Page 23 of Love and Pumpkins
My breath quickens and my muscles tense thinking about Steve, who sells leather belts and tote bags in my store, and Jill, who makes the cutest beaded bracelets, and Bonnie, who makes T-shirts with hand-embroidered animals on them.
Steve, Jill, Bonnie, and several other artisans depend on my store. Depend on me. If I fail, I fail them, too. It’s not just my livelihood on the line.
“Is it because of the furnace?” he asks.
“Yes!”
He listened to me. Normally, that would thrill me, but right now I keep thinking about how I’m failing.
“Hey.” He wraps his arms around me, a hand rubbing large circles on my back.
Just like last night, his touch is soothing. I want to burrow into his arms and never come out.
He makes a soft shushing noise and rocks me gently. “We’ll figure it out,” he says.
“We?”
“Yes, we. I’ll help you figure it out. I like problem solving.”
“Oh, mister. You do not know what kind of problem we’re talking about.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, like five-numbers-before-the-decimal-point kind of problem.”
“Ah, numbers. I’m a math guy. That’s right up my alley.”
Hunter takes a breath, and I find it comforting. I close my eyes and take a breath myself.
“How about this?” he says. “We get you packed up, we get out of here, and I take you to dinner. I know how you are on an empty stomach.”
My stomach growls loudly. He laughs. “My point exactly,” he says.
I smile. “Maybe I should have eaten something other than donuts today.”
“Maybe,” he agrees. “Let’s get going.”
He leans down and kisses my forehead, then smooths my furrowed brow with his thumb before stepping away.
Hunter merges the stacks of soap on the nearest table, and it takes a moment for my body to unfreeze. I take a deep breath and force myself to smile. He’s right. The furnace bill is figure-out-able. Somehow. Someway.
As I pull out plastic containers to fill with all the leftover soap, I whistle. Grandma Birdie always says that when you’re feeling down, whistling a tune willbring you back up.
Hunter laughs, then joins in with his own whistle tune. We may be whistling two different melodies, but they sound perfect together to my ears.
Chapter Eleven
Although Hunter suggested going out to dinner, I asked if we could just order a pizza and have a quiet evening at my place. I needed a shower and wanted to get into some cozy clothes.
Besides, I really wanted to talk about the possibility of a relationship between us, and I didn’t want to do that at a table in a restaurant when it was likely that someone I knew would be sitting close by.
Hunter asked if we could meet in my boutique, as he was curious to check it out, and we agreed to meet at six.
The store is always closed on Sundays and Mondays. They are my days to restock, refresh, and on rare occasions, relax.
Entering the boutique, I turn on the lights for the back half of the store, leaving the lights in the store’s front turned off because I don’t want passersby to think I’m open for business. Though with the lack of sales today, maybe opening on Sundays and Mondays for the next fewmonths is a way to bring in the cash needed to fix the furnace. I can’t work 24/7, but maybe 12/7.
Sighing, I scan the large room for anything amiss. Thanks to the busy weekend, I haven’t set foot in my store since Thursday.
