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“What food should we order?” Kayla pulled her phone out of her purse. “And should we wait for Jenna?”
“Let’s wait. Do you know for sure she’s coming?”
Kayla nodded. “Yeah. She texted me earlier. I guess she and Noah went to see that house together this afternoon so she’s running a little behind.”
“When does Whitney get back? Any idea?”
“Nope. I’m not sure she knows. I guess they’re enjoying being in the islands and having his family there. Her folks had to head back to Kansas.” Kayla sighed. “Let’s go sit. I promise not to bite.”
I chuckled and grabbed my phone before joining her in the seating area.
“The Halloween decorations look good.”
“Thanks.” I’d spent most of the week getting them put out during down time. I was a week behind when I normally decorated, but I hadn’t wanted them to distract from the author signing at the start of the month. The author who was coming at the end of the month wrote paranormal thrillers, so he didn’t mind having spiderwebs and streamers. “Did I tell you about the book trick-or-treat I’m doing next week until the end of the month?”
“No. You’re not giving away books, are you?”
“Ha. No. It’s kind of the book blind date idea, but for Halloween. Or, I guess, October. I’m wrapping titles that I love—or that customers have submitted—in plain paper and then writing a two-sentence description on them. For the ‘treat’ books, I’m including the genre. For the ‘trick’ books, I’m going to try and make it hard to even guess the genre from the story description I give.” I shrugged.
“What if people don’t like the book?” Kayla frowned. “You can’t exactly take returns. Don’t you still have to destroy books that get returned?”
“Most people won’t return a book. It’s not worth the hassle of coming back to the store with their receipt to do it. But yes, for the big publishers that’s how returns are handled. The indie titles I can resell if they aren’t damaged, since I buy them outright.”
“I wish you didn’t have to destroy the others.”
I nodded. It was a poorly kept secret of the book business. Or maybe it was well-known and some people didn’t care. Because for all I said that most people didn’t return books, I still had more returns every month than I would have preferred. “I wonder…”
Kayla looked at me. “What do you wonder?”
“It might not work. But I wonder…what if I made a Little Free Library and put it out front? If people showed me the books they’re putting in it, I could do like a punch card and when you filled the card, you got a ten or twenty percent discount on your next purchase. Maybe, then, instead of returning the book, they’d donate it.”
“I’d do that in a heartbeat. Would you only let people put books they bought from you in the library?” Kayla tapped her fingers together. “How would that work?”
“I don’t think I’d want to curate it that closely. I don’t need another full-time job.” I laughed, but I was serious. I just was brainstorming to find a way to cut down on returns and incentivize people to come back in and buy more. Honestly, if people had to come in to show me their donations and get a card punched, some number of them would buysomething. I didn’t have a ton of people come in, browse, and leave empty handed. It was getting them in the door that took work.
“Okay. So people what, bring their books inside and you punch their card, then they take those books back out and put them in the library box? Are you worried about missing someone carrying an unpaid title out as if they were donating it but actually they’re stealing it?”
“Well, I wasn’t.” I shook my head. Maybe this was a dumb idea. “Obviously, I need to think it through a little more. I’d love to say I could do an honor system, but…”
“Yeah. Not around here.”
I looked over as the bell jingled above the door. Jenna came in, smiling more brightly than was usual for her.
“You guys. That house is amazing.” She rubbed her hands together and dropped onto the couch beside Kayla. “I really hope he buys it.”
“Because you think it’d be a great fit for him, or because you want a chance to remodel it?”
Kayla never had been one to mince her words, but her bluntness tonight made me a little uncomfortable.
“Wow. Someone’s cranky. Are we ordering food?” Jenna at looked me.
“That’s the plan. We were waiting for you. She’s upset with me, not you. Although I thought she was over it.” I shot Kayla a pointed look.
Kayla held up her hands. “Sorry. You’re right. Both of you. I’m sorry.”
“Food?” Jenna patted Kayla’s arm. “That always helps.”
Kayla snickered. “I might be hangry. What’s close and fast?”
