“I know, right?” she said. “I hate it.”
Adam laughed.
“How can someone even complain about my sister? That just proves how aimless my life is,” Lucy said. “Even when I really try, I come up short.”
“You should stop comparing yourself to your sister, then,” he said. “Compare yourself to my sister, and you’ll come out on top. She’s going through her third divorce, and she’s a chain smoker, despite the fact that our mom died of lung cancer.”
Lucy didn’t know if she should sympathize or smirk at the irony. “I think I’d smoke too, or maybe drink, if I was on my third divorce.”
Adam seemed to consider this. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Although she’s been smoking since she was a teenager. Not that my mom was a great example to her.”
Their conversation had gone from lighthearted to serious, and Lucy didn’t know how she felt about that. “But your sister should know better now, right?” she prompted. “Especially seeing what your mom went through.”
“That’s exactly my point!” Adam sighed.
“It’s addicting, you know.” For better or for worse, she was feeling more and more comfortable around Adam. “I never smoked, but some of my friends do. They say it helps with anxiety and general stress.”
“Yeah,” he said in a quiet voice. “But why couldn’t she do yoga or something?”
“That’s the story of my life,” Lucy admitted.
Adam scanned her face. “What do you mean? Are you a yoga instructor or something?”
“No. My mom, my sister, and sometimes my dad, start a lot of sentences when talking to me with ‘Why couldn’t you just ...’”
“Ah, I see.” He held out his hand. “I want to show you something.”
Lucy looked at his hand. Did he want her to hold his hand? She placed her hand in his, and he smiled. Then he led her to the front of the store to one of the displays. He dropped her hand, and she decided she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. He was just showing her something.
“Do you ever read the author bios at the back of their books?” he asked.
“Sometimes,” she said. “If I love a book, I’ll do some research on the author.” They were standing close to each other, and Lucy tried to ignore his clean scent. Which then made her wonder where he showered. Was there another bathroom in the shop she didn’t know about? Would it be weird to ask him?
“I read most authors’ bios.” He picked up a book. “This author was a veterinarian.”
“James Rollins?” She’d only read one of his books, but it had been a while. She took the book from Adam.
He picked up a John Grisham book and turned to the bio section. “This author used to sell books out of the trunk of his car.”
“And he was a lawyer.”
“That, too.” Adam moved around the display and picked up a republication of Pride and Prejudice. “I’m assuming you like Jane Austen?”
“Of course,” she said.
“Most female writers in her day used male pseudonyms because writing fiction wasn’t considered moral for women.”
Lucy laughed.
“It’s true.”
“I know.” Lucy sighed. “I get what you’re trying to tell me. Working part-time in a bookstore isn’t aimless.”
Adam set the book down and folded his arms. “What about working full-time? Would that be aimless?”
“No ...” Lucy said in a slow voice. “That would be more of a ... career?”
Adam flashed her a smile. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
She stared at him. When he didn’t say anything more, she said, “Why?”
He took the book she was holding and set it back on the display table. “It’s time for my dad to retire. He’s almost seventy years old and has never taken more than two days off my entire life. If I told him I was hiring you as our new full-time assistant manager, I think he might agree to retire. He’d still come into the shop, I’ve no doubt, especially at the beginning.”
Lucy blinked. “Can you afford it? I mean ... not that it’s my business.”
“The success of story time gave me a lot of hope,” Adam said, not acting offended at all. “I have quite a few other ideas, but my father wouldn’t like many of them.”
“So with him out of the way, you can do them?” she teased.
“Something like that. Plus, I like your ideas. You’re great with customers. You know a lot about books.”
Lucy laughed.
“Your Alice in Wonderland costume was a brilliant idea,” he continued. “My dad likes you, and, well, I think you’re a great fit for the store. Should I go on?”
“I’m feeling pretty good about myself now,” Lucy said. “I’ve never been one to turn down a few compliments.”
“So is that a yes?”
“Don’t you have to run this past your dad?” she asked, her pulse speeding up.
“No. I’m the owner and manager.”
He seemed to be standing closer to her, but he hadn’t moved. Somehow the space between them had shrunk.
She took a deep breath, and as the shop phone rang, she said, “Okay, I accept!”
Adam grinned. “Perfect. I’m glad. And you can tell your sister that you’re amazing.” He moved past her before she could say anything else.
She didn’t move for a moment while she listened to him answer the phone. She wanted to hug herself. Run around in circles. She had a full-time job with a title—assistant manager, no less.
When Adam hung up the phone, she was still standing by the display. She had to tell him about her lack of education. “You know I don’t have a college degree, right? I only went two semesters.”
“No problem.” Adam looked over at her. “I can train you.”
She grinned. “I’m so happy I could hug you.”
He laughed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” She held up a hand. “It’s probably against some protocol anyway.”
Before Adam could answer, the front door opened behind her. Lucy turned. A young couple entered, holding hands. Lucy greeted them, wondering if she should introduce herself as the assistant manager. But she refrained. Maybe she’d wait until she got a nametag.
Adam wondered if he’d been too impulsive about hiring Lucy full-time. But it wasn’t impulsive if he’d been thinking about it from the day his dad had hired her, right? Adam had been paying attention to how she interacted with customers. She was never late. She stayed past her shift most days. If she ever made a mistake, she was quick to correct it and eager to learn new things.
She was also great with the kids at story time, and that was what had solidified his decision. He just hadn’t planned on offering the position to her so quickly.
Lucy was now telling the customers who’d recently come into the store about how John Grisham used to sell books out of the trunk of his car. Adam smiled to himself. Lucy made him laugh. He felt lighter when he was around her. His problems with his sister seemed to fade away. And it was remarkable that Lucy had actually sympathized with Darci. Who would have thought?
Lucy was growing on him. He could admit that he’d been attracted to her ever since he met her, but he valued her as an employee and didn’t want to mess up the good atmosphere of their working relationship by doing something as dumb as asking her out. Although he wanted to. Very much. She might have a boyfriend, but he sort of doubted it. Didn’t most women who were in relationships talk about their boyfriends? Maybe not to their bosses, but surely she would have said something.
Yet ... he’d been working with her for weeks, and she’d only told him today that she had two siblings.
The phone rang again, pulling Adam from his thoughts. He answered it and was pleased to talk to the woman who was calling with questions about story time. “Only on Saturday mornings?” she said. “Oh, that’s too bad. My son is in Tae Kwon Do every Saturday morning. If you ever do a weekday evening, I’d love to know about it.”
“Sure,” Adam s
aid. “Can I get your contact information, and if we start one up, I’ll let you know.” When he hung up, more marketing ideas were plaguing him. He’d wanted to sell e-readers in the store. He couldn’t make the markup high because then customers would just buy them online, but he could offer gift-wrapping and maybe an additional discount on other things in the store if they bought an e-reader. He also wouldn’t mind expanding the coffee bar idea that they’d done with story time.
The young couple approached the register, carrying Variant by Robison Wells.
“Great book,” Adam said.
“You’ve read it, too?” the young woman asked. “Lucy told us it’s great.”
Adam’s gaze connected with Lucy’s from where she was standing across the store. She smiled at him, then turned away. Adam’s heart did a little jump.
“It’s great to come to a store where the employees actually read,” the young woman said with a laugh.
Adam smiled. “My dad started this business years ago, and he always insisted that I read at least two books a month.”
“Sounds like a great dad,” the woman said, her tone a bit wistful.
After the couple had left, Adam opened his laptop and pulled up his marketing ideas document. “Hey, Lucy, can you come here?”
She was at his side quickly. He wanted to ask her if she always smelled like vanilla, but he didn’t.
“Are you going to quiz me on author bios again?” she asked.
He turned the laptop so that she could see his marketing list. “One of the customers who called earlier asked if we’d ever consider doing a weekday evening story time.”
Lucy raised her brows. “That might be good during the school year.”
“I added the idea to my list,” he said. “Do you think you can look at my other ideas and see what you think?”
She leaned down and propped her elbows on the counter while she read through his list. “Some of this sounds great,” she said after a moment. “Other ideas might be too much work for too little reward.”
He moved so that he could see the screen better. “Like what?”
“Don’t sell baked goods in the shop.”
“That’s what my dad says.”
“But wrapped candy and chocolate is a great idea,” Lucy said. “No mess, and yummy.”
“Okay.” Adam leaned in to click the document. He typed “wrapped candy and chocolate” then put an asterisk next to it.
Lucy pointed at the screen. “Definitely yes on this one. Background music in the store would be great.”
“I think so too,” he said. “My dad thinks it would be too distracting if people are trying to read.”
Lucy shrugged. “The music can be low in volume. And the best benefit is that I won’t have to listen to you hum all of the time.” She nudged his shoulder.
“I don’t hum.”
“You do. All. The. Time.”
He laughed. “Okay, so I hum. There could be worse things.”
Their gazes connected. “Actually, I don’t mind the humming.”
Something in her eyes shifted, as if she were thinking of him in a new light, but what light? He straightened, putting space between them. “Good to know. With music in the store, maybe my humming will at least be on key.”
Lucy smiled and looked back at the list on the computer. “What if we do 20 percent off new releases instead of older titles? Get a jump-start on the new release sales. Maybe open the store early on release day?”
Adam nodded. “I like it.” This time he bumped her shoulder. “What was your major in college? Marketing?”
“Um, no,” she said. “I didn’t exactly settle on anything. I chose English, but then I changed to geography, followed by a hard shift to communications. And that was all before the first semester ended.”
Adam stared at her. “I can see the connection between English and communications. But I’m not sure about geography. I didn’t even know it was a major.”
“Well, it’s a major, and I was interested in working in a small underground office at a seismic center.”
He wanted to laugh, but he could see she was serious. “Really? I can’t picture you being happy in a small underground office of any kind.”
“It was a rough week,” Lucy said. “My boyfriend dumped me, and I wanted to go and hide in a hole.”
Adam’s mouth involuntary twitched.
“It’s not funny.” Lucy held back her own smile. “At least it wasn’t at the time.”
Adam rubbed his face, trying not to laugh. He failed.
She put her hands on her hips while she watched him.
“Sorry.” He held up his hand as he got control over his laughing. “I can understand the desire to go hide in a hole, but to actually change your major so you can literally do that ... ?”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I’m trying to get help for my impulsive decision making.”
“I like your impulsiveness.” He didn’t know why he said it, but it was true.
Her eyes widened, and their gazes held.
She stepped back, and their gazes broke. “So, what’s your story, Adam Parks?”
Adam leaned against the counter. “My story? I think you know most of it.”
“I know about your family, but not about you,” she said.
“Good point.” Adam hesitated. “I graduated high school like 80 percent of all Americans. Went to college, majored in business management—from the beginning, I might add.”
Lucy shook her head, a smile on her face.
“My mom started chemo treatments my last year, so I ended up moving back here to save money and finished up my class work mostly online.” He shrugged. “My sister continues to plague me no matter how I try to see life from her point of view. And my dad ... I just want him to be happy again. I don’t want my sister to keep breaking his heart. And I suppose it would be nice if he could be in a relationship with another woman again, and they could take care of each other in their old age. I hate to see him so lonely.”
Lucy moved closer. “What about you, though? What do you want for yourself?”
Adam hadn’t ever really had time to think about himself, separate from the demands on his family and the business. “This is it.” He spread his hands. “Parks Bookstore.”
“So, if a genie popped out of a bottle and granted you three wishes, owning a bookstore would be one of them?” she asked.
“You know, I think it would be,” he said. “I’ve been working at this store as long as I can remember. It’s a part of me.”
Lucy glanced around. “It is a nice store, and I wouldn’t complain about this sort of career.” She nailed him again with her brown eyes. “So what would your other two wishes be?”
“We’re back to the genie thing again?” he asked.
She just smirked.
“All right. I suppose it would be like most men ...”
Her brows shot up. “Do I want to hear this?”
Adam laughed. “Unlimited money, and a great woman to share it with.”
“That makes no sense.” She put her hands on her hips.
Adam noticed that she often put her hands on her hips. He sort of liked it, though.
“If you had unlimited money you wouldn’t have to work here.”
“Ah,” he said, holding up his hand. “This would still be my career, but maybe I could add a rare books section. Travel the world, collect books, bring them back here. And my unlimited money would pay an employee to run the store in my absence.”
Lucy tilted her head. “I like it.”
Such a simple statement from her made him feel warm all over. He should probably get a cold water bottle out of the mini fridge in his bedroom. “Speaking of running the store, we need to work out your new schedule. I usually have mornings off when my dad comes in.”
“I wondered about that,” she cut in. “Do you sleep in or something?”
“Ha ha,” he said. “Not quite. I get up early, thank you very much. Around six o
’clock if you must know. I go for a run, and then I do errands, and sometimes I meet up with friends for breakfast.”
“That explains it.”
He furrowed his brows. “Explains what?”
She shrugged. “I was trying to figure out how you don’t look like a couch potato when you hang out in a bookstore all day.”
Yep, he was warm.
“I guess that’s a compliment?” he prompted.
Her gaze turned mischievous. “What time should I be here in the morning?”
“My dad usually gets here around eight, but with our new arrangement, you’ll be opening the store.”
“I can be here at eight, no problem,” she said. “And how late should I plan on staying?”
“I’m usually back in the store by noon, and then you can still leave around four or five. My dad takes Monday off. Do you want to do that as well? Or pick another day during the week?”
“Well, if you’re used to running the store alone on Mondays, I’ll stay with your schedule.”
“Okay, great,” he said as the front door opened and a group of people came in. They were obvious tourists, but were still customers.
“Thanks, boss.” Lucy walked away to greet the new arrivals.
Adam watched her for a moment, a dozen thoughts running through his mind before he turned back to his marketing list.
“Assistant manager, huh?” Sydney said, an impressed look on her face.
“That’s wonderful, honey,” Lucy’s mom added. “Impressive too, since you’ve only worked there a few weeks.”
Lucy smiled. “Yep.” She took a sip of her water. They were waiting for their lunch to be served, and her sister would head back to Santa Rosa after they ate. “It works out perfectly, since it would be a pain to work two part-time jobs.”
Her mom’s expression looked sympathetic, and Lucy brushed it off. She had disappointed her parents by not sticking with college. She continued to be in the proverbial poor house, insisting on living in her own apartment and working to support herself. She wasn’t going to be one of those women living off her parents.
“I’m so happy for you,” Sydney continued, smoothing back her already-smooth gold-blonde hair.
The Falling Series Box Set Page 4
