Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [45]
The press had left as soon as they’d gotten their pictures, but the browsers and buyers were buzzing about in full force. Sanora noticed me and waved me to her.
“Thanks again for doing that, Harrison,” she said as she wrapped a tea set up in thick brown paper.
“My pleasure. If you don’t need me, I’m going to head back to At Wick’s End.”
“See you later,” she said as she ran a customer’s card through her register. I noticed her sign-up sheet for classes was already filling up, and I wondered how to juice up the attendance in our candlemaking classes. Maybe a display in the front window, or even an ad in the paper. Eve had been pushing for more exposure, and I was ready to listen to her.
I moved down the wide walkway of River’s Edge back toward my shop and glanced at the river beside us. The Gunpowder was flowing past at a good clip, and for a moment I wished I could be out there on it. Not today, though. I had too much work to do. Thinking of kayaking made me wonder about Erin and what her history was. Had she truly been interested in candlemaking when she’d come by the shop, or was there a chance she was interested in the candlemaker?
I laughed out loud at that. My imagination was definitely getting the better of me. April May had told me clearly enough that she knew Erin was still getting over someone, and besides, I didn’t have time for someone in my life, not with the demands of my responsibilities. Still, I missed those jitters that made me feel alive. When I fall for a woman, I tend to fall pretty hard, and a part of me yearned for that butterfly feeling in my stomach at the sound of someone special’s name. I wondered if my late Great-Aunt Belle realized just how much she’d put on my plate by leaving me River’s Edge. Probably, she was a crafty old gal, and I found myself missing her every day. There were a thousand questions I would have loved to ask her, but then again, if she’d still been around I wouldn’t be running At Wick’s End.
I glanced in Tick’s antique shop and saw there were a handful of customers in her shop. Maybe, if we were lucky, some of them would migrate all the way down to the candleshop.
I found Eve doing inventory when I walked in the door. There wasn’t a customer in sight.
“How was your speech?” she asked. “Sorry I missed it, but someone had to watch the store, goodness knows it’s been quiet though. Did many people show up?”
“There were about a hundred, I’d guess,” I said, “And the speech was everything it needed to be: short and to the point. Have we had anyone drift in yet?”
“Not since you left. I certainly hope we get some of the traffic here. You did mention us in your speech, didn’t you?”
“I mentioned everyone,” I admitted, not wanting to get into my lack of a specific endorsement. I still believed I’d handled the situation correctly, but I had no desire to get into that particular discussion with Eve.
I glanced at the clock. “You can leave early again today, if you’d like. I should be able to handle things here.”
“There’s nowhere I need to be,” she said. Funny, just last week she’d skipped out early nearly every single day. Something had changed in her life, there was no doubt about that.
I bit my lower lip, then asked, “Eve, is there anything you want to talk about? On a personal level? I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”
“There’s certainly no need for that,” she said abruptly.
“If you change your mind,” I said, “I’m here.”
Eve ruffled the papers in her hands, then said, “I’ve got work to do.” She disappeared into the storeroom and I regretted saying anything to her. When would I learn? While she and Belle had been great friends, I still got the impression that Eve barely tolerated me.
A few customers managed to find their way down to At Wick’s End, but they were more interested in browsing than buying. When it was time to close out the register for the day, I realized we were actually quite a bit below our normal daily take. So much for the trickle-down theory of customers shopping all the stores at River