“It came on last night. My nose is running like nobody’s business and I don’t want anyone getting sick because of me and I….”
“No worries,” Penny said firmly. “Thank you for calling. I want you to rest up. You need to focus on you, okay?”
“I’m also supposed to do a shift tomorrow….”
“No worries about tomorrow, either. We’ll figure it out. Do you need anything? I can swing by the pharmacy or the grocery store.”
“I’m good. Hubby’s out now, loading up.”
“I’m sorry you’re under the weather. Call if you need anything, okay?”
“Will do. Thanks, Penny, and sorry.”
“Hope you feel better very soon, Nancy.”
The call ended. For a long moment, Penny stared into space, considering her options. Getting a replacement for tomorrow was easy: Mom or Dad could help out.
But today? Mom and Dad were shopping in Eagle Cove today. Elsie would likely say yes, but Elsie’s knitting circle met in a few hours at the community center and Penny didn’t want to pull her away from that. Anna wasn’t available yet —the fall semester at Middlemore didn’t end till next week. Ben and Sara were already on today’s schedule, so asking them to extend their shifts was probably the way to go.
She heard a cough and came out of her head. Daniel was looking at her with concern.
“Bad news?” he asked.
“Nancy —who works here —is sick.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“With her out of commission today, I need to figure out who can take her shift and I —
“I can take it.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I can take her shift.” He straightened his posture. “Put me to work, boss.”
“You?”
“I’m here and want to know what it’s like to work in a bookstore, so.…”
She stared at him, not fully ready to accept that the serious, careful man she’d met four days ago was the same fellow standing before her now. The seriousness was still there — that trait was clearly a core part of his nature — but this morning he seemed more open, more receptive, more interested in engaging with his environment.
“Are you…,” she began, then stopped. “Have you ever worked retail?”
“Sure,” he said immediately. “I did catering gigs in college and bartended for a year before my first book came out.”
“You’re telling me you’re ready to spend an entire day participating in the full-on, non-stop, no-holds-barred commercialization of Christmas?”
He smiled. “Try me and find out.”
CHAPTER 20
Afew moments later, as Penny unlocked the front door of the bookstore for what would undoubtedly be a very busy shopping day, she found herself hoping she’d made the right decision. She glanced at Daniel, who was at the sales counter, his attention firmly fixed on the store’s point-of-sale computer.
“You can still back out,” she said as flipped the “Closed” sign to “Open.”
“Not a chance,” Daniel said. “Okay, I think I see how this works. Can we do a practice sale?”
“Sure.” She approached the sales counter and picked up a snowman keychain from the trinket jar. “I’d like to purchase this, please.”
