Page 71 of Safe With You

Her pen stopped.

“Me?”

“You own the place.”

“I know that.”

“Then why do you sound surprised?”

“Because I thought we were talking about the bookstore.”

“We are.”

“I don’t need to be in the pictures.”

I leaned back in my chair.

“You’re in half the ones from Tuesday.”

“By accident.”

“And they work.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re very determined to photograph me.”

There was enough amusement in her voice to keep the question light, but it still caught me off guard.

“I’m determined to photograph the person who owns the business we’re trying to promote.”

“Very professional.”

“Extremely.”

Her mouth curved.

I recognized the callback immediately.

So did she.

For a second, neither of us said anything.

Then Luna looked down at her notebook and started writing again.

“What else?”

I let her have the subject change.

“Details.”

“What kind of details?”

“The things people notice when they’re actually here.”

I pointed toward the shelves behind her.

“Staff recommendations. Displays. The coffee. Whatever makes Chapter & Charm look like Chapter & Charm instead of any bookstore somebody could find online.”

She wrote as I talked, occasionally stopping to ask a question or draw an arrow between two ideas. Her handwriting got smaller the farther she moved down the page until she finally turned to another one.