She fought the urge to hide the tattoo she had designed to remember her dad, a heart entwined with a crescent moon and the wordsTothe moon and back.
“How are you, dear?”
“I’m good. Busy.”
If she hoped Pam would take the hint, she was doomed todisappointment. “It can’t be easy to try to make something of a small-town bookstore in this day and age. It’s so much more convenient to buy things online, don’t you agree?”
“Maybe. But convenience doesn’t keep a bookstore going in a small community.”
She didn’t bother telling Pam all the reasons The Rainy Day Bookshop was important to the community. About how it served as a community hub and offered locally curated books people couldn’t find easily elsewhere. About how a good bookstore could provide a gateway to reading to community members. About how she wanted to foster creativity and connection here.
“Is there something I can help you find?” she asked instead.
“Just browsing, really. I’m looking for a gift to take to a friend who just had surgery.”
“Books are the perfect present. I’ll leave you to it,” she said.
“Thanks,” Pam answered. When Emma returned to her work, she saw the other woman perusing the shelves as if trying to memorize each title.
For the next twenty minutes, Emma was painfully aware of the presence of the other woman. A few other customers came in: a couple of tourists looking for a guidebook about the town, a young girl seeking the latest in a series of fantasy novels she was reading, a teenager looking for manga.
More customers came in during that final twenty minutes before the store closed than she’d seen in the past hour.
Through it all, Pam seemed to be browsing the shelves, book by book.
Just go, already, Emma thought as she checked out the manga titles for the teenager. She’d never been so eager for a customer to get out of the store as she was for Pam to leave.
She had hoped she could avoid further conversation withthe woman but by the time Pam finally approached the checkout counter, all the other customers had left and they were the only two people in the store.
“Found something?”
“Yes. I think she’ll love it,” Pam said, setting a Mediterranean diet book on the counter.
Emma had thoughts about the wisdom of giving a cookbook to someone who was feeling under the weather, but she chose to keep them to herself. She didn’t know the recipient nor the circumstances. Maybe a diet cookbook was the exact right gift to lift the spirits of this person who was having a rough time.
After ringing up the sale, she held out the small machine for Pam to swipe her own credit card. When the transaction was done, Emma handed the book and the receipt to the woman. “Would you like a bag?”
“Do you offer gift wrap?” Pam asked.
Emma wanted to say,Hell to the no. Not for you. But there was a stylized sign behind her that clearly indicated The Rainy Day Bookshop offered free gift wrapping.
Suppressing her frustration, she pulled out the long box containing their three styles of gift wrap available, two book-focused prints and one silvery generic style.
“Which one would you like?” she asked.
Pam pursed her lips and studied the gift wraps before she pointed to the generic silver one.
Emma had never wrapped a gift so quickly, nor had she ever been as relieved to tie the final ribbon.
“Here you go,” she said, giving a tight smile that felt like it was going to freeze off of her face as she handed the gift-wrapped cookbook to the other woman.
Pam took the book, eyeing Emma carefully.
“Have I done something to make you mad?” she asked.
Oh yes. Plenty of things that she did not want to get into right now.
“Why would you ask that?” she asked instead.
