Page 93 of Silver Linings
twenty-seven
. . .
“No,we absolutely cannot putWar and Peacenext to an alien romance titledWar and Tease.”
I came to the bookstore during my lunch break to bring Silver lunch, almost positive she hasn’t eaten today, but it would seem I have entered into the middle of a duel of literary proportions. It’s the day before the re-opening, and emotions are high. Silver is visibly stressed, even if she acts like everything is fine.
“Why not?” Carmen huffs.
“Well, for starters, they’re different genres,” Silver volleys back, throwing her hands up.
“That sounds like discrimination, boss lady. Maybe the person who’s buying Tolstoy is going through something, and they look over and see a seven foot tall alien with a ten pack of abs next to it and think, you know what—thisis what’s going to fix me.”
Silver has gone silent, but I can see a subtle twitch in her left eye and decide now is the best time to intervene.
“I think Tolstoy would prefer being shelved next to the minotaur smut.” I step into their line of sight, making mypresence known, and something in Silver’s pale eyes softens before crinkling at the corners with humor.
“What do you know?” She challenges.
“Lots of things. I’ve been catching up on my reading since book club. Wouldn’t want to fall behind or be caught unaware…again.” I sidle up next to her, leaning down and brushing a kiss against her temple.
“See! Even Hendrix agrees with me.”
Silver turns to me. “No more sex for you if you take her side.”
“Hey! That’s sexual coercion.” Carmen settles her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “You are out of control today.”
She steps away, probably to go shelve the two books together anyway, when Silver turns to me. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
I hold up the lunch I picked up on my way over. “I’m on lunch, and now, so are you.”
She looks from me to the bag, contemplating. “I don’t have time.”
“Ten minutes. That’s all I’m asking, and then you can go right back to checking things off your sticky notes.” I wave the bag of take out under her nose, and she sways on her feet to chase after the smell.
“How do you know I have sticky notes?”
“Because they’ve been littered throughout the store for weeks. I found one in my shoe the other day. Don’t forget to follow up with the graphic designer doing the website.”
She grabs a fresh sheet and scribbles the reminder down.
“Sit with me, eat some food. Carmen can handle things while you’re resting.”
She still looks uncertain, but the smell of the double cheeseburger with fried onions wafting from the bag has her waffling on her decision.
“Or I can pick up whatever task you need done while you sit down and have lunch,” I offer.
“No,” she says quickly. “Sit with me.”
A few moments later, we find ourselves sitting on the small bench under the shop window, watching people pass by while Silver demolishes the food I brought her. She allowed the business one day to close and get the store ready with final touches for tomorrow, and plenty of people walking past are checking out the commotion, wondering why the windows are suddenly papered shut. Every time they do, Silver invites them to the event tomorrow as I sit back, bursting with pride. After the last person walks off, she shoves a couple fries into her mouth and turns to see me smiling at her.
“What?” she says around a mouthful of potato.
“Nothing. It’s just cute how excited you get telling people.”
“Well, I have to. This place needs to be a success.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” She raises an eyebrow at me. “I’m sure that’s part of it, but I think there’s a much bigger piece of you that wants it for you too, to prove to yourself you could stick to something.”
