“D.O.for my B.O.,” I sing out, and stick my debit card into the little card reader machine.
“You know you can tap it,” Aiden tells me.
“Nah.This is momentous.My first business purchase.It deserved to be inserted.”
Oh.
I pause.“That didn’t come out right.”
Aiden’s shoulders shake as he laughs silently.
“Stop laughing,” I tell him, but I’m laughing too, in an outraged sort of way.“I didn’t mean to be inappropriate.”
That just makes him laugh harder, and I glare at him before turning my attention back to the tiny screen.The receipt printer spits out the paper receipt, which I tuck into a special pocket in my jean shorts for my business receipts.
It’s a regular pocket, but patting it means it’s official now.
“I should probably get something to keep receipts in, huh?”I crinkle my nose and glance at where Aiden’s finally composed himself after my unfortunate insertion comment.
“Do you have an accountant?”he asks.“Or a finance person?I can hook you up with someone?—”
“No insertion necessary,” I quip.
He’s silent at my joke, though, and I frown, pushing the cart towards where his car awaits in the gourd-infested parking lot.
“I do.When I signed the paperwork for the will and everything, they set me up with a whole bunch of people associated with the trust.I am under strict instructions to forward all business expenses to the finance-trust-person and they’ll take care of taxes and all that.”I wave one hand dismissively, though I feel far from it.
I’m freaking out.I just spent five hundred dollars on cleaning supplies for the store (and my new apartment) and paint for the store (and my apartment) and a few odds and ends to organize backstock and hang things on the walls of the bookstore and— “It’s more money than I’ve ever spent in one place,” I blurt.“Except maybe that one time at the ER,” I tack on.
The back hatch of Aiden’s SUV opens, and suddenly he’s at the front of the cart, unloading cleaning solution and rags and brooms and mops and gallons of paint and roller brush things to put the paint on the walls.
“Deep breaths,” he tells me.“You have the whole trust behind you on this.”
“I have lists,” I tell him, panicky, clinging to the cart handle like my life depends on it.
“I know.You used your cleaning supply list in there.”He jerks his head towards the store as he unloads more shit into the back of the car.“I was there.”
“I did use it, and I got the things we need.”
“And the feed store is next so we can get your new cat situated before it pees on your bed or something.”
“It’s going to pee on my bed?”I screech.
“Probably not.Are you hungry?”
“Not if it’s going to pee on my bed!”
“It’s not going to pee on your bed.I tell you what.We’ll pick you up cat supplies next, the feed store is on the way back to downtown, and then we’ll get the cat all taken care of.You with me?”
He looks up from the neatly packed trunk and I stare at him, my heart racing.
“I’m not ready for bookstore ownership,” I tell him, my voice wavering.“I’m not ready for this, and I’m not ready to be a cat parent, either.”
“Nah, you totally are.You just need a little help.And probably some food.And sleep, right?We all feel better after food and sleep.”
“What I need to do is clean everything and get open as soon as I can.That was so much money, and I still have to buy books and set up the website and?—”
“One thing at a time,” Aiden tells me.He’s pulling my fingers off the cart, the backof the car closed already.“First, we put this back.”
