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“You do?”
“We talked it over amongst ourselves before we came here to tell you about it. Because we knew your shop and your store here is important. No one can just walk away from their business, but the opportunity to see this library and organize it yourself is one that doesn’t come along very often.”
“Or ever. I can’t believe it.”
“As far as I know, it is the largest private library in the Midwest. Although I suppose you could probably look that up online,” Charlene said, pushing the opportunity a little more. Peyton was acting exactly like she had hoped she would, and while Charlene didn’t want to start celebrating just yet, she was pretty sure things were going to turn out exactly the way she wanted them to.
“Yeah. Wow. I don’t have nearly that many books here, and this isn’t a private collection. I’ve been accepting donations from all over the state for months.”
“People have started coming from all over the state because they know you have a large selection,” Vicki pointed out.
Peyton nodded. That had been part of her business plan when she had talked to the ladies before.
“The ladies and I were thinking, with it being spring, we usually like to get out of the church basement for a bit. It’s been a long, dark winter, and we wouldn’t mind setting our quilting aside, not permanently, and not completely, but a little bit.”
“What Vicki is saying,” Charlene interrupted, “is that we would be willing to watch your shop for you, if you want to spend some extra time out at the mansion.”
“Not every day. But say Tuesdays or...you know. When Owen is at school, so you don’t have to worry about watching him out there.” Teresa set her empty coffee cup down and pushed it toward the center of the table.
“Yeah. That’s a lot further from the school, and I would have to make sure that I was back in time to pick him up or make sure I was here...”
“You were just saying he’s old enough to take care of himself. It certainly won’t harm him to be here without you, especially if we’re here too,” Charlene said, trying to sound matronly and wise. Like she was a good choice for a mother who was looking for someone to watch her child.
Peyton nodded, one hand on her chin tapping it, like she was thinking.
“It’s possible that you might be able to take him out with you, but I didn’t ask that while I was on the phone. That’s something you’ll have to work out between yourselves.”
Peyton stayed quiet and thoughtful for a few minutes. Charlene tried to keep her excitement and anticipation from showing, almost certain Peyton was going to bite.
Finally, she gave her head a shake. “I would just love to do this. Truly. But I can’t impose on you ladies like that. I can’t just leave my responsibilities and run off to do something that I want to do, for pure pleasure.”
“It would be different if you were doing something frivolous, but this is a paying job. And it would be something you wanted, true, but you would still be making money, plus you’d still be making money here at the shop.”
“Well, after I paid all of you, there probably wouldn’t be much left. And I’m not complaining about that. If you’re working for me, I need to pay you.”
“Oh! We weren’t planning on you paying us at all,” Teresa said, and for once, Charlene was glad of her straight-shooting ways. “We just want to do it to be nice. So that you didn’t have to worry about your shop while you’re gone. After all, between the four of us and a few other ladies in my community who could give us a hand, surely we can hold the fort down at least semi-well.”
“We can all cook,” Kathy added. “And since you’re not making any of that fancy coffee stuff, pretty sure we can all make a simple plain pot of coffee.”
“Except for Vicki. We won’t let her touch the coffeepot,” Charlene said, figuring if they did, Vicki would find a way to put tea or, God forbid, hot chocolate in it.
“Oh, you ladies are so nice,” Peyton said as Charlene held her breath. “I know I should probably think about it a little bit, but the idea is just so wonderful, and if you guys are truly willing to be here so that I wouldn’t lose out on any business, I don’t see how I could possibly turn it down.”
“I’m sure you could work something out with Bryce where if things aren’t working out for you, you have the option to stop and give the job to someone else,” Charlene said, not wanting to but knowing that sometimes people just weren’t compatible, and they were kind of taking a risk on Bryce.
He wasn’t abusive. She’d heard from good sources that he had a young daughter and was an excellent father. If it hadn’t been for that, as much as she might have wanted to see him with a really wonderful woman, because of her long friendship with Sheila, she might not have moved on this.
“Do you have his contact info?”
Charlene nodded, but then she said, “You can just go out. Any time. He’s there all the time, and he’ll give you instructions once you get there. I don’t think he likes to talk on the phone.”
That wasn’t entirely true. At least she didn’t really know. She did know that she didn’t want Peyton to talk to him on the phone and never see him face-to-face. It would be too easy for Bryce to give her directions and then avoid her, as big as that house was.
It would also be too easy for Bryce to offend her and have Peyton quit before she started.
Peyton seemed to be too excited about the thought of all those books to question how odd it was to not call or text but to just go out.
She didn’t even blink but slapped her hands together and said, “All right. How soon are you ladies ready to start?”
