Page 51 of Mistletoe Kisses

After thanking Dave, I made my way back to the bookstore. I sucked in a fortifying breath before juggling the coffees and opening the door.

Ron glanced at me and said, “Welcome in,” before returning to his laptop. Then, he did a double take. “Am I hallucinating, or were you supposed to be on a plane yesterday?”

I smiled and handed him his coffee. “My apartment flooded, so I pushed back my flight.” I gave him a brief rundown of what happened.

“That’s awful. Do you need a place to stay? Karen and I have a spare room with a comfortable bed. It’s yours for as long as you need.”

I was taken aback by his generosity. People back home weren’t like that. A person I’d worked closely with for years hadn’t offered me a ride home when I’d told him my car was in the shop for a week, despite us living within a few minutes of each other. He hadn’t wanted to mess with his gym routine, which I understood, but it still sucked.

“Thanks, but I’m all set up for the week.”

“Deb had space at the B&B? That’s good.”

My face was on fire. “I’m, uh, staying with Lucas.”

Ron’s grin widened. “Lucas is a great young man. Comes from a wonderful family.” Ron took a sip of the coffee and let out a happy sigh. “I take it you met Dave? He makes the perfect cappuccino.”

“I did. He was very kind.” I took a drink from my own coffee. Damn, Dave was good.Sorry, Lucas, but Dave makes the best coffee in town.“Since I’m here another week, you can put me to work.”

“Let’s have a seat.” His tone unnerved me, but I followed. We sat in two armchairs in the genre fiction area.

Ron set his coffee on the small table between the chairs and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “I want to be real with you. The store hasn’t been doing too well. The good news is that we’ve had a great boost because of your ideas. People have been coming in to buy gifts, stocking stuffers, and gift cards. I haven’t had to order this much stock in years, but we need more to survive until I’m ready to retire.” A pained expression crossed his face. “I don’t want the business to go down in flames. I’d rather it live on after I retire, but with the state it’s in, no one with sound business sense would buy it.”

The prospect of the store closing, of the town losing this gem, made my stomach twist. “I want to help in any way I can. Even after I leave, I’m only a phone call away if you want to brainstorm. I can help with your social media when I’m back home too.”

“You’re too kind, young man. You’re like an angel, heaven-sent to save my ass. A Christmas miracle. Call Hallmark!”

I laughed. “I have a few ideas for you. I’m not sure what might work, but…”

Ron leaned back and smiled. “I’ll gladly take any ideas you’re willing to share. Karen says I’m too stuck in my ways and that I can’t expect what’s worked for twenty years to keep working. Hit me with your brain power, young whippersnapper.” He’d said the last in a whistly old-man voice.

The laughter came easy around Ron. “I was thinking that more collaborations in town could be a good place to start. You could carry products from other stores or feature a different local business each month. Maybe the candy store could make a special treat that’s book-themed and only sold here. Or special trope- or genre-based tea blends. And what if you expanded more online sales? You could do sign-and-ship events for local authors and include exclusive swag.”

Ron stood and hurried over to grab his notebook from the counter and scribbled as the ideas flowed out of me. At one point, the door opened, and a customer walked in. Since he was in the middle of writing, I popped up and greeted them.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

A middle-aged woman gave me a harried smile. “My son loves fantasy novels, and I’d like to get him something he might enjoy for Christmas.”

“Do you know what some of his favorite books are?”

She grimaced. “I’m afraid not, but I’d recognize the covers of some.”

I smiled encouragingly. “That’s perfect! Let’s go take a look.” I gestured for her to follow me. After ten minutes of talking through some options, she bought an entire series by a queer author featuring a queer protagonist because she suspected her kid might be questioning his sexuality.

Since I was helping her, I rang her up as we kept chatting. Since Ron had taught me how to do it last week so I could cover while he went to a doctor’s appointment, I figured I might as well. Ron watched me closely from his chair. I hoped he wasn’t upset that I’d stepped in.

After she left, he walked over to me. “You’re good at this. Really good at it. Have you thought of working in a bookstore before?”

I looked down at my hands and smiled. “That’s what I wanted to do originally, but I landed at the publishing house instead. I wasn’t sure I’d be cut out for the customer service part.”

Ron let out a hearty laugh. “You just sold a six-book hardback series. You’re cut out for it.”

Pleasure flushed me. Turned out there was a difference between being directly praised for your work and watching other people get recognition for your ideas. I’d never felt so much job satisfaction, and it wasn’t even my job.

After a long pause, he moved right back into our conversation from before the customer came in. “So you think local authors would want to team up to do events like that?”

I was absolutely buzzing from brainstorming with Ron. Waking up with Lucas, feeling like a part of the community, talking books with my uncle? It had already been one of the best days of my life, and it was barely noon.

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