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Caden took hold of her hand and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “People tend to lash out when they’re wounded. Try not to hold it against her. If she’s your friend, I’m sure she feels bad about it.”
Hallie smiled, already knowing this, but glad Caden wasn’t someone who held a grudge or jumped down someone’s throat for hurting his woman’s feelings. “I know, and thank you for being so level headed about it. I was trying to decide whether or not to tell you, and I’m glad I did.”
“You can always tell me anything,” Caden assured her. “I might not always be level-headed about it as you so eloquently put it, and we may not always agree on how to deal with certain things, but I’ve made it clear how much I care about you and I never want you to hold anything back from me. No matter how I react to whatever you tell me, I will always be on your side.”
Hallie let out a breath she hadn’t even realizedshe’d been holding. “I know.” And she did. Caden was the most stable and kind man she’d ever known, and he’d proven it time and time again. Wrapped in his arms, all Hallie could think about was that glimpse of his brother. She needed to tell him. “Caden?” She whispered, but he just sighed, his breathing evening out as he nuzzled into the back of her neck.
Hallie smiled, his warmth surrounding her. She’d tell him tomorrow.
Chapter 24
Business was slow the first full week of The Mystic Cow being open again, but Hallie wasted no time implementing her new marketing strategies that included reaching out to other small businesses and seeing if they would be willing to cross promote.
She started with the coffee shop down the street, since she was already on good terms with the owner. Rina Trumbel was a woman in her fifties, and had been a part of this tight knit community of small businesses since opening her doors over twenty years ago. She was more than happy to take on some of Hallie’s coffee table books and a few beach reads in exchange for Hallie displaying a poster promoting her new coffee flavors of the season, and a small percentage of the profit.
Feeling encouraged by Rina’s positive response, Hallie next went to the yoga studio where she had taken classes in the past. Eileen Yung was a huge fan of Hallie’s store, and was excited to have some yoga themed books and gifts displayed on shelves in the far corner of the studio in exchange for a small percent of the profit and an honorable mention in Hallie’s newsletter.
Hallie walked out of the yoga studio feeling a million times better than she’d felt before starting this endeavor. She’d known the merchants on Main Street were smart and caring people, but their willingness to help her out had far exceeded her expectations.
Her next stop was the art studio where Hallie had taken some wine and painting classes in the past with Meg and Alicia. The owner, Hal Clemmons, was a retired engineer who’d studied art in college and ended up selling several of his paintings for ungodly amounts of money. His technique and use of color was unparalleled as far as Hallie was concerned. He offered to take on some of her inventory in exchange for having some of his pieces displayed on a consignment basis at The Mystic Cow. Hallie was thrilled to have his artwork in her store, and had already sold two original pieces.
Hallie’s last stop was Madigan’s. Skyla offered to fill an entire shelf with anything Hallie wanted in exchange for an honorable mention in The Mystic Cow’s newsletter. “Are you sure that’s all you want?” Hallie asked. “I’m happy to give you a percentage.”
“No way,” Skyla said. “You’re one of my closest friends and I’m blessed to be in a position where I can help - or at least I hope it helps - so no, I don’t need a percentage. And I’ll even add a link to your store in my newsletter, so my patrons know I’m supporting you. Hopefully that will inspire them to check out your store if they haven’t already.”
Hallie hugged Skyla tight, grateful to have such incredible people and friends in her life. “Thank you. If you ever need anything…”
“I appreciate that.” Skyla gave Hallie’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m just grateful for your friendship.”
“I feel the same way. You and Orly mean the world to me.”
Reaching out to all those people not only helped her store, it reminded Hallie just how much she loved being an entrepreneur in this wonderful community. By the end of the second week of her little experiment, two of the places had almost sold out of everything, and were calling Hallie to stop by and refill the shelves.
She was thrilled. Her idea had worked and everyone was happy. If she couldn’t get more people to come to her store, she was more than willing to bring the store to them. Things were really starting to pick up and Hallie couldn’t have been happier.
The only thing weighing heavily on her heart was that she still hadn’t told Caden about her glimpse. She’d planned on telling him the next day, but he’d been sent out of town on a case early that morning, and was then swamped with work after getting back.
She’d barely seen him in the last two weeks, and she wanted to tell him in person, not over the phone or by text message.
“Hazelnut caramel drizzle with chocolate shavings,” Caden said, as he made a beeline to the register where Hallie had been sitting and staring at her laptop screen for the last hour. She had skipped breakfast that day and her belly rumbled at his words.
“You’re a lifesaver,” she smiled. “Thank you. How did you manage to get away from the office?”
“I snuck out and gave anyone who saw me an evil eye to keep them from crossing my path,” he snickered as he came all the way around and nearly pushed Hallie from her chair as he put the drinks down on the counter and ravaged her with a kiss like he’d been starving for her.
“I missed you too,” she said when she could take a breath again. “How’s your day going? Were you able to finish whatever it was your boss was harping on you about?”
Caden shrugged and took a long drag of his blended coffee drink. “It’s a day, and who cares about my boss right now. I’m here with you and that makes it all better. Speaking of which, you looked happy when I first came in. I hope that means the new marketing tactics you implemented are starting to work.”
“Yes,” she squealed. “Almost better than I’d hoped. I’m actually having a hard time keeping track of all the inventory between what I have here in stock and what I have out there, and what I need to reorder for here and there and - ”
He interrupted her with another kiss, but she didn’t mind those kinds of interruptions at all. In fact, she preferred them. He pulled back after a long moment and looked at her with what she caught was a glimmer of sadness in his eyes. “What?” She asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just missed seeing your beautiful face. Phone calls and text messages don’t cut it for me. I hate that I haven’t been around.”
“I know. I’ve been crazy busy too though. But seriously, you don’t usually let work or cases get to you. Something is bothering you.” When he tried to brush it off, Hallie leveled him a stare. “Come on. I open up to you, surely there’s something you can tell me. Even if I can’t help, maybe just talking about it in vague detail will take some of the pressure off.”
Caden sighed and leaned his hip against the counter. “I’ve been reviewing my brother’s case file. I keep thinking I missed something. But there’s nothing. It’s been almost fifteen years and I still can’t put it to rest. There’s just something about it that doesn’t sit right with me.”
