Page 67 of Only and Forever
A perplexed frown tips her mouth down. “No soft opening?”
I think back to my conversation with Oliver yesterday, the hours I spent lying in bed last night, turning over his words. “I don’t need it. I’ve just been dragging my feet. Time to rip off the Band-Aid and open the damn place.”
Tallulah’s eyes widen. “What, like, now?”
“God no.” I pour water over the grounds. “But soon. Two weeks from now, I think. Use the time between now and then to hype it up on social media, in the community, get the word out. How’s that sound?”
“Doesn’t matter how it sounds to me. It’s your store.”
I peer over at her. Tallulah’s stacking fruit snacks, eyes narrowed in concentration. I smile. “I know that. But I value your input.”
Her fruit snack tower tumbles. She sighs. “Then I’d say, I think, based on my limited knowledge of what, logistically, you need in order to be ready, you’re ready. Go for it.”
I nod, turning back to the coffee, pouring more water over the grounds.
“But...” she says.
I turn back. “But?”
She shrugs, stacking the fruit snacks again. “But I also think, if you’re nervous about jumping straight from only having your family here into a grand opening, there’s a middle ground that isn’t all the hassle of a soft opening, either. How about a group of friends?” She peers up and gives me a pointed glance. “People who you’ll actually let buy something from you?”
“I wasn’t gonna let my familybuystuff.”
“Fair. But if you get some people in the store who’ll be paying customers, it gives us some practice using your point-of-sale software. And for that matter, juggling food and drink orders. Invite people who’ll be hungry and thirsty, who’ll have an armful of books and bookish merchandise they’ll want to buy. You’ll work out the jitters, we’ll get some experience under our belts, then you’re ready for your grand opening.”
An idea tickles in the back of my brain. “Hmm.”
Tallulah frowns at me as I pour the last of the water through the grounds. “Hmm what?”
“I think that’s a great idea. And I agree to it, on two conditions. One, if you do it with me.”
Her frown deepens. “Course I’m doing it with you. I’m working the damn place for the next six and a half weeks.”
“Excellent.” I smile, leaning back against the counter, arms across my chest. “And two, we finally talk about what you sent me of your book, which I finished, day before yesterday, andloved.”
That frown becomes an adorable scowl. “Ugh. Must we?”
“We must. Or I can’t let you help me in the bookstore anymore. In fact, how about we start today? I’ve got some errands to run this morning, but after that, my day is clear. Think you can pencil me in?”
She sighs. “Fine, you big, bossy Swede.”
“Half-Swede, pipsqueak.” I pour her coffee, then slide it across the counter. “Now, drink up. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”
—
“So.” I scroll through the document on my laptop, to chapter 2, the first place I left a comment. “Right here, after the first chapter in the wife’s point of view, we’re in the husband’s head now.”
Tallulah nods beside me. We sit on the floor, laptop on the coffee table, legs crisscrossed, knees touching. I am unnaturally aware of a kneecap touching mine.
Because it’s hers.
Blowing out a breath, I turn a little, facing her. “This first scene from his point of view, it’s all about his perspective on his wife. You set up a scene whose environment and circumstances parallel their meet-cute.”
She blinks. “Meet-cute?”
I groan. “You’re killing me, smalls.”
She pinches my arm, right above the elbow. An expert sibling retribution move. “I’m not small.”