George is at the shop one day doing inventory, not really there in his head, just going through the motions. He'd been there nearly non stop since the funeral.
Barely sleeping, hardly eating. He vaguely registers that someone had come in but didn't turn to look. He was tired and even though he'd only been there an hour he decided it wasn't worth it, at least not today.
As he turned to the customer to politely inform them he would be closing early he was caught off guard. There stood Molly, tears in her eyes, a look of grief and irritation on her face.
Before George could ask what happened she said in a quiet voice, "I never understood why you boys wasted your talents on all of this nonsense."
She paused, collecting herself, then continued a little stronger, "I can't keep you from spending all your time here but I can make sure you don't do it alone."
She then took the parchment and quill from him and picked up where he'd left off. As he stood there with a dumbfounded look splayed across his face Molly turned and added in almost a whisper, "I can't lose you too."