Page 191 of Love Unwritten
I called them ahead of time and offered to pay whatever amount to keep them empty and open after their usual operating hours, and they agreed excitedly, although Ellie doesn’t know that.
She gawks at me when I open the door despite the signage on the front. “It says they’re closed!”
“Must have been a mistake.” I flip the sign and usher her inside. “See?” The employee waves at us before telling us to look around for as long as we’d like.
I press my lips against her ear with the flower tucked behind it. “Happy hunting.”
She lets out an excited noise before grabbing my hand. “You have to help me.”
“Of course. Whatever you want.”
She grins.
“What are you looking for?” I ask.
“I mean Frankie Estelle is great, but I also love Cornelia Jones, Winnifred Carmine, and Astrid and the Treble Makers.” She claps her hands together and does a little happy dance, and I immediately know I made the right choice.
I could have scoured the internet for every record she wanted to collect and bought them, but I knew she would be happiest physically visiting record shops and sifting through endless boxes of dusty vinyls together.
I had questioned my idea because when I told Julian and Dahlia about it, they seemed slightly confused, but I should have known that no one knows my girl like I do.
Ellie spends the next hour flipping through vinyls, answering my questions, and sharing her favorite songs and records with me. I always appreciated music, but hearing her talk about it brings the subject to life for me, and I swear I could spend forever listening to her speak about it.
She doesn’t find any of the records she was originally searching for, but she has me carry a stack of possibilities around the store that grows with every box she checks.
When she eventually asks me to set it down on the checkout counter so she can decide which one she wants to take home, I pretend I didn’t hear her as I head to the front door.
“Wait!”
I glance over my shoulder. “Let’s go. We’ve got two more stores left to hit before our dinner reservation.”
“We have to pay!”
I laugh to myself and ignore her.
“Rafa!”
I absolutely love it when she says my name like that. For that, I pluck a record from a box that she had been eyeing but never added to the pile and set it on top of the rest.
“Where are you going?”
The bell above the door jingles when I push it open with my foot, and she chases after me.
Ellie runs in front of me and stops. “Wait. Did you pay the store to stay open?”
“Surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner.”
Her eyes narrow. “Okay. Listen. I know you’re rich—”
I fake my surprise. “Who told you?”
She lightly swats my shoulder with a laugh. “Come on. Be serious.”
“I am.”
“But—”
“You didn’t have a problem with my money before.”