Page 80 of The Troublemaker
“Oh, wait.I use these.”Hadley runs back into the hallway and returns with three pillows before sandwiching him in them.“He refuses to sit in the stroller during story time now, so Felix has a specific spot for him.”She smiles and taps Tanner’s nose with her finger before standing back up.
“Thank Felix for me,” I say.
She glances over her shoulder before going behind the counter.“I will.I’m not sure how I’d do both things without him.”
Guilt rises up inside me that maybe she can’t make this bookstore a success because of being Tanner’s nanny—and let’s be honest, she’s so much more than a nanny to him.We’ve made this little family, and I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not real, that things will change at some point.
“You know, if you want to hire more help…”
Her gaze lifts off whatever she’s looking at.“This store cannot afford to employ anyone else.”
“I meant for Tanner.”I dig into his diaper bag and pull out the soft book Hadley bought him that he seems to love so much.
He instantly gets excited, his hands grabbing for it.
“No.We have a deal.”She walks around the counter with her laptop tucked under her arm.“Sure, it can be hectic, but Felix and Vera are practically running the store on the daily.I read a story on the story time days, and I’m trying to figure out a way to get it in the black.”
“Exactly, and if you didn’t have Tanner interrupting you all day, you’d probably be able to do it.”
Hadley sits next to me but leans forward and opens the book for Tanner.“Cow says moo.”She points, and Tanner slaps his hand on the picture.“I’m good, Easton.”She extends her legs and opens her laptop.“One more minute, I have to check the sales from yesterday.”
I watch her type on the computer while I point at the animals in the book, saying the animal sounds like Hadley started.
“Jeez, another bad day yesterday.Maybe this is a dream that can’t come true.”She tosses her laptop on the mat and crawls over to Tanner.“I’d rather play with you anyway.”
Tanner smiles at her as though she’s his.To him, she is, but lately I can’t stop the feeling that he’s not the only one growing attached to her.
I look at the laptop, and there is a lot of red on that spreadsheet.
“Do you mind?”I nod toward the laptop.
“Be my guest.”She pushes it toward me, and I stretch my legs out, leaning against the fake tree trunk while I look over her numbers.
“I was a business major in college.Not that it means a lot, but?—”
“Honestly, if you have an idea that I can’t think of, I welcome it.”She turns the page.“A duck, quack, quack.”
I scroll through her expenses, and it mostly just comes to not enough purchases.It looks like her return is good.Her grandma owned the building.
“If Vera could pay rent…” I say, but she’s already shaking her head.
“My grandma would never.Plus, the apartment is so old and outdated that if she did move out, I’d have to gut it to make any money off it.”
The fact she isn’t turning a profit when she doesn’t have to pay rent isn’t the best sign.Sure, she has her taxes and things, but she should be able to sell enough.
“You have a good spot here, for sure.”
What kid wouldn’t love this store?A giant tree grows straight out of the wall, its branches stretching wide above the reading mat, glowing softly with tiny lights.Butterflies drift through the air while birds perch along the branches, and fluffy clouds float between them like pieces of a story come to life.It feels as if you’ve stepped inside a book, where anything can happen and no one’s in a hurry to leave.
“I think it’s getting people here.When they come for story time, you have to sell them.”
She sits back and pulls out a board book for Tanner as he’s growing bored of the felt one.“Which I have no idea how to do.”
“In all honesty, I’m surprised the proposal didn’t bring in more customers.”I shut the laptop, pull out my phone, and scroll to my post.
I see the problem immediately.Everyone is saying Hadley owns a children’s bookstore, but no one is saying which one.I’m shocked no one has tried to dig up this information.Isn’t this the kind of thing the internet is good at?
It’s an easy fix.I have a huge platform I could use to get her customers, but with those customers can come the bad side of what I can offer her, and I don’t want to ruin this place for her.
