“I take back my compliment about your hair.”
“I am trying to concentrate,” Holley sang.
“On what?” I grabbed the stack of books and carried them over to where she’d been diligently working on her laptop for the last hour.
“Our online store.” She said the words very carefully, never looking up from the screen. “Winter is always a little slow, and although we get by, there’s nothing wrong with expanding our horizons.”
“I was wondering when we’d finally enter the twenty-first century,” Saylor said, jumping back from the window. “I have ideas for that.”
“You do?” I looked at her. “Like what?”
“Mystery book boxes. Like a subscription where people sign up and fill out a questionnaire and each month we send them a new release that fits their likes, but they won’t know which book until they get it.”
Holley held up a finger, then set it on the trackpad, moved, and typed furiously. “Word document,” she said, answering our silent questions.
A lightbulb dinged in my brain. “Oh, hey, I actually had an idea a couple of weeks ago. We could sell merchandise, too. Like t-shirts and sweaters and mugs and stuff. We’re always buying stuff, so we know there’s a market for it.”
“I love that!”
Say clicked her tongue. “Yeah, but none of us can do design work.”
“Tori,” I answered.
Holley nodded. “She did the bones of the website for me. In fact, she set it up so all I have to do is add the products.”
Say wrinkled her nose. “Do we have to pay her?”
“Free books.”
I laughed and moved the sale books to the tall display table they were going on by the door. “There we go, then. Free books for Tori, free merchandise design for us.”
“I’d take free books,” Say acquiesced. “And I do like the idea of clothing. Can we sell that here, too?”
“I don’t see why not with a few mannequins,” Holley answered. “I bet we could get some cheap from eBay. I’ll write it down and take a look at everything tonight. The store is nearly done, but that’s my priority.” She leaned back and stretched her fingers out in front of her, popping her knuckles as she did so.
Saylor shuddered at the sound. “You’re so weird. Hey, did you see that Sebastian is coming back home?”
Holley froze.
My eyes widened. Damn it, Saylor! We weren’t supposed to tell Holley.
“Sebastian?” Holley’s eyes clouded in anger, and she fiddled with her glasses again. “Great. Maybe all his little groupies will follow him, and they can come buy a story about what a jerk he is.”
And that was why we weren’t going to tell Holley.
Saylor blinked. “That was eight years ago, Hol. Aren’t you over that yet?”
Holley glared at her.
Back away, Saylor, back away.
“I’m just gonna…” She cocked a thumb. “Go somewhere you aren’t.”
Smart.
“Did you know about this?” Holley turned to me.
There was no use lying about it. “I did,” I admitted. “Remember that guy I had dinner with in Bronco’s? Elliott?”
She nodded.
“He’s the physical therapist there. Sebastian injured his shoulder in the first game of the season and is out for the rest of it. He’s already had surgery, but since he’s with the Bears, the team were happy for him to come home and commute to do his rehab.”
“Ugh. I don’t want to see him.”
“I don’t know that you’ll have a choice. What if you run into each other?”
“Then I’ll be an adult who pretends she doesn’t know him,” she ground out through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, that’s the adult thing to do.”
The bell above the door rang, and we both looked back at it. Josh walked through with two bags of what smelled like hot soup and fresh bread, and he stilled when he saw us both eying him.
“What did I do?” he asked.
“Nothing. Probably just stopped a world war,” I muttered, motioning to Holley.
“Why? What’s wrong?” He kicked the door shut behind him. “I can’t stay long. I’m only here because when I went to get lunch, Johanna asked me if I was here to pick up your order. Apparently, you called it in this morning. She was about to remind you to come get it.”
Oh, crap.
We’d been so busy we’d forgotten lunch.
That explained the all-around grouchiness. We were hangry.
“I smell food!” Saylor came running out from wherever she’d been hiding. “Josh, if you keep showing up here with food, I’m going to murder Kinsley and date you myself.”
He blinked at her, confusion marring his forehead. “You changed your hair.”
“Good God, you people are observant today.”
“Looks good. Suits you.”
She brightened. “Thanks.”
“Are we just forgetting my issues?” Holley held out her hands. “Does nobody care about me?”
“About a stick you’ve had up your ass since you were eighteen?” Saylor raised her eyebrows and took the Styrofoam bowl of soup from Josh. “No.” She grabbed another container that held the bread and disappeared again.
“She’s sociable today,” Josh muttered, emptying out the rest of the containers. “What’s going on?”