She quickly blinked away any tears that were forming and smiled at him. I also noticed her blush was back. Interesting. This woman had to be in her thirties or forties. “Hi,Rainier.”
“I didn’t see you come in or I would have pulled out the new Tessa Dare book I hid behind the counter for you. I know how much youloveher.”
The woman pointed to the counter where her books sat. “I grabbed one from the shelf with a fewothers.”
Rainier looked to the books on the counter, up to me and back to Mrs. Bristol taking in the scene. When his gaze met my face for the second time, he narrowed his eyes. “Michelle, would you mind taking this?” He held a book up inhishand.
“Why?” I asked, crossing my arms. Like he had any right to tell me whattodo.
A deep sigh escaped his lips, and I think he may have even whispered something under his breath before walking up to the register. Rainier rang up the books that were sitting on the counter, while he and the older woman exchanged pleasantries. It sounded like she was a regular who came in every week looking for more romance. And Rainier acted like this wasn’t the most patheticthingever.
Which of courseitwas.
They talked for a couple of minutes before she left. The smile that was on Rainier’s face through the entire transaction fell the moment he turned his head tofaceme.
“I told you to get me if someonecamein.”
“Technically she was here before yousaidthat.”
“You know what I meant. I’m pretty sure that woman single-handedly keeps this business going. It might be best not toalienateher.”
“We both know this is the weakest link in my dad’s chain of businesses. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if itclosed.”
“To Mrs. Bristol, it might be. She loves coming in. Ever since her husband died, she took up reading. This is one of the highlights ofherweek.”
“Are you sure you’re not the highlight ofherweek.”
“She’s a widow. Cut her some slack. Not everything has to be a joke, you know. Sometimes it’s nice just to be nice to other human beings. You shouldtryit.”
“You did not just say that to me,” I argued, feeling my temper rise. “You don’t know anythingaboutme.”
“I’ve heard enough. Plus, between the way you just treated a poor woman trying to buy books from you and the way you’ve sat here doing nothing all day, I've seenenough.”
“Wait until I tell my dad whatyousaid.”
“Tell him, Michelle. If telling his spoiled brat daughter that she’s not in line for some humanitarian award costs me my job, so be it. But I’d like to think your dad is betterthanthat.”
“Better than me,youmean?”
He looked down at his watch and back up at me. “We close in an hour. Can we just ignore each other until then? I’m not asking you to do anything except let me domyjob.”
I sat back down in the little chair behind the counter. “Finebyme.”
I didn’t move from that spot until the last customer left and the last dollar was counted from the register and put into the safe under thecounter.
I didn’t lift a finger just like Rainierasked.
ChapterFour
Rainier
Iwas soglad to get out of Between The Pages. The guys and I were playing at Wild Bill’s tonight, and I was still so new to the group, I wanted to do my best to make a good impression, even if I was a temporary replacement. I’d been practicing for the last few weeks with the guys, but this was myfirstshow.
Unfortunately, my work schedule made it impossible for me to be there for sound check. But with Cooper, the original guitarist, out of commission, everyone was pretty flexible. They were just happy to have someone who couldfill-in.
Carter offered to drag my stuff down to the bar for the sound check earlier. It wouldn’t be easy for them to get a good idea of how everything balanced without me there. You needed everyone, but he told me they’d figure out a way to make it work. I trusted theywould.
It was their band and reputation on the line.Notmine.
