Chapter Twelve

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Matt looked concerned as Sophie fiddled with the extension cord in her hand. "I mean, won't Auntie Barbara wonder where her stereo went?"

"I'll tell her thieves took it," Sophie said, her voice muffled as she crawled under the table that held the precious cargo. "Marauding thieves intent on getting new subwoofers took it for their very own." Sophie paused, looking over her shoulder. "Or, I could tell her you boosted it from the house and have it stored in your garage until you can move it on the black market of Hay."

"I'm just not sure…" Matt began, biting his lip as Sophie emerged with a triumphant grin. "…about this plan."

"Okay, it should work now!" She said excitedly, popping open the CD tray and putting in a classical music CD, ignoring Matt's plaintive statements.

"Won't the music distract the browsers?" Matt asked worriedly. "Won't it take away from their reading?"

Sophie shook her head. "Music in bookstores is all the rage in America. It allows people to relax, provides some background noise, and the people who work there appreciate it too. I'm not saying we blare Metallica – unless it's after closing – just some gentle music to fill in the gaps in your mind when you are browsing, ya know? It's soothing!"

Matt shook his own head now. "No, I guess I don't know."

"Trust me," Sophie said confidently. "This is going to be great!"

With a smile, she pressed play and after adjusting the volume slightly, the sweet strains of a Beethoven symphony filled the store.

Sophie closed her eyes and smiled. Between the soothing music and the smell of warm coffee, Belletristic was finally coming together.

Sure, it still needed some organizing… painting… furniture… unboxing… record keeping… planning…

But that could wait.

Music was today's accomplishment, her contribution to the overall shopping experience.

She twirled in place a few times, her hands out to the sides. "Yay!"

She looked at Matt, who stood rooted in place. "Yay?" He echoed with far less enthusiasm.

"I know it's a change, but it will be good. It relaxes people. Just roll with it…"

Matt nodded in resignation, and then returned to his station at the counter. The newly cleaned, dusted off, cleared off counter, Sophie noted proudly. The shop was already starting to look better – or at least cleaner and newer. She still had some aesthetic things to add, but this was a start…

She stepped over to the coffeepot and helped herself to a cup of coffee with plenty of sugar. She shook the "honor tin" that she had placed nearby, and was gratified to hear the clink of several coins. Even if not everyone paid, she had worked out a deal with Kat to get cut prices on the coffee, and a few pots a day certainly wouldn't break the bank.

And people seemed appreciative of having something to sip as they browsed. Sophie was half afraid to look at the receipts from the last few days, in case her observations of more shoppers turned out to be false, and they hadn't turned more of a profit.

She preferred to remain cautiously optimistic until the moment of truth could wait no longer.

With a determined set of her shoulders, Sophie turned to the window display at the front of the store. Auntie Barbara had never used the window front to display anything except boxes of books yet to be unpacked, and as yet another place to gather mountains of dust.

Sophie thought it was criminal that such a perfect space had been so underused. She'd gathered a few pretty plants from Auntie Barbara's conservatory, a few boxes, a few bolts of fabric (well, unused sheets, really) from Fairfields, and was already planning a "face front" display of some of their better looking books. Since the window wasn't in direct sun, she wasn't concerned with damage to the books, merely with getting them seen by potential buyers.

She sat down in the middle of the window, mentally placing the boxes as risers and figuring out how to drape the fabric over them to show the books at best advantage when a shadow fell across her lap.

Looking up, she saw Daniel Davies stopped in the sidewalk directly outside the window, looking in at her with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.

Her heart began to race at his nearness, despite the glass barrier that separated them, and she wondered if they could bury the hatchet between them after all.

She couldn't read the expression on his face, though several emotions seemed to be warring in those sapphire eyes.

Without thinking, she stopped what she was doing and smiled brightly at him, raising her hand in a friendly wave. She so hoped he would come in the store and see her progress so far, maybe make a positive comment or two.

He seemed to consider her smile for a moment, and then roughly shoved his hands in his pockets. Without a backwards glance, he stepped away from the window and vanished out of sight, walking quickly across the street and away from the store.

Sophie seethed as she clambered back out of the window and slammed a box to the floor. "I'm going for a coffee," she barked at Matt.

"We have coffee here," he replied, looking up in confusion from his novel. "You just poured a cup, in fact."

"I'm going for a coffee somewhere else so I can get out of here, walk away, and not think about what a jackass that man is!"

She was already out the door before Matt could answer, "Jackass who?"

Sophie practically stomped the entire way down to Hay Coffee, throwing open the door, her anger dissipating as she inhaled the soothing scent of coffee and saw Kat's smiling face. "Colonist!" Kat greeted happily.

"Hi Slave," Sophie shot back, grinning at their established pet names for each other.

"Coffee?"

"Intravenously, if you have it," Sophie said, still grinning despite her warring emotions. "And a shot of bourbon to go with it."

"Bad day?" Kat inquired gently, setting down an enormous coffee cup for Sophie. She smiled sympathetically at the flushed face of her new friend. Sophie and Kat had struck up a fast friendship after their first meeting, discovering a lot of personality similarities, and Kat had been generous in helping Sophie set up a coffee bar in Belletristic, even lobbying her parents for a discount on coffee for Sophie to use. Sophie was grateful to have one friend in Hay who might understand the Daniel situation and who didn't rely on her for a paycheck. She'd related the entire 'loo incident' to Kat the day after it happened, having her in stitches the entire time as she detailed the Bon Jovi, the enormous spider, the voices raised in argument, the whole damn debacle.

"Good and bad day. The good news is the stereo is set up and Matt hasn't yet had an aneurysm about its presence in the shop, though it was touch and go there for a minute. The bad news is that Neighbor Nasty just walked by my shop, and when I stopped what I was doing and smiled and waved, he just walked away without a backwards glance. Rude much?"

Kat cocked her head to one side. "That's so weird. Daniel was just in here a few minutes ago, smiling and friendly. He's always one of the nicest blokes I talk to. I don't get it – I don't understand the tension between you two."

Sophie shrugged. "Me neither. I've done nothing to the man, other than ask for help and refuse to be treated like a doormat. What's a girl have to do to make friends with a neighbor around here? Bake a cake? Buy him a bottle of wine? What?"

Kat whistled, and Sophie could see realization dawn across her pretty face.

"What?" Sophie asked, intrigued by the sudden change in Kat's expression. "What?" She repeated a second later.

"I just thought of…" Kat paused, and then continued. "When you said wine, it reminded me that Daniel and his ex went to some vineyard in France… and now that I think about it, you look a little like her. Same hair colour, similar height. Maybe he's just projecting his anger at her on you."

"What happened to her? I mean, what happened between them?"

"Let's just say their relationship didn't take," Kat said uneasily. "And you didn't hear that from me."

"What do you mean? He buried her in the basement after hacking her apart, what?" Sophie pressed, eager to know more details.

Kat shook her head. "No, no. You aren't getting anything from me, except to say she doesn't live here anymore – and that no, he didn't off her with a chainsaw or anything," Kat grinned. "Still, I wonder if that's part of the problem between you, with you looking similar…"

Sophie shrugged. "Look, I'm not saying I want to be BFFs with the man, I just would like to have a cordial relationship with him. Surely he can get over the whole 'red hair' thing."

Kat shrugged in return. "Well, I'd say you have your work cut out for you, from the sounds of it. Maybe a cake is a good idea…"

Kat turned to help a new customer, and Sophie raised her cup in a goodbye salute. "Thanks for the caffeine and the chat. You're a lifesaver!"

"You owe me, Colonist!" Kat called back teasingly.

"I know, Slave!" Sophie shot back, grinning as she walked out of the shop.

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