Page 10 of Christmas By The Book

“So, what are you going to do about Wharton?” she asked me, cutting through the silence, as the two of us dusted off the shelves.

I winced. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I... I don’t know what else I can do.”

“There has to be some way we can keep the store running and turning a profit,” she muttered, pausing for a moment to tap her finger on her chin.

“I’m all ears,” I replied. I had been wracking my brain all day, ever since Wharton had come in, but I didn’t know what else I could do. Short of something drastic, like taking out a loan, but that would land me in just the same problem I was in now down the line, wouldn’t it? I would have to pay it all off to someone else, and they might be even harsher than Wharton—if that was even possible.

“Like... we could do a book fair?” she suggested, gesturing around to the stacks on the shelves around us.

I frowned. “How do you mean?”

“I mean, a Christmas book fair,” she continued, her face lighting up, as though she was already selling herself on the idea. “We advertise it around town, we make sure it’s going to be busy, see if we can get some of the local cafés to work with us to provide coffee and hot chocolate. Make it feel really seasonal!”

“That sounds like a lot of work,” I remarked, wrinkling up my nose. It was a nice idea, don’t get me wrong, but what were the chances people were going to come to a fair to buy books when they wouldn’t even step into my store to look at them most days? It seemed like a lot of effort for not much return, and I couldn’t risk something like that right now.

“I’ll work it for free,” Haley offered.

“You’re going back to visit your family for Christmas next week, aren’t you?” I reminded her.

She groaned, slapping the heel of her hand to her forehead. “Ugh, you’re right,” she complained. “I won’t be here. But I could see if I can get some of my friends in to give you a hand?”

“They deserve to be paid if they’re doing work,” I replied, shaking my head. “I can’t afford to hire anyone else, not right now. And that’s not even thinking about planning it. I don’t have time to put together an event like that, not with everything else that’s going on.”

“I could help with that.”

A voice cut in to our conversation, and I spun around to find, to my surprise, that Seth was standing there, listening to what we were talking about. I felt a heat rise in my cheeks again, my whole body tensing as I stared at him. What was he doing back here? And what was he talking about, helping me? I felt like all my thoughts had been tossed into chaos, and now, I had to pick them up one by one and figure out how to get a word out.

Because, looking at him right now, I was very much finding it hard to think straight.

Chapter Seven

Jorja

“HELP WITH WHAT?” I blurted out, though, of course, I knew what he was referring to.

“The book fair,” he replied, not missing a beat. Nothing seemed to throw him off his game, a trait I wished I could say I had, too, but I knew I would never be as calm and confident as that. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, not knowing what to say, especially with Haley’s gaze burning into the side of my head like a laser beam right now.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude,” he continued. “I just heard you talking about it. I’m an event planner. I can help you put it together, if you want.”

“No, it’s fine,” I replied. “I can’t afford to—”

“You don’t need to pay me.”

“What?”

I frowned at him in confusion.

“I’m not trying to charge you for this,” he assured me. “I just want to make sure that this store stays open. Places like this, they’re valuable. If there’s anything I can do to make sure it stays open, I’ll do it.”

“No, you don’t have to do that,” I replied, shaking my head. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll figure something out.”

“You’ve got something figured out!” Haley cut in, clearly not willing to let me miss out on this. “You’ve got the book fair, and someone who’s willing to help with it. You’re set!”

I chewed on my frayed bottom lip. Oh, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I felt like accepting his help would just be rude, given that he had only just arrived in town and he was offering to do it for free. If there was one thing my grandmother had always been insistent to teach me, it was the value of time, and I balked at the thought of asking him to give away his for free.

But, as he gazed back at me, an open smile on his face, I knew there would be no better opportunity than this one. It wasn’t as though chances were dropping into my lap every time I turned around. Besides, with Wharton hanging over my shoulder, it was probably smarter to make a move and do something to actually change things around here. Desperate times called for desperate measures, right?

That was how I was going to justify spending more time with him, at least.