Page 27 of Cookie

Charlie

T he shop was slow in the morning, just like I knew it would be, but I was busy enough to keep my mind focused on the task at hand, and not the steady stream of people going into the bookstore. “Oh my god, go ahead,” Dad said when he walked by the car I was currently doing an oil change on.

“What?” I asked as I wiped my hands on a cloth.

“I’ve been watching you the past ten minutes and you haven’t taken your eyes off the bookstore. Go ahead. I’ll finish here,” he said and pushed me aside.

“You don’t have to do that. I’m nearly done.”

“Go on, I’m fine to finish up.” He winked at me before once again pushing me aside to get to the engine.

After washing my hands, I hurried across the street and walked into Ryan’s store. It was busier than I’d ever seen it, and even though he’d bought more inventory, the shelves looked bare. “Hey, did you want me to restock?” I asked as I walked over to where Ryan was helping someone at the counter.

“My hero! Yes please,” he said, and turned back to the customer, who said hello to me before I walked toward the storeroom.

“Oh, thank god you’re here,” Avery said, as she rushed out of the backroom.

“Would you mind restocking the puzzles? There are none out there, and I know Ryan wants to sell as many as we can.” She pointed out the boxes, and I gathered as many as I could carry.

As soon as I put them on the table where they were displayed, a few people grabbed them.

“Do you have more of those?” someone asked.

“Let me go check.” I knew there were more, but I wasn’t sure exactly how many there were.

I picked up as many as I had taken before and tried to at least get them set down before they were snatched up.

The place was busier than I’d ever seen it, but Ryan was so happy.

The person who’d asked for more puzzles quickly chose two before thanking me.

But my focus was on my boyfriend and how he was in his element.

“Charlie, can you bring out that box of books on the table?” Avery asked, bringing me back to reality.

“Sure.” I hurried back and picked up the box she’d asked for and tried to figure out where they wanted it without bothering either of them before settling on putting them behind the counter. I then continued to keep bringing out stock until it was finally closing time.

Ryan slumped against the door as he locked it after the last customer left. “Oh my god,” he said before grinning at both Avery and me. “Guys, we did it.” Avery walked over to him and took both of his hands before jumping up and down.

“We did it! We survived our first Black Friday sale.” Ryan laughed along with her before looking past her at me. She turned to look at me before rolling her eyes.

“Okay, I can tell it’s time for me to go,” Avery said, and after speaking to Ryan a moment more, she had her coat on and was out the door.

“Have I told you how proud I am of you?” I asked as I walked slowly to where Ryan still stood grinning at me.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said and leaned against the door again.

I stepped closer and glided my lips up his neck to his ear, making him shiver. “I’m so fucking proud of you,” I whispered before leaning back enough to meet his eyes. “And I love you. I feel like I don’t tell you that enough.”

“I love you too, and you can tell me whenever you want. I know we were planning to go to your house tonight, but what do you think about ordering a pizza and some wings and staying here?”

“Well, now I really love you. I know you’re exhausted and, to be honest, I’d like a quiet night,” I said which seemed to make him happy.

“I’ll place an order,” he said, and took out his phone.

“And I’ll go turn on the heat upstairs. Oh, look,” I said and pointed out the window where small flakes of snow were just starting to fall.

“I thought it wasn’t supposed to snow?” he asked as he spun around to look.

“It wasn’t, but things must have changed.” I pressed myself against his back and wrapped my arms around him as we stood at the window and quietly watched the snow. It wasn’t heavy, and I didn’t expect that to change, but it was pretty, and I knew it made Ryan happy.

“Oh my god, I better order before they tell me there’s too much snow,” he said and finished his order. “They’ll be here in thirty minutes. Go upstairs. I’ll shut everything down and bring up the food as soon as it arrives.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, and I really appreciate you helping today.”

“That’s what boyfriends do, right?” I said as I walked over to the stairs.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but that’s what my boyfriend does.

” He didn’t have to say how he was feeling it was clear in his eyes, and I had to force myself to go upstairs rather than run over to him and steal a kiss.

But we had all night, and that thought made me happy as I ignored how cold it was in the little apartment he lived in and turned on the electric fireplace to chase away the chill.