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“You always did have a slightly evil side.” Mia shook her head on a laugh. “Wow. Sounds like we need to bring the ladies back to fully flesh this idea out, huh?”
“That was going to be my suggestion, too.Aftermy bath.”
“Oh, right.” Mia pushed off the doorframe with a wink. “I’ll make the calls; you get back to your little fantasy. And don’t think we’re done talking about your hermit, missy.”
Of course not. Del knew better than to think she’d gotten off the hook that easily.
“Fine. But remember—you can’t tell anyone he’s helping us.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
She watched Mia go, then closed her eyes again. Time to start thinking about the next meeting of the minds…
After she’d spent a little more time exploring that imaginary view of Isaac on a rowing machine.
*
“I told Margaretthis was the perfect idea.”
Del looked up from her notepad Sunday evening to meet Barb Thompson’s gaze. The meeting of the minds had reconvened in Del’s backyard at dusk to see if they might be able to put some ideas behind the proposed talent show fundraiser. She had spent the day jotting down ideas, doing her best to explore some of the suggestions Isaac had offered over yesterday’s lunch. While she pondered, she’d asked Mia and Brooklyn to do some online searching, to see if other communities had done this type of thing and what their outcomes had been. Hopefully, they’d found some encouraging information. Because as much as she wanted to have faith in the concept, Del knew their small town would take a mighty hit if it backfired.
And if that happened, they’d definitely end up kissing their beloved bookstore good-bye.
“I sure hope you’re right,” she replied.
“I still think it’s a gamble,” Margaret said, on her second glass of well-spiked punch. “Offering a monetary ‘grand prize’ without any money in hand. Doesn’t make good business sense to me.”
“Because you have all sorts of business experience?” asked her sister Nan, who happened to be the only sister of the trio who’d owned and run her own shop. Bourbon’s Bits had been a popular dime store in Bourbon Falls for many years, visited on many allowance paydays by Del and her sisters when they were little. “Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Besides, we can always write something in the fine print that says if we don’t get enough entries to cover the prize money, we cancel the event and refund everyone’s entry fee.”
“That’s how they worded it in Muskegon last year,” Brooklyn said, looking up from her cell phone. “And Toledo and Wetumpka. Only one of them actually had to cancel. The rest made enough money to pay for whatever they were raising money for.”
“Just through entry fees?” Gina asked.
“And tickets,” Brooklyn said. “They charged people to come and watch the show, too.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Robyn said. “Do we even know where we can hold this event? I’m not sure the high school auditorium is big enough.”
“I agree,” Mia said. “Maybe we could set up a grandstand in the park. Or at the old depot.”
Del frowned. “But then what will we do about seating? Renting a bunch of folding chairs could get expensive. And we have no idea how many people will come.”
“Unless they pre-bought the tickets,” Brooklyn said, angling for the snack table.
“Not everyone is as tethered to the internet as you are,” Mia said, winking at Del. “I say we let people bring their own seats or blankets. Make it a family-oriented event. Unless you want to see if we could rent the amphitheater over in Warsaw.”
“Nuh-huh,” Robyn countered. “If we’re doing this to raise money for Bourbon Falls, this event needs to behere. That way we bring in money to support our other venues, too, like the diner, Max’s bar, the ice cream stand…”
“Good point,” Del said. “Though, what about the weather? We can’t control that.”
Mia nodded. “We’ll need to come up with a backup location. Hopefully, we’ll know a few days out what the weather will do.”
“Except this is Indiana,” Gina said.
Everyone laughed.
“Uh, Aunt Del?”
She looked to her niece, who was returning from the refreshments.
