“You’re welcome,” she says. I both love and hate when she reads me.
“Not sure how long I’ll be gone.”
“Oh, you’ll be gone a while.” Noelle laughs. “Babies need a lot of shit. Like a ridiculous amount of shit. Shit you didn’t even know existed.”
I release a lungful of air and drag my fingertips through my dark hair. “All right. I’ve got this.”
“Maybe grab a book or two while you’re out. They make manuals for these things, you know.”
TWO
Calypso
The chime on the front door to The Tipsy Poet has barely stopped clanging before Presley pops up like she wasn’t in the middle of a mid-morning nap on the job. She’s lucky I’m a nice boss.
I yawn. “You tired too?”
“Unusually so. Late night?” she asks.
I peel my sunglasses off and toss her a scrunched nose before groaning.
“Not by choice.” I dump my bag on the counter by the cash register and glance around the empty Tipsy Poet before yawning a second time. The full-service bar in the corner sparkles and there isn’t a trace of dust on a single bookshelf in the entire place.
Can’t even tell we’ve ever had a customer.
“Neighbor keep you up again last night?” She stacks and restacks five books, arranging them until the order pleases her.
“Of course.” My fists clench mid-air. “All night long I got to listen to him screw some woman who clearly thinks it’s normal to sound like a porn star the entire time. And don’t get me started on his headboard hitting the wall. The man’s a damn human jackhammer.”
“Yum.”
“Presley.” I tilt my head.
“I like jackhammer sex.”
“You like every kind of sex.”
“It’s true.” She grabs a display book from next to the register and flips through it before bringing it to her nose and pulling in a long breath. Her eyes close and she smiles. “I love the smell of old books.”
A group of silver-haired retirees hobble past the display window, stopping on the sidewalk to peer into the shop. It’s not enough to have a flashing orange light that says we’re open. An empty shop does nothing to attract customers. A lady in a pastel pink fleece crinkles her face and bats her hand and the group shuffles along.#p#分页标题#e#
“We don’t want your bloody business anyway,” Presley says in the worst Cockney accent I’ve ever heard.
“We want everyone’s business, Pres.”
“This place should be packed with people. I don’t understand.” She leans forward, her elbows on the clear glass counter. “Where else in all of Vegas can you sip mimosas while you peruse the most extensive collection of mint condition, reasonably priced used books?”
I glance across the room at the bar half of the store. We get a fair amount of business on the weekends. My hope was to attract the artsy scene in Vegas, but it didn’t take long to realize no one comes to Vegas because they want to be the next F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I’m so upside-down on this place it’s ridiculous.
“Have you heard back from Havenhurst Academy yet?” Presley asks me the same question every week.
“No, Presley.” I sigh. There’s more bark in my voice than I intended. “Not yet. Like I said, I’ll let you know when I do.”
I’m not a formally trained writer, and I doubt Havenhurst would even want me, but I’d be damned if I let it stop me from applying to the top creative writing program in the country.
“Geez.” Her hands fly up. “What’s with the mood?”
“I told you. No sleep.”
“But it’s not just today, it’s like every day for the last month.”
When you have three months to make the balloon payment on the business you purchased under contract, and your accountant tells you it’s not going to happen, it tends to put a damper on things.
“Do me a favor,” she says. “Go get laid. Will you do that for me?”
I laugh for the first time in I’m not sure how long.
“You think sex cures everything.”
“It does.” Her dark eyes light. “You get this flood of endorphins and it releases these feel-good chemicals in your brain. It’s proven. And orgasms release your body’s natural oxytocin. That’s why you feel high afterwards. Best. Drug. Ever.”
“I don’t have time to even think about the amount of work it would take to go out and find someone I’d feel comfortable taking home.”
“No.” She wags a finger. “Don’t take him home. Go home with him. Never let them into your house.”