“Yeah, I’m sorry I’ve missed the last couple. It’s been a busy summer,” he says, as though we don’t all know that his idea of busy is having to leave the house for groceries. “But I’m here now, and unfortunately, I’ve got some not-great news.” His eyes roam the store for a second. “For anyone who hasn’t already heard, our rent’s raising in September.”
“How much?” asks Brenna. She’s not a big talker, but Amelia used to say that if you needed to figure something out, you could give it to Brenna and she’d have three solutions for you in an hour.
“A lot.” He swallows hard, then says, “A thousand a month.”
Dane whistles.
“It’s not ideal,” Miguel acknowledges. “I understand why Kathy has to do it, but we’re all aware that Lakeside’s barely scraping by these days. Brenna, how are July sales?”
She tugs on her tie, and I find myself wondering, not for the first time, why some humans willingly collar themselves. “Not awful, but down almost ten percent compared to this time last year.”
He grimaces. “That seems to be the trend. A couple years ago, I wouldn’t worry so much, but prices are up on everything, not just our rent. Kathy mentioned the war, but I wonder if this is the reality of running a bookstore in the new millennium. Maybe people just want to buy everything online now.”
Riley drops a piece of donut in front of me, then asks, “And JMB?”
Miguel looks down. “His assistant doesn’t know where he is.”
“Someone asked for a refund for the event yesterday,” says Natalie, nearly whispering.
“Did you give it to them?”
She grimaces, then nods.
“It’s okay,” he assures her. “We can’t say no. But it’s only a matter of time before more people ask, and I can’t promise a rain date when I have no idea where he is or how to reach him.”
Dane raises his hand like a kid at Story Hour. “If we’re tight on cash, I could work for free. I’ve got savings.”
“That’s generous, but I’m not going tonotpay you,” Miguel tells him. “No one’s working for free except me—and no one’s losing their job, either. Amelia was adamant that you all are the heart of this business, and since she’s been gone, I’ve learned just how right she was about that.” He swallows hard. “I know I haven’t been around enough the past year, but that changes now.”
“Boss, we’re fine holding down the fort. You’ve got to take care of yourself,” says Riley.
“I appreciate that, but it’s time,” he says, meeting her gaze. “It’s been time. I need to step up again and right the ship, and I can’t do that without being here more often. Of course, I’ll have to be careful with Harold,” he says in my direction. “He can’t be home by himself for long stretches, but sometimes he overdoes it when he’s here. If you all see him wearing himself out, please let me know.”
I turn and give him a withering look. I do notoverdoanything. In fact, I feel my best at Lakeside. He’s not the only one who needs this place.
“We’ll be careful with him,” Dane says, scratching my head. “He’s our mascot, after all.”
I sit up on my hind legs to indicate that I accept the honor.
“Boss, Dane and I were talking, and we do have one idea…” Riley begins.
Miguel groans. “Not online books again. We already know that there’s no competing with tech giants. Our ethernet barely works half the time.”
“We’re not suggesting we compete.” She glances at Dane, who nods. “Just join the game. We could put a selection ofromance books up—I know some of Amelia’s colleagues are selling well online.”
He shifts in his seat. “We’re running a skeleton crew here, and I’m not sure we’re equipped to deal with delivery, never mind the whole online aspect. Besides, our romance sales are down right now.”
“Only three percent,” Brenna volunteers.
Riley steals a quick glance at Brenna before looking at Miguel. I still don’t know how they went from love to loathe so quickly, but I wish they’d make up already. “I think that’s because we’re not marketing them effectively. Sales go up when we display them on the front tables. I have to wonder if we should move Romance up to where Nonfiction is. Aside from a couple bestsellers, that category’s definitely not selling as well as it should.”
Miguel frowns. “I really feel we should be going harder on literary fiction, since that’s what the people who signed up for JMB’s event are into.”
“I’m sure a good number of JMB’s readers read lots of genres, just like us,” she says, gesturing to the rest of the staff.
Maybe they do, but Amelia used to joke that Miguel only read serious books by authors named Jonathan and David. “There’s barely enough time to read what I already know I like,” he told her once when she pressed one of her friend’s novels into his hands and said he had to give it a shot. “That’s why I’m not going to make you suffer throughInfinite Jest—you have your own favorites. Our taste is what makes Lakeside so great. There’s a little bit of something for everyone,” he said, and kissed her neck in the way that always made her shiver with delight.
“Maybe, but I don’t know that anyone spending fifty dollarsto see Jonathan Middleton-Biggs is into romance or thrillers,” Miguel tells Riley now. “We need to get the right books in front of them when they come back in here. We want them to leave with a book in hand and the impression that this is the best place to buy literature, since a lot of the people who own vacation homes around here end up coming back for a week or two in the fall and winter. If we can do that, we could boost revenue long-term. But I’ll tell you what, Riley—as soon as I find JMB, we can have a conversation about romance.”
