?Episode One Hundred and Seventy-Nine: A surprising connection

  I unlocked and pulled the door open as Adam, the normal delivery guy, tried for the handle yet again.

  “Ah, Sable...” He said as he stepped inside carrying two boxes stacked on top of one another.

  I carefully stepped back so he had plenty of room as he entered the shop.

  He didn’t pause as he headed directly to the counter where he set them down.

  “Got two more,” he said as he pointed back to the door before I could follow him.

  I waited, holding the door open as he snagged a much smaller box out of the truck with a fragile sticker on it, that he set on top of another box.

  He easily carried those inside and I shut the door behind him, before hurrying to the front counter.

  The Cat hadn’t been kidding about deliveries for today.

  “What happened to your cart?” I asked, as she hurried around the counter.

  “Someone stole it last week and I’m waiting for the replacement,” he said, shaking his head, before pulling out the phone-like scanner thing they used. He quickly scanned each of the boxes, then held the thing out to me.

  “I need a signature. Theft is up, so each of our bigger customers now need to sign.”

  “Oh, no worries.” I took the machine and made a quick signature on the small screen. “That must be slowing you down.”

  “They’re giving us more time for it. Despite my gripes, our company is a pretty good one.” He sighed. “The problem is customers don’t know about it, so I’ve been knocking on lots of shop doors, and I can’t get deliver anything before they open anymore.”

  “That would be a pain.”

  “Yeah, at least you guys are always open.”

  The Cat meowed next to the register, and padded closer to Adam.

  “Oh, hey little guy.” He reached out to scratch the Cat’s ears. “You also have the best employees.”

  I chuckled as Adam gave the Cat some pets. “We have the best benefits.”

  Adam nodded. “Not to mention, you get to work in a bookstore... Talk about dreams coming true.”

  “I didn’t realize you were a fan of books,” I added.

  “Big time reader. Well, uh, listener.” He pointed to his ear, which had an earbud in it now that he pointed it out. “Long hours in the truck, so I make it through plenty of books each year.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I have a niece that listens to books, and keeping her in stock is always a challenge.” I chuckled thinking of Indigo, and trying to keep her TBR stocked. Thankfully, the dragons sent over oral histories as well, or I’d never keep up.

  “I have a list I’ve shared with my niece and nephew,” said Adam. His eyes practically sparkled as he leaned on the counter. He pulled out his phone super quickly and pulled up a document with a long list of books.

  “I keep track of ones that are kid friendly, even if they aren’t ‘kid’ books, along with links and notes on any concerns I might have.” He showed me his phone. “I shared it with my brother and he pulls from it to find books for his kids. I’ll gladly share it with you as well, if you’d like.”

  “I’ll gladly take a share.” I snagged the phone out and quickly added my number to his contacts. “Just text a link over.”

  “I will.” Adam smiled brightly. “I love sharing book recommendations.”

  I handed the phone back to him. “Have you ever thought about doing a blog or something?”

  He shrugged and blushed. It made his blue eyes pop even more. “Maybe someday. My job keeps me pretty busy, plus hanging out with my family.”

  “Oh man, don’t even mention family to me. I have a ton of siblings, but thankfully no one has kids yet.” Just thinking about my brothers having kids made me nervous. As much as I needed distance from everyone, I wasn’t sure I’d remain as far away if someone had kids.

  “Oh yeah, only my older brother has kids. He has a few years on me and my sister.” Adam chuckled. “My parents weren’t expecting any other kids, then twins.”

  “Yeah, that’d be one heck of a surprise,” I replied as my mouth dropped, and I shivered. “So you have a twin sister?”

  “Yep, she’s the brilliant one.” He glanced at his watch. “You’re my last stop of the day, but I better get moving. I don’t want to hit evening traffic.”

  I didn’t even have a clue what city we were in, let alone the actual time outside of the shop. So I nodded in agreement.

  He smiled and blushed. “I’ll send you that list.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I motioned to the boxes. “I need to unpack and do inventory.”

  “Have fun!” He waved as he headed out the door.

  The door shut behind him with only a slight jingle.

  “He seems like a nice young man,” said the Cat, snapping me out of my daze.

  I shrugged before grabbing the scissors. “He’s nice. Much better than the guy before him.”

  Even before he’d been attacked, the other delivery guy had creeped me out a little. Adam came across as genuine, not to mention he loved to read. Thank god my mother hadn’t been around, or she’d be trying to set us up already.

  “So, what’s in these boxes?” I asked, pulling the smaller one to me.

  “Hmmm.” The Cat paused, his head tilted to one side. “I don’t remember...”

  “Don’t remember because you didn’t order them, or just don’t remember?” I paused before opening the box with bright red fragile tape on it. The label directed it to the bookstore, though the address made it clear what city we were currently in. It wasn’t one I knew, and I’d need to look it up later.

  “I...” The Cat set his paw down, then stared at me. “Wait, a moment.”

  He then leaped off the counter and vanished up the stairs.

  My guess was he needed to check the book.

  I set the box down and drifted over to the tablet to see if we had any outstanding orders we were waiting for.

  A single book order came up, but that wouldn’t be this many boxes.

  I shifted the boxes around and separated out two of them, which were from that vendor, before I opened those two up. Each contained an invoice and a list of titles. The invoice also had a note on it.

  Thank you for buying up the last of our inventory. While we are sad to close, at least the last of our books were saved!

  The signature was from Missing Pages Bookstore.

  “Cat, I know what two of them are!” Yet, the two other boxes were still a mystery. One larger box, and the small, fragile one. What could they be?