Page 52 of November

“That space between the shelves.”

“Oh, no. There used to be a door there, but we never bought any additional shelves to fill the space. I was thinking about it today, oddly enough. Maybe I’ll add some shelves. Not for books, though. I could sell tourist stuff and shove it there. It might bring in more tours or more people, at least.”

“What if you made it a door again, or an open archway or something?”

“And why would I dothat?”

“Because the café is on the other side.” India pointed. “And I can get them to put a door over there. The space between the buildings is really small, so we can connect them easily, and you’d get a café.”

Maisie looked at the space between the shelves, looked at India, looked down at the book with the pink cover, and looked back at India again. She had no idea what was happening, but she’d try to figure it out later. Right now, India was staring at her expectantly.

“Maise?” India asked.

Maisie smiled because her nickname sounded good on India’s lips.

“You want to give me a café?”

“Well, notgiveit to you. I was thinking the access might get you more customers. People who go into bookstores these days expect there to be coffee or pastries, or at least, it can make them more likely to stick around and buy something.We can open up the space. Southern gets more money, but you would, too. You could even use our logo and advertise that you sell Southern Roastery coffee. That’s a big deal.”

“Really?”

“It’s a small construction job, and we’ll need a little time on our end to get some of the technology stuff set up, but, yeah. You’d have to sign a contract about logo and brand use, but that’s it, really. I might even be able to get you a percentage of the profits, if you’re interested; maybe some kind of deal where anyone who says they came fromChapter& Versegets you ten percent of the sale or something. We would have to figure that part out later, and it wouldn’t be much, but ten percent of a cup of coffee could add up.”

“How can you just do that?”

“I’m the head of the business development department. It’s my job to look for these opportunities.”

“I’d love to just say yes, and I’m open to the idea, but I’d need to make sure that connecting my building to yours wouldn’t get in the way of potential landmark status.”

“Sure,” India replied with a shrug. “And if it does, you don’t have to do the door, but we’re probably opening the café up to customers after all, so we can still discuss how it could help the shop.”

Maisie smiled at her and replied, “India, that’s amazing. Thank you just for thinking of me… the shop, I mean.”

“It was you,” India said with a soft smile. “I was thinking aboutyou, mainly, and making you smile.”

“This definitely makes me smile,” she replied.

“Okay. Paige and I are sharing a pizza and garlic bread, so if you two want garlic bread, get your own.” Lainey said, walking back in. Then, she handed India her phone back and added, “This is Paige, by the way.”

Lainey motioned to her girlfriend, who was now standing next to her.

“Hi, Paige,” India said. “I’m India.”

“Nice to meet you,” Paige replied. “Okay. Put me to work before the food gets here,” she said to Maisie. “Let’smake you some campaign money.”

“Is it that bad?” India asked softly as she scooted closer to Maisie to allow Lainey and Paige to sit at the table, with Lainey bringing over an extra chair for Paige.

“It’s okay,” she said. “No big deal. How many posters can I really make, anyway, right?”

“Right,” India replied. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Um… Garlic bread,” she said. “But the cheesy garlic bread and a pizza. Oh, and dessert. They have really good brownies there.”

India handed Maisie the phone and said, “Whatever you want.”

CHAPTER 14

“Hey, I got the POS downstairs to do what you wanted,” Finley said.