Wish I Might (Wishful 5)

“Of course we have a website.”

“Show me.”

He gestured for her to come behind the desk with him.

The office was tiny, with room only for the ancient wooden desk, a visitor’s chair, and a couple of file cabinets shoe-horned in behind the door. In order to get a look at Reed’s laptop screen, she found herself wedged shoulder-to-shoulder with him—or more properly shoulder-to-arm, as he was a good eight or ten inches taller than she was. She tried desperately not to notice as his body brushed hers.

“It hasn’t been updated in a while, but it’s got all the basics on there.”

The page loaded and Cecily actually felt faint. Frames. The website was built on frames. “Dear God,” she muttered. “It’s ancient. It’s the website that time forgot.”

“It’s not that bad,” he protested. “It’s got our location and hours. Even a page of events. What more do we need?”

Cecily just shook her head in pity. “Please tell me you’ve at least got a newsletter.”

“Sure. It goes out in the mail once a month.”

“Snail mail?”

“Um. Yeah?”

“Christ. You’re killing me. What about the social media?”

His lips curved in a rueful smile. “I’d tell you, but I’m pretty sure you’ll hit me.”

She took a deep breath. Which was a mistake because now she could smell his aftershave and felt a ridiculous desire to nuzzle just there beneath his jaw. “Okay. We’re just going to pretend you have nothing, and I’m starting from scratch. We’ll talk further about what other features you might like once I have the basic framework in place.” Before she had more of her brain cells scrambled, she scooted out from behind the desk.

Reed followed. “Thanks, Cecily. Really. This is all way outside my scope of expertise.”

“I’ll get to work on it this afternoon.”

“Why don’t you work from here? It’d be a change of pace from the office, and you’d get a feel for the shop and how it fits into the community. Norah’s kept you so busy, you haven’t really had an opportunity to spend much time here.”

Yeah, let’s pretend that’s the reason.

Still, observing the shop in action over a period of days would give her the opportunity to see what was working for them and what wasn’t. She’d know better how to target things with that information.

“Sure.”

Reed took her out front and introduced her to Brenda. “Cecily’s going to overhaul our website and stuff.”

“If that’s what you want to call dragging your business kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.”

“Hey, I’m not screaming.”

Cecily couldn’t resist a pointed grin. “Yet. Where should I set up?”

He paused, glancing at an incoming text and laughing under his breath before shifting his attention back to her. “Wherever floats your boat. There’s better plug access up in the front room, near the graphic novels.”

“Sounds good.”

She thought maybe he’d hover or come up with some other reason to keep checking on her, but instead he went on about running his business. Cecily felt caught somewhere between relieved and deflated.

Don’t be stupid. You made it clear you didn’t want to date him. He’s respecting that. Just do your job.

An hour into customizing an out-of-the-box Wordpress theme, the bell chimed and a gangly kid in jeans that had probably acquired the rip in the knee from actual wear came barreling into the store. Excitement was pumping off him so hard, Cecily could feel it from ten feet away. As he rounded the corner, into the room where she was working, she figured there was some awesome new release in comics, and he’d just gotten his allowance. But instead, he made a beeline for the counter.

Behind it, Reed grinned. “Hey kiddo. What’s up?”