Page 43 of The Jorogumo

"I was hoping you would want to buy the store," she said, and whatever I'd been expecting, it wasn't that.

The breath rushed out of me in a loud whoosh, and I slumped against the counter, shaking my head. "Me?"

Smiling fondly, she reached over to pat my cheek. "Of course. You've been taking such good care of this place since the day I hired you. Actually, you've done better than I did, and kept this shop going through the digital age. You've put so much time and effort into this place, and there's no one else who could take care of this place better than you."

I swallowed hard, her praise making my chest feel all warm and tight.

"Mrs. Warner, I would—I would love to, but I don't think I can afford it."

"Of course you can," she said, waving it off as if it was no big deal. "You've been working here for almost a decade, and I know for a fact that you haven't made any big purchases in all that time. I'm sure you've savedup quite a sum."

She wasn't wrong, though I didn't think it was anywhere near enough to buy a store this big.

"Just think about it, okay? If you'd like to buy it, we can settle on an amount you feel comfortable with. I don't mind selling for less if it's you, because I know you'll take care of this place. I just don't want to walk by here in five years and find yet another clothing store here."

That made me chuckle, but my mind was a buzz of fragmented thoughts, and it stayed that way even after she'd left.

Fuck, what was I supposed to do?

Sixteen

Haruto

My phone buzzed inmy shirt pocket as I was helping Silas take some logs of wood up to the second floor of Khush's place. I ignored it since my complete focus was on maintaining the integrity of my webs so Silas could use them to pull the logs up—while he could carry them up one by one, this was faster—but when it started buzzing again, I got worried.

Other than my friends at the Sanctuary—most of whom were right there with me—Liam was the only one who'd call me, and the fact that he'd called more than once and during the workday meant something had to be wrong.

I excused myself as quickly as I safely could, and pulled my phone out, calling Liam quickly.

"Haruto," he greeted, and I couldn't tell from his voice if something was wrong.

"Hey, Liam. Is everything okay?"

Liam was silent for so long I got worried the call had dropped.

"Liam?"

"Ah, sorry. I just—my boss came for a visit."

"Oh. Did something happen?" I asked, confused about his reaction. He'd told me about his boss in a previous conversation, and from the way he'd talked about her, I knew she was a good woman.

"Yeah. She just told me something, and now I don't know what to do."

"What did she say?" I asked, showing Silas my hand, fingers spread, to ask for five minutes. He waved me off with a grin, hefted up two logs—one above each shoulder—and headed merrily on his way.

"She's selling the store."

"Oh."

"And she wants me to buy it. She says no one else will take as good care of it."

"Oh! That's amazing, Liam. And she's right, you know."

"I don't have that kind of money, Haruto."

I bit my lip, stopping myself before I could offer to pay.Human pace, I reminded myself.

"She must know that, right? What did she say?"

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