to write my stories in a bookstore. Bronze had mentioned it again when he invited me to stay with him, almost as if he was trying to ensure I would say yes. Little did he know, I would’ve said yes no matter where he asked me to go, but listening to him confirm it with Tatum and Josie was the icing on the cake.
When Monday morning rolled around, I pulled Bronze’s truck into the lot and grabbed my bag, nervous as hell. In fact, I was so much on edge that I jumped and almost screamed when the entry bell sounded. “Morning!” I called out with a bit too much enthusiasm in an attempt to cover my trepidation.
“She’s here!” I heard Josie squeal from somewhere I couldn’t see. She appeared moments later and motioned for me to follow her. “This way. We have a surprise for you!”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” I managed to say. Graciously accepting compliments or gifts was not a strong point for me.
“We wanted to,” she replied and came to a stop in the far corner of the bookstore. Positioned in front of a black backdrop hanging in front of the far wall of bookshelves was a small table, topped with a black tablecloth and adorned with twinkle lights. A comfy-looking leather office chair sat behind it.
“Voila!” Josie beamed.
“I love it!” And I honestly did. “Especially how the twinkle lights set the mood. I’m going to have to do this in my home office.”
“Yay! I’m so glad you like it,” she said, sounding relieved.
“Wait!” Tatum shouted with an overwhelming amount of excitement. “I also have a surprise.” She moved behind the table and pulled the black backdrop to the side revealing several different life-sized cardboard cutouts of Bronze wearing a hot pink evening gown.
I started laughing so hard that no sound came out for several seconds before I inhaled deeply and laughed until my stomach started cramping.
“Oh, this is the best surprise ever!” I cheered and studied the replicas. “Is his hair pink in that one?”
Tatum frowned while Josie explained with a grin. “Obviously, Bronze lost a bet. The loser had to dye their hair pink and wear a pink dress to work every day for a month. Tatum forgot to specify the type of hair dye or the length of time, so Bronze picked the kind that washes out in one day.”
“I bet Avery has software that will easily change his hair to whatever shade of pink you’d like,” I suggested.
“In case you didn’t know, I’m on a permanent member of Team Sloane,” Tatum said seriously.
“Make yourself comfortable, and we’ll try to stay out of your hair. Customers shouldn’t be a problem because we don’t have a lot of traffic. And, please, let me one of us know if you need anything. We’ll both be here all day.”
“Thank you so much, Josie. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity.” Leaning closer, I lowered my voice, “A little secret—I’m going to try to write an entire story from start to finish while I’m here.”
Josie used her fingers to simulate zipping her lips. “That’s so exciting! And your secret’s safe with me,” she promised.
“I really hope I can pull it off because it’s sort of poetic—a book’s full circle.”
Josie wiped under her eyes. “I think I’m going to cry.”
“I think I’m going to vomit,” Tatum said flatly, causing me to chuckle. She cleared her throat, and her tone completely changed. “Josie, once Sloane’s settled, I need to talk to you about the delivery we have scheduled for later this week.”
With that, Tatum returned to the office, and Josie spent another few minutes fussing over me before she joined her sister. After setting up my laptop, I put in my earbuds, selected ocean waves as my white noise, and started writing a new story.
I was having a great time and writing more words per day than usual. I don’t know what it was, but something about the bookstore profoundly spoke to my soul. At the rate I was going, I could possibly complete two short stories during my stay in Devil Springs.
Like Tatum said, they didn’t have many customers, but the ones who did come in didn’t seem to notice me. I was anticipating numerous interruptions, but Tatum and Josie stayed busy and left me alone to work.
The first part of the week flew by. Since Bronze spent his days at the gym next door, I met him there when the bookstore closed