Page 7 of Crazy in Love

Tess looked at her phone. “All right. Everyone’s in. We’ll meet here after you close up at seven. I gotta get back to work.”

“Thanks, Tessy.”

Faith was neck deep in balance sheets, swimming in numbers, when one of the employees popped her head in.

“Ms. Sullivan,” Morgan said. “I’m so sorry to interrupt. And I really hate to do this, but I’m not feeling so great. Can you get someone to cover story hour? It starts in half an hour.”

Morgan looked on the verge of fainting—or throwing up—and whispered the words so softly that Faith barely caught them.

“You do look a little green,” Faith said. “I’ll do it. Just leave me the book you planned to read and head out.”

“Thank you,” Morgan said. “Hopefully, I feel better tomorrow.”

Thirty minutes later, Faith sat on a fat floor pillow, a half dozen antsy kids sitting cross-legged in a semi-circle around her.

“Where’s Ms. Morgan?” one asked. “She promised I could turn pages.”

“She’s not feeling well,” Faith explained. “But I could use a helper.” The little girl came and plopped down onto Faith’s lap.

“My mom said the F-word today,” a little boy announced. The woman seated behind him closed her eyes, shook her head, and inhaled deeply.

“So what? Mine says the S-word all the time,” another replied. The woman behindhimturned a shade of deep red.

“My dad says my mom has a hot ass,” a third chimed in.

“Okay,” Faith interrupted. “Who’s ready to start?”

Six little arms thrust into the air, and they settled down and were quiet. Halfway through the book, Faith noticed the moms sneaking off one by one to look around. Huh. That must be the ploy of story time—to lure the parents in to shop. What else were they gonna do while their kids were busy?Check me out. Learning business already.

They finished the story with minimal interruptions and only a few more embarrassing family secrets exposed. The biggest kerfuffle resulted from an unapologetic fart, which set the group off into fits of giggles. It had taken her five minutes to regain control.

For the next several hours, Faith immersed herself in the data, trying to get a handle on everything before her friends came over. All three arrived as she was closing the store.

“Hey, Shorty,” Faith greeted as Alex—the only short one of their group—entered, holding a large pizza. “Mariani’s? Yum!”

Juliet and Tess filed in behind Alex, each carrying a bottle of wine. “After talking with you this morning, I thought we might need this,” Tess said.

“Can’t argue with that,” Faith said.

They ate quickly and got down to business. “As far as I can tell, we operate on a medium-sized loss every month. But those months have added up, and now we’re in real trouble.”

“Okay,” Tess started. “There are two main things to evaluate. Cutting costs and adding revenue. Let’s start with costs. What’s your biggest expense?”

Faith studied her notes. “The lease, followed by employee salaries.”

“Can you cut someone?” Alex asked.

“I don’t think my mom would want me to fire anyone.” While they talked, Faith shuffled a stack of tarot cards she’d found in the desk.

“Maybe not,” Juliet said. “But she also wouldn’t want you to lose the store.”

“True,” Faith conceded.

As they mulled over ideas, the cat sauntered into the room.

“When did you get a cat?” Juliet asked.

“I didn’t,” Faith said. “I think it’s Ruby’s but haven’t confronted her about it yet.”

---