“I’m sorry, Shelby, but the same month you received an increase, she took a pay cut of the same amount.”
Shelby shook her head. “She said it was past time for me to receive a salary increase because I’d assumed more responsibilities, plus inflation...”
But a conversation they’d had while sipping tea in Gram’s kitchen came back to her. Shelby had mentioned the expensive repairs on her broken-down Mazda. She was fretting over it because the repairs had taken her entire nest egg.
How had she not put that together before—her personal financial woes and Gram’s offer of a raise? If the store was in bad shape financially, that was exactly the kind of selfless thing Gram would’ve done.
Shelby’s eyes burned. She pressed her fingertips to her temples, hoping to stem the tears. Her breaths came quick and hard. This couldn’t behappening. The store was all she had. All she had left of Gram. She forced herself to ask the question. “How bad is it?”
He straightened from the railing, his expression softening. “Hey, listen. Maybe we should follow up on this in the morning. It’s getting late and—”
“Like I could sleep after this! Tell me. I need to know what I’m dealing with here.”
He sighed. “You’re two months behind on rent and some other bills. There’s very little money in the store account.”
Behind on the rent? Very little money? “How much?”
“Two hundred twelve dollars and change.”
Shelby gaped. “That can’t be right.”
“Unfortunately, it is.”
“Could there be another account?”
“I’ve seen no evidence of that.”
She cupped her forehead. Rent alone was steep. There wasn’t enough to pay October’s rent, much less the two months she was in arrears. And those other bills. Shelby wished she could take it out of her personal account, but she was still trying to rebuild from the Mazda repairs. In general, she barely got by, and she’d been okay with that. She’d chosen this job because of her passion for books, not because she ever expected to get rich.
But she did have to get by. And the store had to turn a profit—or at least break even—or she wouldn’t have a job at all. Nor would all her booksellers. If she couldn’t make rent, they were dead in the water. The building was owned by some out-of-state entity, so it wasn’t as if she could beg a neighborly favor. “How long do I have?”
“Your lease says three months. They’ve sent a couple delinquent notices. I can call and explain the circumstances. The store has leased this space for years, so they might be willing to work with us through a difficult time.”
“But if things are as bad as you say, how will I ever get out of the hole?” Her last words quivered with emotion. She bit down hard on her lip.
He took a step closer, lifted his hand, then dropped it as if realizing she wouldn’t welcome his touch. “Listen, there’s a lot you can do to turn things around. I have some ideas and I’m sure you will too. This isn’t a hopeless situation.”
“Really? Because it feels pretty hopeless to me, Gray. The store isn’t earning enough to pay basic bills, and pretty soon we could lose thebuilding. I could lose everything Gram worked for all these years.” She was taking her anxiety out on him, but she couldn’t even care.
He touched her arm. “Hey. This isn’t your fault. And we’re not gonna let that happen.”
She flinched away. “There is no ‘we’ here. You’ll be leaving now that you’ve done your part, and it’ll be my problem. It’s my business—my problem. So just leave, Gray. It’s what you do best.” She hitched her purse on her shoulder and fled down the steps before the tears burning her eyes trickled down her face.
Chapter 11
Eleven years ago
Shelby fumed as she placed the Nora Roberts novels on the New Fiction shelf. Giving Gray a ride home yesterday had been a huge mistake. He’d gotten under her skin and she couldn’t even figure out why. He was just so... somaddening. So arrogant. Who did he think he was, calling her Little Miss Sunshine, disparaging her boyfriend, insulting her reading material?
Speaking of which, she’d gotten home last night only to discover her book was missing from her car. She’d planned to finish it last night, but no. Gray had stolen it, and that left her with nothing to do except play chess with her dad. She was terrible at the game, and her dad went on a tangent about his long-lost wife the way he did sometimes when he was sad and lonely. Shelby got it. Mom had deserted Caleb and her, too, after all. But at some point you had to move on. Boredom and the depressing topic had gotten the best of her—she ate two sleeves of Double Stuf Oreos and went to bed early.
And it was all Gray’s fault because if Shelby had had her book, she would’ve been tucked away in her room, enjoying a satisfying happily ever after.
“You got some grudge against Nora, honey?” Gram’s voice startled her from her thoughts. “You’re damaging those dust jackets.”
Perhaps she’d been shoving the hardcovers onto the shelves with a little too much vigor. “Sorry, Gram.”
“Something on your mind?”
