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There were moments when she felt him looking at her when he thought she didn’t notice. There were also times when an inadvertent touch from him lingered for a bit too long. But she also didn’t want to think about that today, either. These kinds of thoughts only confused her.

She directed him to park at the back of All That Jazz as parking on Main Street was discouraged on this special day of celebration. He turned off the engine, unfastened his seat belt and then turned to look at her.

“Let’s go over the rules for the day,” he said. “First of all, you stay close to me. Second, you don’t leave the area with anyone but me.”

“And third, I changed my mind. I need you to smile a bit today, otherwise you’ll chase off all my customers with your scowls,” she said.

He laughed. “Okay, I’ll work on that.”

“You don’t have to worry about me wandering off from you,” she added. “I’m well aware that I could still be in some kind of danger. But I don’t want to even think about that today. It’s a day for fun. Do you know how to have fun, Jacque?” she asked teasingly.

He gave her a half grin. “Just for you, I’ll dig deep and see if I can remember how to have fun. Now we’d better get inside so you can get set up for this sidewalk sale you intend to have starting at nine.”

Together they went into the store through the back door, and he immediately re-locked the door behind them. As she began pulling items off the racks and placing them on a separate rack that would go outside, he wandered around the shop.

“I don’t go into women’s stores, but this one looks really nice,” he said.

“Thanks,” she said with a huge sense of pride.

“What can I do to help you?” he asked.

“There’s a card table in the back room. If you want to bring it up here, that would be great.”

“Consider it done.” He went down the short hallway and disappeared into the back room. It was not only where people could take their breaks, but it was also a storage room holding stock.

He returned with the card table.

“Just lean it against the door. I want to take it outside and use it along with this rack of clothing. But first I need to mark down the prices of the things that will be on sale. If you want, just have a seat behind the register.”

He sat and watched as she worked with her calculator and changed the prices. “How much are you cutting the prices?”

“I’m marking them down by forty percent.”

“That’s a really good discount,” he replied.

“Most of these items have been really slow sellers, so now the goal is just to get rid of them and make what I can,” she replied. “Of course I got Debbie’s permission to do all this.”

“Just think, once you buy the shop you won’t have to ask permission from anyone for anything,” he said.

“We’ll have to wait to see if that really happens, but that’s certainly my goal,” she replied wistfully. “I would love to own this shop.”

It took her several minutes to get the clothes tagged with the sale price, and then she moved on to the scarves, jewelry and shoes she intended to sell. Once everything was tagged appropriately, she went into the back room and grabbed a black tablecloth to cover the card table. Finally, she was ready to move everything outside. It was an easy job with Jacque there to help her.

At all the other stores down Main Street, there was a flurry of activity as clerks and owners worked to set up for the sidewalk sale. In the distance a Ferris wheel rose up, and even though it was early in the day, the scents of popcorn, grilling hot dogs and other culinary delights filled the air.

It all had a thrumming energy that filled her with excitement. The sidewalk sale would last until five o’clock, and then all the stores would close, giving everyone time to enjoy the festivities.

She was working the entire day, although she had arranged for Samantha McGuire, a middle-aged woman she had recently hired, to work with her. She was hoping her sale would be so busy it would need two sales clerks.

At exactly nine o’clock Samantha showed up. She was an attractive woman and a frequent buyer at the store. Monique introduced Samantha to Jacque, and then Jacque brought three folding chairs from the back room and placed them beside the rack and card table.

The two women sat, but Jacque remained standing just behind Monique. Today he was wearing a pair of black slacks and a green-and black short-sleeved dress shirt. He also wore his shoulder holster and gun. He looked incredibly hot and a little bit dangerous. She found it a very sexy combination.

It wasn’t long before the street began to fill with people. Laughter filled the air, along with the sounds of dozens of conversations.

Women started coming by their sale, thumbing through the clothes and checking out the other items. Some bought things while others were just lookers. The morning passed quickly with a lot of traffic and sales, and before Monique knew, it was after noon.

Jacque had remained a standing sentry just behind her all morning. She was pleased that he had actually smiled when customers approached, but she knew he was probably getting hungry.