Nearly every customer who came into the store had something to say about the designs, making her proud that she’d taken the time to do it. Ever since Holt Callahan arrived in town, she’d tossed around the idea of creating a mystery section. She could practically see the view from the window; only this one would be peering into a room to see a chalk outline of a body, some blood sprayed on a cabinet. The main reason she hadn’tdone it yet was due to all the kids that frequented her store. The last thing she wanted was to give one of them nightmares. Or worse.
“I’m sorry,” the customer said as she started toward the checkout counter, pulling Violet back to the present.
“Don’t you dare apologize,” Violet teased with a smile. “You can linger all day if you’d like. I’ve even got comfy chairs in the back.”
The woman laughed as she set three books on the counter. “Don’t tempt me. I’ve recently gone back to reading paperbacks rather than my Kindle. There’s something about the feel of the book in my hand. If I’m not careful, I’ll spend the entire day lost in a fantasy world.”
“I know exactly what you mean. Those are the best places to be, right?” That was the very reason she’d opened Shelf Help in the first place. Her love of reading started when she was little and followed her right into adulthood. It was either open a bookstore or become a teacher. Since her family liked to call her sassy and not good with authority, she opted for the former.
“This is a great little place, by the way,” the woman said as she swiped her credit card. “I had no idea it was even here.”
“Do you live in Coyote Ridge?” Violet asked.
The woman shook her head. “Embers Ridge. Real estate’s hard to come by here. But maybe one day.”
Violet grabbed a goody bag from under the counter and passed it to the woman along with the receipt.
“Ooh.” The woman flashed a smile. “What’s this?”
“Bookmarks, pens. A keychain or two. Just some goodies I got from a few indie authors you might want to check out.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.” She tapped the top book. “When you’re done with that, come back by. I’d love to chat about it. And if you’re interested, a group of ladies gather here on Mondays for their romance book club.” Violet pointed toward the bag. “There’s more info about it in the bag.”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “I’d love that.”
“Have a great day,” she called, watching as the customer headed for the door.
She waited until the bells stopped jangling before she headed to the back to find Elana. Her friend was sitting in one of the lounge chairs, ankles crossed, eyes closed.
“Why don’t you ever invite me to the romance book club?” Elana asked, eyebrows lifted though her eyes remained closed.
“Because we like totalkabout the book, not poke fun at it.”
“Tell me you don’t find the dirty talk funny,” Elana said with a smile. “There’s not a man alive who’d dare say some of that stuff to a woman. Not one who could make it sound sexy, anyway.”
“There’s at least one,” she said softly.
Elana’s eyes popped open. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah.” Violet could still hear Simon in her mind, the sultry sound of his voice as he told her all the dirty things he was going to do to her right before he did.
“So? How hot was the sex?” Elana asked, placing her hands primly in her lap.
“On a scale of one to ten, about seven hundred ninety-four.”
Her smile spread. “That’s all?”
Violet covered her face as she took a seat in the other chair. “I skipped out on him.”
“Wait, what? I thought he was comin’ toyourhouse.”
“He did.”
“And you…” Her expression morphed into something resembling horror. “Youlefthim there?”
She peeked over at her friend and nodded.
