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“Sorry. I’m sorry. It’s actually not a bad idea and I don’t mind helping you at all.”
“It’s fine. I can do it at night. That was my plan. And actually, that’s why they’re in my car. But then I realized I was off today and thought it would be something we could do together. But you’re right. It’s lame. We could go downtown again.”
I shook my head and reached across the table to grab his hand. “I do not want to go downtown on a federal holiday. Neither do you. Talk about crowded. The invitations are fine. And it’s a good plan to get them done well in advance of them needing to be in the mail. But I get veto power on the movies.”
“Bzzzt.” He flipped his hand over so he could lace his fingers through mine. “We will find a movie that is mutually acceptable. No one gets veto power. I’m not worried though. I think the two of us like enough of the same things that we’ll be fine.”
He was probably right. I squeezed his hand. “We can order something in for lunch. I was planning on hitting up the grocery store today, so I don’t have much on hand.”
“Sure. Then maybe go grab Thai together for dinner? If anyone sees us and asks, we can tell them the truth.”
I cocked my head to the side. “The truth…as in we spent the day stuffing gala invites together?”
He nodded. “And the rest. If you want.”
My mouth went dry. It was all well and good to say I thought we needed to tell people. But faced with a timeline for doing it? Now I wasn’t so sure. “Let’s play it by ear.”
* * *
I openedthe bookstore on Tuesday still giddy from my day with Cody. Choosing a movie franchise had turned out to be simple. He’d suggestedThe Lord of the Rings. I accepted. Easy peasy. Maybe things would have been different if he’d tried forThe Hobbit. I’d watched those—you couldn’t love fantasy and books and not at least try—but I was pretty sure I’d never willingly experience them again. Not even the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch could tempt me, and I’d previously said I’d be willing to listen to him read the phone book.
Of course, now he was doing movies and using an American accent and really, there was just no reason for it. It was ridiculous.
Whatever.
I pushed thoughts of Benedict and movies from my mind and booted up the store computer. We were getting a steady stream of online orders for C. J. Brightley’s books since her appearance. I’d need to get in touch with her and arrange for another box or two. She didn’t mind signing them, and I liked being able to offer that as a special thing. Everybody won.
Our next author event was this Saturday and I was feeling much more confident about it, having seen how well the first one went. This was a Christian romance author, so maybe the audience would be smaller, but I liked the idea of showcasing the genre so people understood that romance didn’t always equate to super descriptive sex on the page.
I already carried a few of Heather Gray’s books—Grandma had made it a point to have a larger-than-usual Christian fiction section—so I’d taken them home to read last week. They were really quite good. And not over-the-top preachy, which is how I thought most people viewed Christian fiction.
I’d made a point of mentioning that in the store newsletter when I made the announcement that she’d be here.
Her books should be arriving today if the email with tracking was to be believed. So that would be something I could do during the inevitable long stretches between customers.
The bell above the door jingled. I locked the computer and made sure to pull the door to the back room closed behind me as I hurried to the front.
“Good morn…” I would have liked to stop and just ask him to go, but I forced myself to finish the greeting, albeit with less cheer. “…ing, Reuben. How can I help you?”
He looked around, a smirk on his lips. “Seems pretty dead in here today. Feeling the pinch yet?”
“This is pretty typical for a Tuesday right after we open. Were you looking for something particular or did you want to browse?” I had to force my hands to remain relaxed. I didn’t want him to see how nervous he made me. I mostly thought he was harmless. But recent interactions with him were changing that opinion somewhat.
Reuben leaned against the counter holding the register. “I got a great book online the other day. E-books. I don’t know how I lived before I discovered them. I can get them instantly, even the middle of the night, and I’m not ever going to run out of storage again. Too bad for you, of course.”
I was gritting my teeth so hard my smile hurt my cheeks. “E-books are a wonderful invention. I’m glad they work for you, though of course I’ll be sad to lose your business.”
“Oh, well now, we could still work something out. You could close for lunch and meet me at the café. I could probably bring myself to come back after and pick something up. As a thank you of sorts.”
“I’m afraid that doesn’t work with my schedule. And if you’re not going to browse or buy, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” This was the problem with running a business that was open to the public. There really was very little I could do about it if he decided he wanted to hang out in here. That was what bookstores were for to some degree.
And he knew it. He shot me a look of disbelief before shaking his head and wandering into the shelves of books.
Which at least meant he wasn’t leaning here hoping to talk to me.
But I was still going to talk to Tristan and see if there was anything I could do from a legal perspective to get him to stop. It probably didn’t qualify as harassment. Not technically. But it would be good to know what options, if any, I did have.
I went behind the counter and slipped my phone out of my pocket. I shot a quick text to Tristan, taking care to downplay how unsettled I was. It wouldn’t do to arouse the protective worry of my surrogate brother. Because he’d turn around and tell all the other guys, and then…well, I didn’t want to think about what would happen then.
