When she didn’t continue, he said, “I’ll tell you a secret. Sometimes, I turn off those lights, but I’m really hiding in the back.”
The tension of her near confession eased away. “Why would you do that?”
“So I can have a moment’s peace.” Dominic handled one of the pipes a little roughly, as if suddenly upset about something.
“Is the store really that busy?”
Dominic snorted. “Not really. I just get a lot of visitors.”
“Like Gwen?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “I’m a pretty popular guy. I don’t think it helps that everyone knows everyone in Tolstone.”
Erica nodded. “Yeah, it’s definitely got that ‘Stars Hollow’ feel going on.”
“The what?”
She had to contain her eye-roll when theGilmore Girlsreference went completely over his head. She couldn’t blame him. Erica and her mom adored that show, and they watched it every chance they got. “Nothing. My point is that Tolstone’s a very nice town. If everyone knows everyone, that should help me and my business.”
“I’ve been telling everyone about your business too. I hope it shows.”
Erica wondered how many of the phone calls were his doing. “Yep. It’s going really well. I’ve got several appointments and I’mworking something out with the schools to take their photos for the yearbook.”
“Excellent!” At least someone else in this town cared if she did well or not. “There’s this town event thing this weekend,” he continued. “Kind of like a spring festival, and a bunch of the local businesses will have booths set up. The registration closed about a month ago, but do you want to have a booth? I could pull some strings. I think there were some spots left that the event coordinator was trying to fill.”
He had said it all so fast that she could hardly form the words to respond quickly enough. “A booth? Like, with a table and tent?”
“Some do that. Others just have a table. I’ve got a spare tent and—”
“Whoa, there.” She threw her hands up. “Slow down, cowboy. How much does a booth cost?”
Dominic sat up and reached for another partially assembled component sitting on the counter. “Don’t worry about it.”
Erica wagged her head and felt a little of her former willfulness bubble up again. “Uh, yeah, I will worry about it. I’m not going to let you pay for the table.”
He shot her a look that made her freeze. For a few seconds, wills clashed in the kitchen, but Erica would not back down. She drew the line at the camera and sofa. No more handouts.
Finally, he backed off. “Okay, how about a loan? I pay for the table, and you pay me back with five percent interest every month until it’s paid off.”
A loan sounded fair, even if she didn’t know how much it was. Five percent might be steep, but how expensive could a booth at a small-town festival really be? Fifty dollars? Maybe a hundred? A loan was far better than a freebie, and she could easily make back the cost of the table with new bookings.
She nodded her acceptance of the deal, and Dominic ducked under the counter again. Her mind went into overdrive, thinking of all she’d need for a booth. She’d never done one before, not even at the farmers’ market in Decatur. “I don’t even know what I’d bring.”
“It’s on Saturday, so you really don’t have long to think about it,” Dominic said as he snatched up the last washer and seal. “I think it’d be a good promotional tool for you. All of Tolstone usually turns out for it.”
Erica blinked and let her mouth hang open as she tried to order her thoughts. She’d need a table, a printed banner, and she was pretty sure she had enough business cards, but a few flyers or pamphlets seemed like a good idea. She’d be up all night on the computer to design something to take to the print shop. Wait, did Tolstone even have a print shop?
A harsh rap on the door made her jump.
“That’s probably for me,” Dominic sighed. “I’m almost done with this.”
“How do you know it’s for you?” she questioned as she pushed herself to her feet.
“Just a guess. I might have been expecting company at my place.”
Though she wondered how anyone might have guessed he was at her place instead, Erica hurried down the foyer hall. Her eyes went wide when she opened the front door to find a police officer, complete in uniform with the gun on his hip and badge. He seemed to be just as alarmed as she was.
“Can I help you, Officer?”
