Smitten Book Club (34 page)

Noah held out the fishing line. “Here, Mom.”

“Oh no. I’m not touching that worm. You want to fish, you bait the hook, buckaroo.”

With a determined scowl, Noah set to work with the wiggling worm.

Molly stretched out on the sloped shoreline, elbows planted into the grass. The sun was pleasantly warm overhead. Already her skin had colored under the afternoon rays.

Now that Noah was out of school, they needed to get outside on the weekends. Most of the week, he was stuck at the store with her. His only breaks came when she had tours and he went to the sitter’s.

“This is hard. Dad always did it for me.”

She didn’t doubt it. Curtis had found it easier to do things himself sometimes. Especially when Noah had been little. “Keep at it. You can do it.”

A few minutes later he was casting the line. It settled about fifteen feet out, the bobber dancing on the surface.

“What did I tell you? You’re a pro.” Molly grimaced when Noah wiped his hands on his shorts. “Need a wet wipe, sport?”

“Nah.”

She smothered a grin and resisted the urge to hand him one anyway.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Molly turned at the deep familiar voice. Upon meeting Gage’s warm smile, she couldn’t help but offer one of her own. “Hey there.”

Gage left the walking trail and flopped down beside her, flat on his back, breathing hard.

“Hey, Noah,” he squeezed out between breaths. “How you doing?”

“Good. I’m gonna catch a bluegill.”

“I bet you will.”

“I’d ask what you’re doing here,” Molly said, “but it’s clear you’re trying to kill yourself.”

“It’s true, I’m a masochist.”

Noah reeled in a few inches. “What’s a masochist?”

“Someone who likes to jog,” Molly said.

Gage smiled, closing his eyes as he caught his breath. “I’m inclined to agree about now.”

She stole the chance to take a peek. Sweat dampened his dark hair. His white shirt clung nicely to his chest, falling just to the waist of his black basketball shorts. Her eyes swept up his chest again on the way to his face. To his eyes. His open eyes.

Busted.

She looked away, her cheeks heating.
Way to go, Molly. You’ve been fretting all week, afraid he’d ask you out, and now you’re giving him go-signals. Good job
.

“Most people do that in the morning, you know,” she said. “Before the temperature tops eighty.”

“I barely made it to church on time as it was.”

They talked about their respective church services, transitioning to the topic of mutual friends for a while. Midway through, Noah caught a bluegill, and Gage showed him how to remove the hook, letting him do the work.

All week Molly had wondered what she’d say if Gage asked her out. She had no answers yet, so she was grateful for Noah’s presence.

“There’s Jordan!” Noah reeled in and tossed his pole aside. “I’m gonna go to the playground, ’kay?”

“Um . . . well, what about lunch?”

“Not hungry yet.”

“Okay . . .” She frowned as her buffer ran toward his friend. So much for that.

Gage sat up, and she thought for a moment he was leaving. But no. He rested his elbows on his raised knees, settling in.

Say something, Molly. Something benign. Something random. Anything
. “How’s business going?”

“Not bad. The weather put a crimp in things last week.”

“Tell me about it.” Half her tours had been cancelled due to the storms. It was hard to turn things around when everything seemed to be working against her. Another loan payment was due soon, and the money wasn’t there. She’d already received a warning letter.

“Don’t look so sad. The forecast for this week is sunny with a chance of tours galore.”

She tried for a smile. She was sure that’d be the case for Gage. For her it was sunny with a chance of bankruptcy. She didn’t know which bothered her more: the thought of letting Noah down or the thought of letting Curtis down. The business had been his baby.

She checked on Noah. He and Jordan seemed to be competing for highest swinger, and Noah was behind. “I don’t know, Gage. Sometimes I think I’m fighting a losing battle.”

“Hey.” His eyes softened, warming her through. “Don’t lose faith. Look how far you’ve come. From fear of heights to scaling mountains.” He smiled.

“For all the good it’s done. I can stay busy and post fliers and garner reviews, but the numbers don’t lie. And I gotta tell you . . . what they’re saying isn’t good.”

He regarded her seriously. “How can I help?”

Her heart squeezed at his willingness to give yet more of his time to her failing business.

“I don’t know. I’m at the end of my rope. My overhead is as low as possible, and we just aren’t making it.”

Was she missing something? Maybe if she gave Gage access to everything, he could figure it out. If anyone could, it was him. That was asking a lot, though. It would be time consuming, and this was busy season. Well.
His
busy season.

On the other hand, if she didn’t do something soon, she was going to lose everything.

“What is it?” His eyes were locked on her. Deep pools of blue.

She nearly fell in and drowned and, frankly, drowning had never seemed so appealing.
Focus, Molly
.

“You’ve been so helpful. I hate to even ask . . .”

He cocked his head. The clouds parted, and the sunlight caught the side of his face. “Tell me.”

She looked away. Licked her lips. She couldn’t think straight when he was staring at her like that. When his eyes went so soft, she felt like a melted pool of chocolate.

“I was wondering . . . if I were to give you access to, you know, everything . . .” Her heart thudded at the thought. It was scary. It was humiliating. He’d see her bank account. Know her incompetence. “Would you . . .”

“You want me to do an operations audit. Assess where you are, see if I find any problems.”

“It would take a lot of time.”

“Molly.”

She turned at his insistent tone. Those blue eyes. Have mercy, she was powerless against them.

“I’m happy to help. I’ll come in this week, and next week
too if I need to. If there’s something to find, I’ll find it. No worries.”

She wasn’t a weeper, so she wasn’t sure why her eyes were suddenly burning, why a knot formed in her throat. “Thanks.”

A delighted sparkle in one’s eye or fluttering of one’s lashes can often convey all a young lady needs to say.

P
EARL
C
HAMBERS
,
The Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship

CHAPTER NINE

T
hings were much worse than Gage had imagined. He’d been analyzing Molly’s operations in his spare time for the past couple weeks. He’d examined the price structure, the business’s efficiency, the benefits and costs of operations. He looked it all over, then did it again, hoping he’d missed something.

Molly kept asking how it was going, and he’d put her off, hoping to find something encouraging, but the news wasn’t good. Her price structure was spot-on. The store was efficiently run. She was frugal in her spending. She was doing everything right.

But the loan was eating up her profits. With that kind of overhead, she needed more business. For customers she needed advertising, for advertising she needed money, and for money she needed more customers. It was a vicious cycle.

There was no money. He looked at the bottom line,
frowning as two customers entered Molly’s shop. Gage closed the book and moved around the counter.

He’d insisted Molly take Noah out for their lunch break. Molly felt bad about the kid spending his summer cooped up in the store. Besides, the place was a tomb. They sometimes went hours between customers.

He approached the middle-aged man and woman. “Can I help you?”

“We’re looking for a good pair of hiking socks,” the man said.

“Nothing too thick, though.” The woman tossed her blond ponytail over her shoulder. “My shoes are already snug.”

Unfortunately, Molly carried little merchandise. “I’m afraid we don’t carry them here. There’s a place a couple blocks down, though. Make a left on Main, and it’ll be on your right.”

“Thanks.”

He wondered if he should advise Molly to carry more merchandise. Forty percent of his profits came from product sales as opposed to tours.

“Left on Main?” the man said as he stepped out the door.

Gage nodded. “It’ll be on your right.”

“Thank you.” The woman moved aside to let Molly and Noah past.

Noah darted inside, heading to Molly’s office for a computer game, probably.

Molly was looking at Gage oddly, her cute smile nowhere to be found. He realized how what he’d said to the customer might’ve sounded to her.

“They were after hiking socks,” he said.

And that quickly her smile was back. “Oh.”

“How was lunch?”

“We got takeout from the Country Cupboard Café and took it to the square. A much-needed break—thank you.”

The phone rang. Molly picked it up and began answering questions about rafting tours.

Gage sat behind the counter and opened the book again, staring blankly at the pages. He wondered idly about the loan she was paying off. Wondered what they’d used as collateral. The space was rented and the business was new, so it wasn’t valuable—especially in its current condition.

They’d likely put up their home. No wonder she was anxious. If something didn’t happen fast, she’d lose her business, her home, and her income. A triple blow.

No wonder she’d asked for his help, as humiliating as that must’ve been. If something didn’t change, the next phase would be ugly and public. It was the last thing she needed.

He had to do something. She needed more customers, which equated to advertising. The most effective advertisement Gage did was a full-page color ad on the back cover of
Explore Vermont
. The monthly magazine was available at every retail store in Smitten and all across the state. Tourists depended on it for entertainment ideas and coupons. He’d gained first right of rescission on the back cover the second year he’d been open, and it had brought him a ton of business— still did.

But the cost had nearly choked him at first. And Molly didn’t have the money for anything so grand. Plus, any advertising she did at this point had to be not only effective
but immediate. Even if she had the money, even if he gave up his rights to the back cover, next month would be too late.

A customer entered the store as Molly hung up the phone. She went to help them as Gage tapped the pen on the counter.

He’d worked with the designer yesterday on the ad for the current issue. It was going to press in a few days. He hadn’t approved it yet, though. Could he swap out his own ad for one for Molly? It wouldn’t kill his business to go without the ad for a month.

He watched her across the shop, talking with a young couple about their rock climbing offerings. She was animated and friendly, good with people. Authentic. Adorable. She was beautiful too—no getting around that—with her caramel-colored eyes and light-up-a-room smile.

She’d gotten under his skin quickly. More quickly than he could’ve imagined. He looked down at the ledger. So quickly he was considering doing something he wouldn’t have believed himself capable of.

But he couldn’t tell Molly. She had her pride—what was left of it—and she’d never accept this kind of help. It had been hard enough for her to ask him to assess the business.

He closed the book, making up his mind. Molly’s business needed saving, and he was going to do everything in his power to make it happen.

“Wow, nice ad, Molly.” Abby ran her slender fingers over the glossy back cover of
Explore Vermont
.

“Let me see.” Lia leaned over Abby’s shoulder. “Ooooh, that’s beautiful. I want to go rock climbing now.”

Molly and Abby laughed.

“What?” Lia said. “It could happen.”

Heather rounded the sofa and settled into the recliner in front of the bookstore fireplace with her steaming mug of coffee. “I’m afraid to ask how much it cost.”

“Gage has some pull at the magazine. He said he got a really good deal.”

Heather frowned. “You don’t know how much?”

A thread of worry wormed through Molly. It had happened so quickly. “I’ll find out. I did ask Gage, but that was about the time Noah fell off my office chair and hurt his ankle.” She’d dropped everything and gone running at his scream.

“Is he okay?” Lia asked.

“He’s fine. Just a sprain.” And an expensive ER bill. Molly looked over Abby’s shoulder, admiring the ad. She did need to find out how much it had cost. But Gage knew the state of her finances as well as she—probably better. He wouldn’t have spent more than she could afford. She made a mental note to call the magazine for an invoice. She didn’t feel comfortable calling Gage, though he’d been coming around more often.

Only to help you with the ad, Molly
. He’d been a godsend on that. He was really good at marketing.