to open yet.”
“Or it’s the guys coming to install the security equipment. I’ll go with you, or I can handle it.”
“You can come with me. I can’t be afraid of answering the door every time someone is there. And you can’t always be here.”
“I’ll make other arrangements with pack members to be here until we catch these bastards. If whatever you have is valuable enough, I’m sure they’ll be back.”
“I just wish I knew what it was.”
And she really wanted to know if Josh wanted to take her to the pack Christmas party.
Chapter 13
In her office, Brooke opened the safe. She put the Chinese vases in there and locked them up, then opened her laptop. “Here are all the lists of merchandise I’ve added to the website with the prices my great-aunt had them listed for, but I don’t know what they cost.” She pulled some papers from a file. “These are the invoices for the new vintage-looking merchandise she bought from wholesalers that I put out on the shelves last night.”
He looked at the four-drawer oak file cabinet. “Yours or hers?”
“Mine. She has one, too, but her filing system isn’t like the way I set things up, so I’m having a hard time finding anything. When I came here during the summers, she wouldn’t let me touch her filing system.”
He smiled. “Sounds like my brother and me. He keeps track of all the costs and revenues and keeps all the records. I’d do it in a totally different way, though it wouldn’t mean I’d do it any better than him. Just that it would work better for me. Since he usually handles all of it, I let him deal with it.”
“I can imagine. That’s how it was with my great-aunt and me. I keep paper copies of all my records, but I also list them on the computer for easy reference. I have to have the original cost of the items so I can determine how much profit I make for tax purposes. I’ve had a few things I’ve paid a couple dollars for that brought in thousands.”
“That’s not a bad return on investment.” Josh could see where this could be a fun business, when he hadn’t thought it would be. It would be like Christmas—getting a gift that turned out to be something valuable. Or like winning the lottery.
“I agree on the return on investment. That’s what I always hope for. Even the trunks could sell for $300 to $1,000 apiece. As long as I can refurbish them without having to pay a lot for someone else to do it.” She glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. “If you want to go through the items listed on the website, I’m going to heat the cinnamon rolls and then open the door for the customers.”
“I can do that.” And he’d see if he could find her great-aunt’s inventory lists.
Brooke set the cinnamon rolls in the microwave and started it.
Josh texted his brother: Bring Jingles and Cinnamon to the shop.
It was a last-minute idea he’d had. He really wanted to help Brooke with her sales before the big reindeer season was over and do something to make her feel better after what had happened to her last night.
She returned to the office and handed Josh a mug of peppermint mocha. “I miss Jingles. That will be one Christmas open house I’ll never forget. If I sold as much as I did that day every day, between the breakage last night and brisker sales, I’d be bought out though.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Josh didn’t believe she would be sold out. Not with all the boxes of stuff she had stacked everywhere in the attic and the other rooms on the second floor. But it would save having to have massive sales after Christmas.
She laughed. The microwave dinged, and she returned to the kitchen and pulled out the cinnamon rolls. “Off to unlock the door.”
Josh jumped up from the desk chair. “I’ll go with you.” He hoped she wouldn’t be upset that they were going to have two calves here today, but she’d had so much fun with Jingles being here, and her customers had loved him, and her business was so brisk that he thought having the two reindeer visit might lift her spirits a bit. It wasn’t that she seemed down, exactly, but disquieted. He hoped she’d appreciate the surprise.
She sighed. “Thanks for looking out for me. I keep forgetting I might have unwelcome customers.”
“Hazard of