Summerfield: Chapter 28

It was the day before the grand opening. I was anxious and there wasn’t anything left to keep myself busy with. Josh had a contractor come over and, fortunately, he told us that the wall wasn’t essential to the building. It was alright that we impulsively tore it down. After a collective sigh of relief, we worked side by side to clean up the entire area between our two businesses.

I apologized for snapping at him about not hiring any staff for his bookstore.

“It’s okay. You’re stressed. I didn’t think of all the details. I have a lot to learn about running a business," he shrugged.

I gave him a short hug to let him know he was doing just fine. When I started to let go, he held on longer and asked, “Do you need help with anything?”

I smiled as I let go, stepping back. “No, thank you. Do you?”

“All I need is for you to stand there looking gorgeous.”

“You’re so cheesy!” I pushed his shoulder playfully. Then I thought for a minute, “If it helps, you could borrow one of my employees for our joint opening tomorrow. Later, I’ll help you find some workers for your store.”

He nodded, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” I smiled.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening, we helped each other put the finishing touches on our stores. We hung a grand opening banner from the roof of our building. I helped him spruce up his window display with vintage classics, such as Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and Great Expectations, adding vases of flowers from the local floral shop in between them. For lunch, we ordered burgers and fries to go from Jenny’s Diner. As we ate quietly in one of my booths, I realized how well we worked together as a team.

“Well, when we can actually get along, anyway,” I thought.