Page 94 of Every Chance After

He looks sheepish and unsure. “Um, speaking on behalf of the establishment,” he says, motioning to Wade, “I’d like the record to show that we don’t like rules.”

“You won’t like these, either.At first,” she says. “But I promise you will once customers start pouring in. And they’re easy peasy.”

“Just tell us what they are,” Wade orders gruffly.

“First, we must be clean.”

A silent beat passes.

“Second, we must be family-friendly.”

Again, silence as they share bewildered glances.

“And finally, we must have what customersneed.”

She lets the silence hang there as they wrap their slow brains around her rules like she’s waiting for lightbulbs to flicker and come to life on unreliable circuits.

Ever the encourager, Christie is first to say to the others, “Those sound reasonable… easy, too.”

“Theysoundeasy,” Wade protests, “but they won’t be.”

“What does she mean by family-friendly?” Roy asks the other two, leaning in and whispering as if Marina can’t hear.

“I’m thrilled you asked,” she pipes in, “because that’s where we’re starting today. What does it mean to be family-friendly?”

I roll my eyes, folding my arms over my chest.Theyneed a lecture on what family-friendly means, but I don’t.What am I doing here?It’s a gorgeous March Saturday, crisp, cloudless, and ushering in Spring. I should be on my dock or boat, wrangling a fat trout for tonight’s dinner. I don’t need to be here. I need to be alone and not thinking about Marina Ann Strange.

But when she moves to the black curtain markedMembers Onlyand rips it from its staples over the doorway with one determined pull, I laugh, almost disrupting her meeting again. The three men gasp in unison, and she stands victorious over her confident decision.

“Is this family-friendly?” She poses the question so sweetly that I can’t imagine anyone will argue. She grabs a random title from the tiny closet of makeshift VHS and DVD shelves and reads it aloud. “Sex & Sexability.”

Now, she gasps and looks aghast, holding it up to the men—that’s not what she expected. “A Jane Austen porno?”

She grabs another and reads the title. “Pride & Penetration.”

“I prefer the Busty Brontës Series,” Roy says. “Jane Bare.Trembling Heights.”

Wade laughs at Marina’s astonishment. “We have a discerning clientele.”

“The curtain and sign were my idea,” Christie defends weakly. “See? I tried to be family-friendly.”

Marina takes a cleansing breath. “I appreciate your effort, Christie. But pornography isn’t family-friendly. It doesn’t belong here.”

They exchange unsure glances before she explains, “Imagine a mom stopping on her way home. She’s in a rush, tired, but must grab some milk and eggs, or she’ll have nothing to fix the kids for breakfast in the morning. She races in, kids in tow, and grabs her items, but with her arms full, given that there are no hand carts or shopping carts anywhere…”

She moves across this section of the store, waving her hands to prove her point, as she shares her dramatic story.

“… she doesn’t hold their hands, and they wander off. Where do they wander? Behind the mysterious curtain. Now, she’ll use her precious dinner time with the family to explain why some movies are hidden behind a curtain and why kids aren’t allowed to see them… More importantly, what haveyoulost in this probable scenario?”

They glance at each other. Roy raises his hand.

“Yes, Roy?”

“Our pride?”

“Our dignity?” Christie tacks on.

“Our patience,” Wade mumbles.

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