Page 12 of Already Home

At exactly six, Violet locked the front door and turned thesign to indicate they were closed.

“It was a pretty good day,” she said cheerfully. “Nearly fivehundred dollars in sales.”

Jenna nodded. “Great.”

Considering the cost of the goods they’d sold, her overhead andsalaries, not to mention the ten percent off coupons, she was probably in thehole about two hundred dollars. And that was just on the first day. Imagine howmuch she could fail in a week.

Violet crossed to her. “It’s okay,” she said. “This will getbetter. People will start to talk about the store, and before you know it, we’llbe bustling with activity.”

“Bustling?” Jenna managed a smile. “There’s a word I haven’theard in a while.”

“It works in this situation. We’ll be slow for a while, butthings will get better. You’ll see.”

“I know you’re right,” Jenna lied.

Violet tilted her head. “Want to get a drink? I know abartender who makes a mean margarita.”

“Thanks, but my mom’s expecting me for dinner.”

“Okay, sure. Tell her hi from me.”

Violet left and Jenna quickly followed. No matter where shelooked, all she had seen was potential. Now she felt as if she’d been playing agame where everyone knew the rules but her. The worst part was, the only personshe could blame was herself.

She crossed the parking lot to her car. On the drive over, shewould have to figure out how to spin her day so her parents didn’t worry. Theywere already concerned enough.

As she slipped into her car, she heard the sound of laughterand glanced up toward the store next door. Only Ewe was busy with customers.Dozens of people held baskets overflowing with brightly colored yarn. She couldsee through to the back where a large table was crowded with knitters. A tall,handsome man moved toward Robyn, put his hand on the small of her back, thenkissed her.

Jenna turned away and started the engine. Deep inside, she felta stab of something that could only be envy. But whether it was for all thehappy people filling her neighbor’s store, or for the fact that she missedhaving someone special in her life, Jenna couldn’t say.

Three

Violet passed out the list of ingredientsto the half dozen customers sitting in front of the kitchen area of the store.It was the third day after opening and the first day of Jenna’s classes.Yesterday had been a little better, with more people dropping by. Sales had beenunimpressive, but she knew that could grow with time. Assuming they hadtime.

If she wanted to complain that it seemed as if Jenna had openedthe store without much of a plan, she was just as guilty of leaping withoutlooking. After all, she’d come to work for her without much in the way ofguarantees. Still, her gut said this was the right thing to do. And if her guthad made its first mistake, she would simply find another job and start over. Itwasn’t as if she hadn’t done it countless times before.

Jenna adjusted the mirror over the portable cooking table. “Canyou all see what I’m doing?” she asked.

There were a few murmurs of agreement.

“Good. I thought I’d start with a quick tip on how to choponions. It’s fast and easy and will keep your fingers out of the way of a sharpblade.”

Knives, Violet thought, making a mental note. They could doclasses on different kinds of knives. What they were used for, how to care forthem. That would encourage people to buy knives and sharpeners and knifeblocks.

Jenna continued her lesson, explaining how to cut the onion inhalf, through the root, then peel it.

“Slice this way,” she explained, demonstrating, “at an angle.Then turn the onion and slice it.”

The slices fell away at a speed that was practically a blur.Jenna ran her fingers through the growing pile of onion, easily separating theslices into neat diced pieces.

“I didn’t know how to do that,” one woman murmured to herfriend. “That’s clever. I wish she’d let us practice.”

“Me, too,” the woman next to her answered. “I don’t want towatch someone cook—I want to do it myself.”

Violet agreed. But Jenna seemed determined to be the only cookin her kitchen. She had great ideas about products and even flow in the store,but she wasn’t intuitive when it came to customers. Violet could only hope thatJenna’s funding was generous so they could keep going until all the kinks wereworked out.

Violet didn’t get it. Jenna was nice and obviously intelligent.But clueless. It was as if she woke up one morning and said to herself, “I’mgoing to open a kitchen store.” The total lack of advertising was problemenough, aside from the awkward people skills.

Jenna dropped the diced onion into sizzling butter, thensmashed a clove of garlic and quickly sliced it. Chicken came next.

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