Chapter 15

Dawn

Rory dropped me off at the store the next morning after the most decadent breakfast I ever ate. I had a bit of the lobster tail with me as a peace offering to the cat. She forgave me for leaving her all alone last night, and after her own special breakfast, she left for the day.

While I was sore in the right places and in a damn good mood, the fact that my sales were down for this month and I had to find some way to attract customers for the Fourth of July gala was harshing my afterglow. By the time Jeannine came in on her lunch hour to hear all the details of my date night, I was considering doing shots of antacid.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I grunted out, putting down the couch. “Help me move this to the romance section.

Jeannine rolled her eyes, but tossed her purse onto the cushions and lifted up her end. “Do I want to know why you want it back here?”

“I need to make room in the front of the store, and it’s easier to redo the front window display when this is out of the way.” We staggered with it to the back of the store and plunked it down so it wasn’t blocking any shelves.

“What are you going to do?” Jeannine asked, dusting off her hands.

“I don’t know.” I sank down into the cushions. “I’m cutting it really close for any order deadlines. I don’t want to pay for rush shipping to get things here in time. I’m just out of ideas.”

“So you want something that will attract kids so their parents will come into the store?” She looked around the store with a frown. “There’s not a lot of kid-friendly things in here.”

“I know. But I figure I can distract the kids up front while their parents shop.”

“Maybe a clown?” Jeannine tapped her lip in thought.

“Too creepy,” I said with a shudder. “Plus, it’s an added expense I can’t afford right now.”

“Okay, how about flipping the script? Give the parents something they want so much they’ll drag their kids in, or better yet leave them with the au pair in order to come in here.”

I straightened up in my seat. “That sounds more my style.”

“So all we have to figure out is what is cat nip to rich chicks?”

“Rich men?”

“You can have Rory stand in the doorway and be charming.”

I smirked. “Shirtless.”

“I’d come in the see that.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll go for it.”

“Shame.” Jeannine paced. “Jewelry.” She snapped her fingers

“That’s good.” I nodded. “But I can’t afford anything high end like diamonds or rubies or any shit like that. Besides, I think there’s a new jewelry shop coming in.”

“No, that’s not your brand anyway. Local artisans. Handcrafted. Something with sea glass!” Jeannine was practically vibrating with excitement. “Let me check with my craft vendor friends and see what I can come up with.”

“Okay, I could spin that.” That made me feel a little better. I could go to the beach later and get some driftwood and sand. Maybe find some blue scarves to drape so it looked like the ocean. I could put some of the fertility statues and mermaid books around, hang some of the sun catchers to look like fish swimming. Yeah, that could work. “You’re the best.”

“I am,” she said, sitting next to me and giving me a hug. “And there hasn’t been any plotting going on in the selectmens’ offices, so hopefully they’ve given up trying to sabotage you. Or they’re letting Rory seduce you out of your store.” Jeannine leaned in eagerly. “How’s that going anyway?”

“It has its ups and downs. He’s pushy and arrogant, but I’m starting to care for him, and that’s probably a bad fucking idea.”

“I don’t know,” Jeannine said. “There are worse boyfriends to have. Jack is a prime example.”

“Rory is no Jack. Speaking of boyfriends, did you know Stephanie and Drew have an open marriage?”

Her eyes grew wide. “Shut the fuck up.”

In between customers, I told her everything that happened last night.

“I can’t even,” she said, handing me a cup of tea as we stood behind the counter. “Look, I’ve got to get back to work, but I just had a brainstorm about how you can attract more customers here.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Don’t concentrate so much on the daytime. Sure, we’ve got the jewelry thing to catch their eye, but there are too many new stores and too many family activities competing for attention.”

“I was just starting to feel better about all this.”

“Hear me out.” Jeannine held up her palm. “You’ve got this nice open space in the front of the store now.” She twirled around to make her point. “And after 6 p.m., this entire town shuts down. You can have a poetry reading, or a lecturer, or even a party. You could be the queen of the night or something. If those assholes at Landscapes could do it, so could you.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. “I couldn’t serve booze or food, and I’d have to watch out for noise complaints.” It would be just like the selectmen to call the cops on me. They’d be on me like white on rice trying to catch me in a violation they could add to my growing pile of infractions.

“How about board game night?”

“That’s a little tame.”

“Not if you’re playing Missionary.” Jeannine pulled the adults-only game off my shelf and waggled it at me. It was like a cross between Cards Against Humanity and Truth or Dare.

“Now, that’s a different type of party,” I mused. I could set up a couple of tables, one for married couples and one for singles to mingle. It was so crazy it might work.

“You charge a ten-dollar cover price and you can easily clear two hundred a night.” Jeannine was practically bouncing with enthusiasm. “And that’s not even counting merchandise sales. Stock up on toys, lube, and other impulse purchases.”

“Lube really shouldn’t be an impulse purchase, and this isn’t a sex shop. You’ve been listening to the selectmen too long.” While I did carry those things, they weren’t my primary merchandise. Unfortunately for the town government, they did make up a nice portion of my business, so there was no chance in hell I wasn’t going to stock them. But I also didn’t want to antagonize anyone by handing out free condoms. Not this week anyway.

“Okay, okay, stock up on intimacy and relationship books and those stupid-ass coupon booklets like good for one back rub.”

I should remind her that she was going to be late getting back to work, but she was having so much fun I didn’t want to stop her.

“Oh,” she breathed out, and I could swear I saw a lightbulb go off over her head. Then she made a beeline for my back room.

“Wait,” I said, frantically wondering if I had cleaned up after the cat.

Jeanine flung open the door. “We could offer baby-sitting back here. It would cost them five dollars an hour, and even after paying the sitters you could make a profit. We would have to move this futon.”

She stepped into the room and froze. I saw her look down at the litter box and water dish.

“You have a cat?” she said.

Then she saw my comforter and pillow stacked up in the corner. Her eyes went to the shelves, where there was a clock radio and the unicorn statue that she gave me when we left to go to college.

“Why is that here?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. In a few seconds, I saw that she had identified several things that should be in my apartment and not here. Pushing her way into the bathroom, she saw my toothbrush and toothpaste were out on the sink instead of hidden in my toiletry bag with my luggage under the futon. “What’s going on?”

She hugged herself and her eyes were full of hurt.

“It’s temporary,” I said.

“Are you living here?” she asked, horrified.

I looked out into the store, but there weren’t any customers. “It’s complicated.”

“How long have you been staying here?”

“Since Jack left.”

“Oh my God!” She covered her mouth with her hands.

“He hadn’t been paying the rent in the three months before he left. He was hiding the eviction notices from me.”

“Why?”

I couldn’t figure that out either. “He didn’t want me to yell at him. He didn’t want me to worry. I don’t know.”

“That fucker!”

“So I came home one day and all my shit was on the curb and the locks changed. I saved what I could and I’ve been squatting here for the last few months.”

“Why didn’t you get an apartment?”

I shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t want to spend the first and last month’s rent when things were so tight here.”

Jeanine slapped a hand over her face. “Why didn’t you come stay with me?”

“Because I knew it was going to be longer than a week, and your roommates would get pretty pissed at me crashing on your couch for this length of time.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her eyes filled with tears and her voice trembled.

“Because I was ashamed.” I sagged against the doorframe, one eye on the store. “Because I thought I’d be in an apartment by now.”

“You need to tell Rory about this.”

“Oh hell no. Do you know what he’ll do?”

“He’ll buy you an apartment.”

“Yeah, as long as I sell out to him. I can’t take another ‘I told you so.’ Not from him.”

Jeannine marched over to me and shook her finger in my face. “You’re dating a billionaire. You make him buy you a present—an expensive one. Then you hock it and get your ass into a cheap apartment. Do you know what they’re going to do to you if they find out you’re living here? You’ll be gone. On the street. They’ll terminate your lease.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” I hissed out between my teeth. “But I’m not going to whore myself out to Rory for expensive gifts. You know that’s not who I am.”

Slapping her hands against her thighs, Jeannine seethed. “He’s got stupid money. A couple of thousand dollars means nothing to him.”

“I said no. And don’t you dare fucking say a word.”

“I wouldn’t.” Hurt replaced the rage in her eyes. “How could you think that?”

I sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m on edge. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But this is all temporary. Rory’s finally accepted that I’m not going anywhere. We’ve got this great plan to make serious bank on the Fourth. If all goes well, I can be in a new apartment in August. I just have to hold out a little longer.” Actually, it would probably be more around September, but I wanted to downplay the seriousness of my situation.

Jeannine bit her lip. “I have to tell you something.”

Uh-oh.

“Rory is planning on taking you to Manhattan on Monday.”

“I can’t. I have to work.” I said with a half laugh.

“He’s arranged coverage.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. Who the hell does he think he is?” I was going to call him and ream him out.

“Wait.” Jeannine laid a hand on my arm. “Let him do it.”

“Why? So it’s easier for him the next time to roll all over me?”

“A couple of reasons. First, you’ve been in this store too long. Go out and have fun. It’s one day. Think of it as an all-expense-paid trip to the city with a hot guy.”

It did sound good.

“Second, if you’re not going to make him buy you a diamond bracelet . . .”

I shook my head emphatically. No way.

“Pick his brain on how to make this store more profitable.”

Opening my mouth to argue, I hesitated. Rory had offered, and if he was truly backing off on pressuring me to sell, it would be a shame not to gain the benefit of his experience.

“If Landscapes can make eight grand in one week on three stupid paintings, then there’s a market for rich people needing shit that you should be able to tap into. How would you like to make twenty-five hundred in one transaction?”

“That would be pretty sweet,” I admitted.

“Good. I don’t have time to go into the other reasons, because I’m going to get my ass chewed out for being late as it is.” Jeannine pointed at me. “I still need to hear about the cat.”

“I’ll fill you in on all of it later.”

“You better.” She glared at me. “No more secrets.”

“I promise.” I crossed my fingers over my chest.

“You can stay with me anytime. You know that, right?”

Tears threatened, which would totally ruin my badass chick reputation. “Yeah, I do. Thanks.”

“Don’t give Rory a hard time.”

“I can’t promise that,” I said, and smiled as she rolled her eyes at me.