Page 20 of In This Moment

Nerves clenched her throat. “Too much? I can pay it off if you—”

“No. I just expected the tab to be way more, considering all you bought.” He set the receipts aside. “Not to mention, everything we’re doing up front is refurbishing crap we already had, for the most part. Gotta admit, I was a little nervous handing over a credit card.”

Forest threw his head back and laughed. “How sexist of you.”

She grinned. “More like stereotyping.”

“True, dat.” Forest saluted her with a can of cola. “I love what you’re doing to the place, by the way. Very clever.”

Her face grew hot at the compliment. Which was silly, but it had been too long since she’d heard them that she feared she didn’t know how to accept them anymore. “Thanks. I hope it helps.”

“Time will tell, but I think it will.” He winked.

Graham, eyes narrowed as if annoyed, watched them.

Not sure what that was about, she changed the subject. “Were you able to print some of the posters?”

“Yep.” Graham rose, tossing his crust to the dog, who caught it midair. “There are seven poster frames. If you plan to hang them on both sides of the room, it’s an odd number. To appease my OCD, I printed six random front pages.”

She nodded. “You have OCD, too?”

Forest laughed.

Graham gave him the hairy eyeball. “A little.”

“I do, as well. I can use the last frame for something else or set it aside.”

“Forest here offered to help.” Graham closed the pizza box and stretched. “Figured it couldn’t hurt.”

“That would be great.” They had a lot to do, going through all the boxes, copying, bagging the prints. “We won’t get all this done tonight. We should close shop tomorrow with a basic issue run for Thursday. Then maybe on Friday, incorporate the big changes and make an announcement.”

“Works for me.” He glanced at the newsroom outside his office. “You think we’ll get it finished by then?”

Perhaps, depending on how fast they worked. “I could call for reinforcements tomorrow.” If Scarlett and Dorothy weren’t too busy, they could scan and copy. It would give Rebecca and Graham breathing room to work on the paper, website, and emailing.

“Sure.” He shrugged, strolling into the newsroom.

Forest followed. “I can come by after work again tomorrow.”

“Thanks!” She texted her besties and set her hands on her hips, looking at the chaos. “Let’s get the stuff from my car.”

For the next few hours, while Forest and Graham put the posters into frames and hung them, Rebecca put tablecloths on the desks that would hold the comic boxes, cleaned out the birdcage, hung it in the front window display, and set the typewriter on the sill. It still seemed a little too sparse for her liking, so tomorrow she’d figure out how to fill the space.

It felt so good to be a part of something again. Building up instead of maintaining. Between trying to save the Gazette and restoring the library, her plate was full. And she loved it.

As they were getting ready to call it a night, she checked her phone. “Dorothy says she can come all day, and Scarlett says she’ll be available after her morning appointment, probably about noon.”

“Fine by me.” Graham sighed. “Good work, Obi-Wan. I’m beat.”

So was Rebecca. An odd mix of excited and dead tired. She’d take a hot bath when she got home and crawl into bed.

Except, halfway to Gammy’s house, she got an epiphany on what to do with the last poster frame, and spent half the night on her laptop working on it.

Chapter Six

Flipping his keys in his hand, Graham strode to the front door of the Gazette. For once, he actually looked forward to work, which hadn’t been the case since further back than he could recall. Small newspaper, no hard-hitting headliners, spending most of the hours alone at his desk while his stomach ate itself in worry over the paper tanking.

Rebecca had changed all that with one interview. He hadn’t minded getting out of bed today. There was no telling if her ideas would be fruitful, but at least they were trying.

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