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Packing her laptop in her bag and hoping today wouldn’t be the day the strap finally broke, June smoothed her wool coat and locked the apartment door behind her. March had decided to go back to winter weather, flurries dancing across the sky as she peered into The Little Prince’s front window, her grandparents covering for her while she met with Ruby to discuss potential marketing efforts to pull the store out of the red.
June made a right onto Main Street, nodding hellos to passersby that recognized her. The Little Prince was an Oak Valley institution, it couldn’t fold. Her heart seized at the idea of what would happen without it. Every town needed a bookstore. She gulped, anxious to get the meeting with Ruby started. A few months ago, the fiery redhead had moved back home from New York City to help care for her cancer-stricken mom. In the process, she’d converted a school bus into a tiny home, started her own marketing business using her experience from the City, and got engaged to her childhood sweetheart. Some people took life by the balls — Ruby Delacey was one of them.
But June had always been a bit of an outsider. In high school, she had been in the top of each class, her nose always in a book, and she didn’t have many friends. She laughed to herself. There were three people she could consider friends at this point, and those had been the same friends she had back then. Even after her parents suddenly died, when she looked around at who was there, it was always those three: Anna, Molly, Dragan.
Dragan.
Even the thought of his name called out to her, heating her body and stealing her breath. And to think he had his hands wrapped around her face, his lips melding with hers. June kicked herself for jumping so hard, so fast, on what he offered. She hadn’t been able to think straight since their rendezvous, and for all her talk of becoming a romance author as a side-gig, she couldn’t get past the base plotting.
Not when all she could think about was climbing her best friend like a tree and letting him take her like an animal.
June sighed, pulling open the door to AC/DCafe, a relatively new coffee shop that provided ample space for people looking to work. It was sleek, filled with large tables, plenty of outlets, and a few overstuffed chairs and sofas scattered around. The smell of coffee and baked goods from For Goodness Cakes wafted through the air, and June looked around before spotting Ruby’s curls on the other side of the coffee shop.
One problem at a time.
“Hey,” she said, slinging her bag on the back of the chair. She regarded Ruby cautiously, knowing that in part Ruby was helping her shore up reviews for her own business, not just out of the goodness of her heart. If there was one thing June had learned from growing up in a small town, it was to trust no one. They knew too much, and were happy to use what they knew to get ahead.
“Oh! Hey, sorry I must’ve been lost in the sauce.” Ruby laughed and gave her a warm smile, taking a sip from her already half-finished chocolate milkshake. “Do you want anything to drink?”
June was taken aback by her friendliness. Ruby had always seemed hard, aloof.
“Oh… Um, it’s okay, I can get it.”
“Don’t be silly, you’re helping me out, trusting me with The Little Prince. You can go over this proposal for a town-wide Spring Cleaning Event, what would you like?” Ruby handed her a plastic booklet and grabbed her wallet.
“Wow, thank you. I mean, you’re helping me out just as much,” June said. “I’ll just take a black coffee with whipped cream.” She started flipping through the booklet, noticing the quarterly strategies and month-by-month breakdowns.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Ruby’s hazel eyes were wide, her open mouth showing a hint of her gapped front teeth.
“That you’re helping me out as much as I’m helping you?”
“Girl, no. The black coffee and whipped cream?”
June laughed. “Oh. Don’t knock it until you try it. It was one of my mom’s favorites.”
“If you say so,” Ruby said, shaking her head and smiling. She passed June for the counter, leaving her behind in a wake of lemon and something floral.
June shrugged off her pink coat. She sat, thankful for choosing yoga pants, and pulled the sleeves of her thick knit sweater over her hands. Not working allowed her to be more comfortable than professional, complete with no makeup and a messy bun.
A mug topped with a mountain of whipped cream was set in front of her, the handle of a spoon sticking out. Ruby took her seat across from her and immediately got down to business.
“So, as you saw, having monthly strategies will help us keep seeing the big picture while we have a breakdown of tasks and goals for each week. Colton told me about your recent layout changes, and I think those were really smart. Especially the coffee bar.” She flipped open the booklet while June took a spoonful of her heavenly drink. “So I think this month the focus is building awareness and fundraising, to get you caught up. I know you said you were on the verge of being evicted.”
June immediately shook her head. “I—I can’t tell everyone we’ll be evicted.”
“You want my help, right? Transparency is key, and it’ll be the fastest way to save you from losing The Little Prince.”
“I can’t, Ruby.” It came out as a whisper, June’s greatest fear pulsing through her body. Admitting defeat would prove to everyone she wasn’t good enough. What did it say about her if she couldn’t even keep her parents’ legacy afloat? It was bad enough asking Dragan for help. The look on his face when she showed him the red numbers, his wide eyes betraying his otherwise passive face. But to the whole town…
“June, look. I know it’s hard. But trust me, lots of businesses have been in this position — even in this town.”
“And no one has publicly asked for help from going under.” Her eyes bore into Ruby’s. “There has to be another way.”
Ruby sighed. “I think at the very least you should set up a donation box. Not for books, for money. Cash. This month, we should focus on the kids programs — another great idea — and factoring in a used book section. We can launch the Spring Cleaning Event within soon, maybe May or June. With your approval and permission, I’ll talk to Macy about making it a town-wide function.”
June pursed her lips, reading through the April Spring Cleaning proposal. Macy Weathers was the Town Supervisor and unofficial Town Busybody. While June didn’t want to put anyone else in charge of the new promotion, having her loud mouth could help. Press releases to local media outlets for a weekend-long extravaganza, talks and readings by some well-known authors who happened to be relatively local, face-painting for kids, role-playing for the fantasy readers, a cover model contest from locals for the romance-lovers, food and drinks donated by local vendors, free music from local bands with donations being split with the bookstore.
“It kind of needs to be a town-wide function in order for it to work, doesn’t it?” June looked at Ruby and closed the booklet, sipping her comfort drink while she considered how to make it work.
