Page 63 of Of Literature and Lattes
Janet looked to Seth first. He gave her a tiny nod. There was time. “Sure. What’s up?”
Eve pointed to the display windows. “Olive’s on vacation for another two weeks. We decided to each take a full month this summer, but... It’s horrible.”
Janet faced the window and absorbed what Eve had put on display. Her mouth dropped open. The shop’s three mannequins were dressed in green, toes to nose, with an odd accessory added to each. A black leather coat for one. A chunky brown necklace on another. And the most improbable white cashmere scarf gracing the third.
“I read that green was this summer’s hot color.”
“Maybe not on everything.” Janet tilted her head.
When she snagged her lower lip between her teeth, Eve knew she was working not to laugh. “I said it was horrible. Can you help?”
Janet glanced back to Seth, who stood next to his car, eyes fixed with a mix of wonder and horror on the same sight. Eve thought he looked like he was trying not to laugh too. She slumped against the shop’s doorframe. “I’ve been working on this since five this morning. Olive changes the windows every two weeks. She’ll be furious if she finds out I let her last display sit almost a month.”
Seth nodded. “It might have been the wiser choice.”
Janet flapped a hand at him. “Stop it. Wait here... This will take five minutes.”
She walked into the store and stopped. Eve followed her gaze as it skimmed across every shelf, rack, display, and detail. Without another word Janet darted around, grabbing a pair of white slim-fitting jeans, a fistful of gold necklaces, a multicolored silk blouse, blue capris, and a thin white belt.
She crossed back to the window. Eve stepped beside her.
Janet then dropped a pile at the base of each mannequin. “On this one, lose the pants, keep the blouse, and add these items... For this, keep the pants, but use this blouse and the necklaces.” She stepped behind the final mannequin. “And this has to go completely. Use everything in this pile and nothing up there.”
“Thank you.” Eve pulled her into a hug. “And while you’re here, can you give me Alyssa’s cell number?”
Janet stepped back. “Alyssa? Why?”
“I hope to hire her.”
“To work here?” Janet looked confused.
“No, to give us some ideas.” Eve’s confidence wavered. “Didn’t I hear she was helping businesses? Lexi said she did some work for Mirabella that was invaluable. Andante too, I heard, not that it’ll help him now. But Lexi called it a ‘game changer.’ We need one of those.”
“What does she do?”
“I gather just what you did with the clothes, but with numbers. I can keep the books, but we need more than that. She makes the numbers make sense, tell a story, Lexi said, so you can run your business better. That’s a silly analogy. I mean—”
“It’s not. It’s a perfectly good analogy.” Janet stepped to the register and wrote Alyssa’s number on the back of a sales card. “Call her. She’d probably love the business.”
“Thanks.” Eve beamed. “Have a great day.”
Janet walked out the door and stopped in front of Seth. “Did you know our daughter is a ‘game changer’ and has been helping businesses like a one-woman consulting firm?”
Seth smiled. “Doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Chapter 28
A week can change everything...
Alyssa felt like a new person. After four days Janet let her off smoothies and soups, and she decided her new eating regime wouldn’t be so bad after all—as long as it required chewing. Real food had never tasted so good. Neither had real care. It wasn’t that her mom hovered for the week, it was that she was available without hovering. Something had changed, even Alyssa had to admit to that, though she couldn’t articulate it. A fog, dark and heavy, had rested between them so long she didn’t feel its pervasive weight until it lifted.
Not a singleIs that something you really want to do?or anIs that best?or the real gem,It’sup to you, with a raised brow and skeptical tone, was heard all week.
Part of it, she had to acknowledge, was that they hadn’t talked about anything substantive or meaningful. They had laughed—and Alyssa had forgotten, or perhaps had never known, her mom’s dry, sharp sense of humor and childlike enthusiasm.
“Drink this.” Janet had slid a smoothie across the counter on day two.
Alyssa had lifted the glass to examine the brownish-green color within. “What’s in it?”
