Fairy Tales and Cappuccinos (Everyday Love #1) - Taylor Rylan Page 0,50

leaned against the wall beside my desk.

“Yeah. Friday was insane. I should have listened to him sooner, honestly. I have a shipment of inventory coming in early tomorrow morning to help with the depleted stock. It’s crazy.”

“Okay, but do you think things will continue after the holidays? At the current level?”

I shook my head and leaned back in the chair to look at my cousin. “No, I don’t. But I don’t think things will be as slow as they were before. At least, I sure hope not. Besides, there’s two parts to the business now. Kind of like your shop.”

“Yeah, adding a towing business to it was a game changer. Especially with a service call just to come out, even if they don’t use my services.”

“But if towing services lag, you still have the garage and what’s going on in there. It’s similar here. People are always going to want coffee and others books. The hope is to keep the window display catchy enough to draw them in, the book cabinet right inside the door enticing, and the smell of coffee the sinker.”

Ford chuckled. “Makes sense. When did you come up with all of that, and do you have any ideas for the garage? It always slows down this time of year.”

“It’s all Sawyer. You could ask him if he has any ideas for the garage.”

“I’ll have to. He’s not here?” Ford looked toward the door of the office.

“No. He went home.” Much to my displeasure. We still hadn’t made it to that first date. Our intentions were there. But with Friday being crazy, Saturday no better, Sawyer and I were both exhausted by the time we closed Saturday night. He’d ended up spending the night with me Saturday, but we did no more than shower and crash in my bed. Unfortunately, he was gone Sunday morning by the time I woke up. At least he’d left a note, but still. I owed him a date.

“Okay, I’ll swing by tomorrow after I close the garage. I might want to hire him—as a side hustle sort of thing—for the garage. If nothing else, I want to ask for some suggestions.”

“Everything okay?” I was becoming a bit worried. Were things not going well for Ford?

“It’s fine. Wells has asked for more hours, and I want to give them to him if possible. But there’s only so much I can do while still ensuring the garage’s bills are paid. Mine too.”

That I understood completely. I’d taken a huge gamble when I gave up my apartment and moved in above the bookstore. If anything happened to the bookstore, it was a very real possibility I’d be looking for a new place to live as well.

“Let me know if you need anything.” I got up from the chair. I was more than ready to be finished with work for the night. It was going on eleven, and the shop would be opening back up in just nine hours. I was breaking all of my rules lately. But really, I was only down here because Ford had come by to look over numbers with me. I wasn’t exactly sure why, but maybe it was that he was looking to expand the garage? “You staying?” I asked.

“Nope. I’m headed home. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“You sure?” I asked as we left the office. I locked the door behind me and walked with Ford toward the back door.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve had a couple of long jobs lately and want my own tub and bed. If you’re not busy this weekend, maybe we can do something on Sunday.”

“Sure.” I didn’t have any plans of yet, and if Sawyer wanted to do something on Sunday, I was sure I could work time out for both him and Ford. “Drive safe,” I said.

“Always.”

I watched as my cousin got in his truck and left. I locked the door and ran back up the stairs, realizing I was tired. More so than I had been in a while.

After locking up, I went to my room and stripped. I wanted a shower and to slide in between the sheets and pass out for six or so hours. I turned on the shower to warm up and brushed my teeth while the shower heated up.

I was about to climb in when my phone rang. Since Ford had just left, I went into the bedroom to see if it was him. I needed to take everyone’s advice and set specific ringtones for everyone