Yeah, no thanks.I click off the AI pop-up.
I prefer to put my trust in things I fully understand.
14
Sylvie
Ifear the scent of lemon cleaning products may never fully dissipate.
Both from the store—which, thanks to the graphic designer Aiden hooked me up with, now has a gorgeous logo—and from my skin.
I’m destined to smell like a lemon for all time.
Still, I lean back against the counter, soaking in the gleaming, freshly polished wood surfaces all around me, reveling in a job well done.
Sure, my shoulders are sore, my elbows are going to ache tomorrow, and my fingers feel like the victims of a minor but persistent chemical burn—but damn, it’s worth it just for how much I accomplished today.
No bunnies left undusted.
No spiderwebs left intact.
To Be Read is officially shining clean.Even the stained-glass window got a serious scrub, the door hardware all succumbing to my need to polish the ever-living shit out of everything.
Colton lets out a low whistle as he emerges from the storeroom in the back.“Looks really good, Sylvie.”
The storeroom, which I still have to tackle, and which will also soon be receiving probably too many books.Too many books and too much merch.And furniture.
I should order some storage shelves.
“Thanks, Colton,” I tell him, pulling up a shopping tab I already had open on my phone.Oh.I already ordered backstock shelves.Well, okay.Thanks, past me.
“You think four-hundred-pound shelves is enough?”
“Weight wise?”He comes to stand next to me, tilting his head as he looks out at the now-glowing bookshelves.“You worried about the structural integrity of these?”
“No,” I say slowly, new worry filling me.“Should I be?”
“Nah, these things are solid.They’re in good shape, too.”He knocks on the nearest one, giving it a once-over that is completely lost on me but must mean something to him.“You might want to wipe them down again so that wood oil doesn’t ruin any books you put up.”
“Yeah, I will.I was going to let them soak it up tonight.But I meant for the storeroom.”
“Oh.”He turns his gaze to me, clearly thinking it over.“Yeah, that should be more than enough, unless you start selling heavy equipment or cast-iron cauldrons or something weird.”
A nervous, too-high chuckle slips out of me.“Cast-iron cauldrons?Why?What does that have to do with books?”
“Nothing.”He shrugs a shoulder, hooking a hand into the pocket of his worn khaki Carhartt jacket.“I had to help lift one in the town square yesterday and it left an impression.And a pulled muscle.”
That makes me laugh again, though now it’s pure relief.
“That cat you have would fit right in with the whole witch setup down there.It’s pretty cool.”
“Oh, you met Prudence?”I ask innocently.
“Pretty sure you should put her on the payroll,” Colton says with a smile.“She would give most foremen I’ve worked with a run for their money.That cat did not stop supervising once.I had to shoo her out of the bathroom to use it.”
“Right.”I force a laugh.“She’s a real perv.”
Colton gives me a strange look, and I clear my throat.
