Page 118 of Fish Out of Water

“Large, please.”

Jake rang up the woman’s books, bag, and hoodie, tucking everything neatly into the bag before handing it to her along with her receipt. “Thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy your books.”

“I will, and I’m going to tell my friends about this place too. They’ll love it.”

The woman left with a spring in her step, and Robbie sauntered up to the counter. “Who would’ve thought that a stray cat would be our best salesperson?” He leaned over the countertop and kissed Jake. “We’re already looking at record sales this quarter.”

“Aunt Isabel will be happy about that. Oh, and speaking of which, don’t let me forget to mail Alex one of our new hats. She’ll kill me if I leave it another week.”

“I’ll make sure she gets it.” Robbie chuckled and stepped behind the counter to help Jake load boxes onto a nearby handcart.

“Hey, Robbie, I know we don’t talk aboutthosepeople anymore, but have you heard anything interesting lately, like through Safiya or, I don’t know, in the news?”

“No, why?”

“When I drove by Eaton’s Gas and Groceries yesterday, it looked like it was closed.”

“Could be,” Robbie said. “I know they’ve had a terrible time retaining employees lately.”

“In summer, though? There’ve gotta be plenty of high school and college students looking for seasonal work.”

“And there are other, better places to get that work. To no one’s surprise, Jake, my parents are not the greatest employers.”

“They must be missing out on a ton of revenue by having to close it.”

Robbie shrugged. “Good.”

“You’re not still holding a grudge, are you?” Jake raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as if Robbie were a petulant child he had to scold.

“No.” Robbie emitted a heavy sigh. “No, I don’t care what happens to them anymore. We’re doing well, and that’s all that matters.”

“That’s the spirit.”

More customers walked in, and Robbie moved the handcart out of the way. “I’ll take these to the post office if you don’t mind,” he told Jake.

“No, go on. I can handle the store for a few minutes.” Jake turned to the new customers, put on his best smile, and said, “Welcome to the Book Nook! Can I help you find anything today?”

He honestly thought he would hate this kind of job much more in the beginning than he actually did—it was an existence he’d never imagined leading—but as he stood there chatting with customers and waiting for the love of his life to return from a brief trip to the post office, he couldn’t have been happier.

It was still lightout when they got back home that evening. That wasn’t a problem in the summer when the sun stayed up until eight or nine. It was worse at other points in the year, especially during the winter when they were working up to twelve hours a day getting the bookstore back into shape. Things had evened out, though, and Jake wasn’t dreading this upcoming winter nearly as much as he had been a few months earlier.

“It’s good to be home,” Robbie said as they climbed out of Jake’s car.

“It sure is.” Jake unlocked the door and they filed in, dropping keys and phones and wallets onto one of the built-in shelves.

A plaintivemeowsounded from the kitchen, and Marin snaked her way out to greet them, rubbing her head first on Robbie’s legs, then Jake’s. Alex, whose apartment up north didn’t allow pets, had been so jealous when Jake sent her the picture of the scruffy little kitten they found on the beach one night.

“I’m coming down to visit,” she’d told Jake over the phone the next morning.

“Hold on, we don’t even know if we’re keeping her yet,” Jake said. “She might belong to someone.”

She hadn’t, though, and once she was vaccinated and cleared by the vet to be in good health, she was all Jake and Robbie’s. And Aunt Alex did come to visit the next week, bringing Isabel along with her to check out the bookstore while she had the opportunity.

“What are we doing for dinner?” Jake asked, scooping up Marin to let her jam her nose and cheek into his chin.

“It’s a little late for anything too fancy,” Robbie said, “but I put some chicken in marinade before we left this morning, so I’ll whip up something with that.”

Jake smiled as he set Marin back down on the floor, and she returned to weaving between Robbie’s legs while he tried to hobble past her. “Sounds good to me.”