I grinned. The design read ‘I didn’t choose the book life, the book life chose me’ with an open book at the bottom. “I love it. And if there’s a normal one, Holley can’t yell at me about the taking men to bed one.”
“I’m buying ten of those shirts,” Tori said. “That’s four new designs for this next rollout. Do you need more?”
“Kinsley was talking about pins and stickers. The first pins we did were really popular and sold out fast.”
“They’re easy enough. We can repurpose some of the other designs. I actually know a place where you can get the pins on a backing so you could do a set of four and stuff like that.”
“Check with them but I don’t see an issue with it.” I smiled and turned to put the books on the new release table.
“Okay.” She grabbed her phone and tapped away at the screen.
“So how was your dinner last night?” Ivy asked, letting her foot fall away from the carseat when it became clear Teagan was completely settled now.
“How did you know I had dinner out last night?” I frowned, pausing in my book stacking.
“Kai was on his way home from work and saw you and Dylan heading into that sports place I can’t stand.”
That was about right.
“Oh, right.” I gave them a quick rundown of how we’d ended up there. “The whole night was a bust anyway, so…” I shrugged and grabbed the clear Perspex book stand for the book I was holding.
“Why don’t we go out this weekend?” Tori asked. “We could have girls’ night. We haven’t done it in ages.”
“Oooh, yes. Please!” Ivy leaned forward. “Kai’s sister is in town and won’t mind watching Teagan. She did offer the other day, and these bathroom renovations are driving me insane.”
Right. She was ripping out her main bathroom because the pipes were all leaking. Except Kai and a couple of the guys he worked with who were also plumbers were the ones doing it and because of that, it was taking ten times longer than if they’d just hired a company.
“It has been a while,” I admitted. “Do you think we can get Kinsley drunk and get her on the karaoke?”
“In about an hour.” Ivy laughed. “Okay, well, I need to go to the grocery store, then I’ll talk to Anna about watching Teagan for me.”
Tori nodded and closed down her laptop. “And I have a phone meeting at two, so I need to go home and get ready.” She looked at me. “I’ll finish up all those designs and send them over to you tonight.”
“Don’t rush. We can’t order until next week anyway.” I smiled and bade them goodbye, then got back to unpacking the books.
It took me an hour to get everything done and on the shelves where they needed to be. After helping a teenage girl find some books from the young adult section, I settled down at the counter to look through old designs we could convert for pins and stickers. I copied the ones I wanted into another folder where I could easily find them.
Then I was bored.
I picked up my phone and opened my messages.
ME: Did you call that waitress yet?
I knew damn well Dylan hadn’t called her. I also knew he had no intention of calling her, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to bug him about it.
DYLAN: You know damn well I’m not calling her.
I grinned.
ME: I know. But it’s fun to annoy you.
DYLAN: Good to know I’m here for your amusement. Shouldn’t you be working?
ME: I am working. Very hard.
DYLAN: Hardly working more like.
ME: Excuse you. I’ve not stopped all day.
DYLAN: At least you managed to handle the order by yourself today.
ME: Holley was here until she went to the DIY store.
DYLAN: Why is she at the DIY store?
ME: I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I don’t want to know. She went off on a tangent this morning. I think she’s still trying to come to terms with how to help Seb. She keeps doing little projects around the store and it’s all nervous energy.
DYLAN: I guess she doesn’t know yet then.
ME: Know what?
DYLAN: It’s too long-winded to explain here, but he’s buying ten acres and opening a sports school with a gym and camp facilities.
Holy wow. That was one hell of an undertaking, but cool at the same time. If we’d had easy access to a dance hall and teacher growing up, I might not have those extra few pounds on my thighs.
All right, I probably would because I liked food, but I’d have a couple less extra pounds.
ME: That’s amazing!!!
DYLAN: Yep. And I’m working with him on it.
ME: Omg congrats! That’s so cool!
DYLAN: Thanks. I’m happy to stay. If the team wanted me to travel with them, I’d have had to move out.