll get the paperbacks separated for you.”

Returning to the front counter with my invoices, I began to enter in the new titles and their prices. Falling into a routine, I happily worked away, my mind completely on my task. Double checking the release date for one of the titles, I made a note to myself on the wall calendar to keep them on the hold shelf in the back room until the proper day.

So intent was I on my job that I didn’t look up when someone approached the check out counter. “Be right with you,” I said, as I finished putting in the information in the point of sales program.

Hitting the enter button, I smiled in satisfaction and turned to help the customer waiting at the counter.

My smile shifted into a scowl when I discovered Charles Montgomery standing at my counter, giving me a cool stare.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed.