When she checked her phone, there was not a single message or missed call from Greg.
Leah jammed the phone in her back pocket. Why did it matter? A clean break was for the best. Her life was here now. She turned and stared across the street at the old captain’s house.My bookstore, she reminded herself. This was her job now, this was her home now. Jaw set, she stalked back across the street and pounded up the front steps, so strong from Luke’s repairs that there was nary a creak nor a give. She pulled the front door open roughly, about to call Brad and Lucy out, to brainstorm a better publicity effort when she stopped in her tracks. There were people! Not a crowd, but a handful. A small grateful laugh escaped her.
Lucy was in the back children’s area, kneeling by the table with two little boys and a girl, while their mother scanned the picture book selections. Two older women surveyed the new fiction table. On one of the leather armchairs by the window a man was bent over a book, lost in reading. At the counter, Brad was about to check someone out. Just then he saw her, waving her over excitedly. “Leah! You do the honors.”
“Honors?” she asked.
Brad nodded toward the woman at the cash register. “Our first official sale.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as Leah understood. “Oh!” She smiled at the woman, who was holding three paperbacks, and hurried over to her. “Yes, of course.”
“I just love what you’ve done here,” the woman said, handing the titles over. “This house has always caught my eye, the architecture is just so different from everything else in town, you know?”
“Greek Revival,” Brad said, as if he’d designed it himself.
“It was looking so sad and run down. And now it’s home to a bookstore!”
“I’m so glad you came in today,” Leah said.
“So am I,” the woman said. “And I get to be the first customer!” She reached for a tin of mints, and grabbed a seashell-printed bookmark by the register. “I’ll take these, too.”
When the woman handed over her credit card, Lucy called over from the children’s section.
“Wait!” Lucy held up her phone. “Want me to take a photo?”
She did want that. Unable to speak, Leah managed a nod. Their first customer leaned in smiling and Leah followed suit.
“Smile!” Lucy said.
By the end of the day, Leah and Brad sprawled on the armchairs. “Why am I so exhausted?” Brad asked. “It wasn’t like it was Filene’s Basement Annual wedding dress sale.”
“How do you know about that?” Leah asked, unable to hide her smile. “That was way ahead of your time.”
Brad shrugged nonchalantly. “The stuff of fashion lore.”
“We’re tired because of the last two weeks,” Leah said, rubbing her neck. “And the hype. And the worry.”
“Well, it was a solid start, I think. Word will get out. Foot traffic will steer our way.”
Leah appreciated Brad’s enthusiasm. She glanced to the back, where Lucy was tidying up.
“Alright, you two. Home you go. We get to do this all over again tomorrow.”
As she was locking up, her phone dinged. Probably her dad checking in to see how the big day went. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. To her delight it wasn’t her dad.
Hope today was all you wanted it to be! Sorry I couldn’t make it over- got stuck on this job.
It was Luke. The fact that he’d thought to reach out buoyed her spirits.Day was great,she texted.Thank you for all you did to make it possible.
There was a long pause before he replied. Then,Okay if I swing by tomorrow? Want to check the paint on that last shelf. It wasn’t quite dry.
Leah sat down on the top step. The paint was fine, long dried and set.It was a little sticky,she lied.May need a touch up.
