‘Of course.’
‘Let’s hear it.’
Lexi thinks on her feet. ‘Well, if we’re going to compete, we should actuallycompete.’
Sam wiggles his eyebrows. ‘What did you have in mind?’
‘I was hoping you’d have some ideas, too.’ She hopes he doesn’t notice that she is stalling.
‘Okay, Miss Austen.’
She takes a sip of her coffee and waits for Sam’s contribution.
‘Miss Austen,’ he says. ‘That’s a great name for a bookshop owner.’
‘So is Dickens. Is he any relation of yours?’
‘Not that I know of. What about you?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe very distantly. We call her Cousin Jane in my family.’
‘And how does she feel about that?’
Lexi rolls her eyes and laughs. ‘Still, what are the odds? Both of us with names of classic authors...’
‘Maybe that’s our IBD competition. You try to sell as much Austen as possible; I try and sell as much Dickens as possible.’
‘That’s too easy,’ she says. ‘Nobody cares about Dickens anymore. No offence.’
‘Really?’
‘Fine, maybe some people do. But Austen is fashionable in a way that Dickens isn’t. He’s a dusty old read for middle-aged men.’
‘Sounds like you’re onto a winner, then. But to make it more interesting– we count how much money we make rather than the number of books sold.’
Great Expectations still has a room of second-hand books, and the occasional first edition. He could wipe the floor with her. And counting it this way also means that she can’t do mega discounts, which is her primary way of selling a lot of books fast.
Sam jumps on her hesitancy. ‘If nobody cares about Dickens anymore, what have you got to lose?’
Lexi has backed herself into a corner. ‘Fair.’ She’s also pretty confident that Jane beats Charles hands down.
‘All right,’ Sam says. ‘It’s a deal.’
‘Smart, witty and fun versus serious and worthy. Seems very appropriate.’
‘For our bookshops.’
‘Sure, but also for us.’ Lexi has finished her latte, which is unfortunate, since well-timed sips make for great punctuation in conversation. ‘So what are the stakes here?’
‘Stakes?’ Lexi is surprised that Sam seems so surprised.
‘Yeah, as in what do I get if I win?’
‘Grudging respect and admiration.’
‘I mean, I assume that’s a given. But what else?’
He scratches his chin, considering this. ‘If I win, you have to come and work a shift in my shop.’
