“You did a good job on it, for sure.”
Rob paused, surprised by the praise. “Thanks.”
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Brian flipped open the notebook Danny had provided for them to write notes and tasks in so there was a central place for everything.
They’d started with sticky notes, but that had gotten out of hand pretty quickly. There were sticky notes everywhere, even some in the house, and there was no organizational structure. They’d fall off, and then Stella ate one and nobody called the propane company.
“I’m going to set up the camping shelves, I think.” There was a section of shelves in the back of the store that would stock a variety of things people might have forgotten or need to replace—especially tenters. Things like generic tent pegs, tarps, parts for Coleman lanterns and stoves. They’d even decided to stock a couple of sleeping bags, though the markup on those would probably encourage folks to make the drive into town.
They also had a section with commonly needed things for RVs—light bulbs and hose fittings and the like—and some stuff for ATVs. That was harder because every brand was different, but they stocked several common weights of oil, gloves and some miscellaneous parts. And plenty of duct tape and zip ties.
They’d already done the shelves of snacks and canned goods, along with staples and condiments. There had been a lot of debate about being a campground store versus being something of a general store that served the community. The latter meant a lot more in the way of juggling groceries and expiration dates, and they’d decided to start small and see how it went. And the priority up to now had been the food and the RV stuff, but even though they weren’t open to tenters yet, there were a lot passing through the area.
“I’m going to set up this laminator thing and get some signs made,” Brian said. They’d decided rather than paying a professional to make signs, they’d print and laminate their own for things like showering trail grime off before getting in the pool because it wasn’t a bathtub, and not flushing anything down the toilets that wasn’t supposed to be. They’d assumed those things were obvious, but the previous owners had informed them that was definitely not the case.
An hour later, Rob was on his hands and knees, half in the shelving unit as he tried to reach the dust in the back corners of the bottom shelf. It had been there so long, he wasn’t sure it even qualified as dust anymore. It was more like a grimy cement film that defied anything but extreme scouring.
The bell over the door rang, but he ignored it. Brian was still behind the counter, having a long, obscenity-laden argument with the laminator after winning an intense fight with the printer, and he’d probably welcome the opportunity to deal with a human. Technology was kicking his ass.
“Good morning,” he heard Brian say. “What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping you could point me in the direction of a decent grocery store.”
Hannah.Rob’s head jerked toward the sound of her voice. Unfortunately, he didn’t remember the shelves until his skull hit the one above him with a solid thunk.
Biting back a curse, he eased away from the shelves. Once he was clear of them, he pushed himself to his feet, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.
“You okay over there, Bobby?”
Rob clenched his jaw. He had no doubt Brian had used his childhood nickname deliberately.
“Bobby?”
“Oh, my brother Rob. Old habit, I guess.” Even though Brian wasn’t in his sight line, Rob could imagine the smirk on his brother’s face. “I don’t know if you’ve met him yet. He was in the pool when you checked in.”
Yeah, he was definitely doing it on purpose.
“I’ve met Rob,” he heard Hannah say, and he held his breath as he waited to see if she’d tell Brian about his photography faux pas yesterday. “We ran into each other while he was taking pictures for the website, but I didn’t think to ask him about grocery stores.”
With a sigh of relief, Rob stepped out of the aisle so she could see him. “Hi, Hannah.”
She didn’t smile, but her expression softened slightly. “Hello again.”
“There’s a market not too far down the road,” Brian said. “You would have passed it on your way in.”
“I did, but I’m looking more for an actual grocery store. Like the one where the locals shop, not places to grab a few things. I’m out of pretty much everything and I want to stock up so I’m not running to the market a few times a week.”
“Sounds like a Grocery Shopping Trip of Doom,” Rob said with a chuckle.
Hannah, on the other hand, didn’t look amused at all. She frowned. “I’m really hoping there’s no doom in my shopping.”
“Oh, sorry. Notactualdoom.” He wasn’t sure how to explain it, and he looked to Brian for help. “It’s an expression my family’s always used. It means...”
His brother shrugged. “Epic, I guess?”
“That’s a good word for it.” Rob looked back to Hannah. “When we were kids and something was epic, it was always like the Camping Trip of Doom or the Volleyball Tournament of Doom. We used to play a game in the pool called Water Ball of Doom.”
“Everything was doom,” Brian muttered. “Why did we do that? Who started it?”
