Eli took the books out, one by one, and set them side by side along the shelf.
His mind in a far-off trance as he thought of Grace, and all that she meant to him. Her smell still lingered, her lavender scent was intoxicating; and it was nearly impossible for him to think of anything else, until his thoughts were broken.
"Jake!"
Eli snapped out of his trance and turned to the front door of the office where Judy stood, her face a drained white.
"Judy?" Eli asked, putting the last book down and walking towards her.
She turned to him, her eyes wide, and her mouth dropped, "not now Eli!" she snapped.
"Jake!" she exclaimed again.
Eli looked to the bookstore, where a few customers' heads had turned towards the source of the shouts, and Eli could see Jake walking towards them, his eyes narrowed on Judy as he approached.
"Want to keep quite?" he hissed, nudging her into the office.
"Jake, this is huge……….. I mean………..huge!" she babbled.
Eli poked his head into the office, only to be confronted by Jake, "Sorry Eli, just give us a moment………..we need to talk business……….." he said, slowly closing the door.
Eli nodded, but didn't move from where he stood, instead, he leaned in a little close, and strained his hearing.
He could hear Judy pacing around the office, and Jake's husky voice as he tried to speak above her ramblings.
"This is amazing……….. I never thought………….not in a million years……….." she mumbled.
"Judy, Judy………..slow down………….what's this all about?"
"I got a phone call……….."
"From?"
"B & J books!"
Eli's brow creased, who were B & J books?
"Who?" Jake asked.
"B & J books!"
"Doesn't ring a bell"
"Oh god Jake……….…..they are only the fifth biggest book store in England!"
"So?"
"So…………..they want to expand to America……….Philadelphia specifically!"
"And this is huge news because…………."
"They want to join forces with us! Booklovers! They want to base their new stores on our design and layout…………..their new name in Philadelphia would be B & J booklovers!"
"You didn't accept, did you?"
"No, I said I needed to discuss with my partner……….."
"Well we've discussed and the answer is no"
"What!"
"We don't want to be half of a big cooperation………….they'd screw us over………….."
"Jake, they have offered us 7.8 million…………….for the name and layout alone……………"
Silence on both sides of the door.
"We're rich!"
"That's only half of it!"
A loud 'yahoo' could be heard from Jake, in a deep thunderous yell.
Eli pulled away from the door, but when he heard the conversation start again, he moved closer.
"What do they need from us?"
"They want the basic design, and the name of the architect……….."
"Rick?"
"Yep! And, they want a few of our people to move down there………..managers mainly………..so it's an even business!"
"And us?"
"They would like one of us to move over there permanently……….to keep an eye on things………..but that's up to us………….."
"Right"
"Jake, didn't I tell you this was HUGE!"
"You did, and you were right!"
More screeching, from Judy this time.
"When is everything finalized?"
"They are sending a lawyer down as we speak, to sign and discuss!"
"And which managers do we send down?"
"That's up to us…………."
More screeching, from both Judy and Jake, and this time Eli had to move away, back to the shelf he was stacking.
ELI Philadelphia…………7.8 million………….move to Philadelphia………..this is HUGE!
