Castle in the Air
By Steampunk . Chuckster
Summary: Sarah has opened her dream bookstore just before the holiday season, but when a corporate monopoly announces their reduced-price brick-and-mortar is going in a block away, she must band together with her fellow small businesses to fight for their lives, even if it means getting past a slew of bad first impressions to work with Chuck, the owner of the comic book shop next door. AU Charah.
A/N: Thanks for the private messages and reviews. And thanks for those favorites and follows, too. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters, and any similarities in this fic to any corporate entities are just coincidence... shh.
It was days later, as Sarah was guiding her car around the block to get to the lot where she parked her car Monday through Saturday when Castle in the Air was open, when she spotted signs poking up from the grassy space behind the sidewalk that ran along the side of MegaJamz, the accountant's office behind it, and the nail salon next to that.
The Castle in the Air logo was slapped onto said signs, as if it had been printed on nice card stock or something and glued on over some other person's business.
"What the hell…?" she breathed, stopping at the light and just staring at the signs. They lined the sidewalks around the shopping center. "What in the…?"
She finally drove into the lot and parked, climbing out of her car, grabbing her tote with her lunch, water, and books she was reading, her usual haul to start the workday. Tugging her jacket to straighten it, she strode through the alley between her store and the plant place, unlocking the side door and ducking into the shop, locking the door behind her again.
With the lights on in the break room and storage area behind it, she stood there in the quiet, befuddled, all bundled up in her jacket and scarf.
Finally, unwinding the scarf and hanging it in the makeshift closet area she created in the break room—really just a horizontal post she put some hangers on—Sarah Walker felt something click in her brain.
Her neighbor, the comic book shop owner, had stood there on the other side of her front counter, pursing his lips thoughtfully. And he'd literally said the words "Challenge accepted" about sharing his customers with her.
Without consulting her, he'd gone out to put Castle in the Air signs all over their shopping center. Had he talked to their landlord first? Was that even allowed? And why hadn't he just asked if she wanted that first?! It was so presumptuous.
She didn't ask him for his help. She was teasing when she told him to share his customers. It was teasing. Or something like teasing. A very stupid and clearly deranged voice in her head told her it was flirtation. But no, not that, never that. He was not on the market.
That same deranged voice whispered that he'd just been dumped by his girlfriend.
But of course there was a reason for that most likely and she needed to stop letting that deranged voice take up space in her head. She hadn't been flirting, and he hadn't been flirting, because he was a comic book guy who didn't read books and she would never pick up a comic book ever in her life, and he probably still harbored frustration that he couldn't expand into this space now that she'd signed a three-year lease and was here to stay.
Shaking herself, she stomped out of her break room and into the front. She still had ten minutes to get the money drawer set-up and start the day, and she knew Ashcan opened an hour earlier than her shop did, because—again—Chuck had employees since people bought his products and he ran an actually successful business.
Which made him think he could offer her advice as if he knew the book business. Pfft. And then he took it upon himself to take pity on her and promote the shop with signs everywhere, which made his advice about kids books that much more annoying to her now.
Having worked herself up into a bit of a dither, so to speak, she pushed out of her store's front door, locking it behind her, and hurried into the comic shop.
"Hey th—Oh. Hi. You're—Um, you own the bookstore next door, huh?" the shortish guy with the beard at the counter said when he saw her come in. "Welcome! It was Sarah, right?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry, you're…"
"Morgan. I'm Morgan. Looking for a comic book…?" He came around the counter from where he'd been reading a comic. He was rubbing his hands together, as if excited about the prospect of picking out something she might like.
She hated to disappoint him because he seemed sincerely nice even if he was the patronizing jerkface Chuck's best friend but…
"I'm actually looking for your boss. Er, your friend. Chuck. He here?"
"Oh." He seemed to just barely withhold the beaming grin threatening to break onto his face. But she still saw his lips twitching, his eyes going wide. "Really? You're looking for Chuck, huh? Uh, I mean, sorry. He-He isn't in today yet. He'll be in around eleven. He had errands to run this morning so I opened up the shop."
"I see." Shit. She let out a rough breath. Would she be able to hold onto this righteous annoyed feeling for a whole hour? "Will you ask him when he gets in to come talk to me when he has a moment? Please?"
"You got it! Of course. Definitely. I'll for sure tell him right when he gets here." He cleared his throat, running his hand down the front of his T-shirt with what looked like a cartoonish rendering of Godzilla printed on it.
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
"Sure." But then he scrambled to pick up a comic off of a pile that had been sitting on the counter he'd been plopped down behind when she came in. He rushed back to her. "Here," he said, thrusting the comic towards her. "It's an ashcan comic they sent us from Image. She's a badass warrior princess whose family was killed by terrorists and I think you'll like it. If you wanna preorder the whole issue based off of these few pages, I can do that, too. Just lemme know."
She sent him a narrowed-eyed look. "You guys are really determined to get me to read a comic book, aren't you?" He shrugged, smiling. But she shook her head. "I'm good, thanks." He pulled it back, still smiling. "And you can tell Chuck he won't get me, either."
"I'll tell him but he's hard to deter. We all are." He grinned this time, rolling the comic in his hands and slapping it into his palm distractedly. "But my best bud Chuck's persuasive."
"I'm sure he is. But I'm more stubborn than he's persuasive."
At least he chuckled at that, not seeming to be offended by her rebuffing his 'ashcan' comic, whatever that was. "I'll let him know." She raised an eyebrow. "A-About you needing to talk to him. Not that you're more stubborn than he's persuasive. But you knew that. Right." The 't' clicked extra hard at the end of that last word.
Shaking her head to herself, she chirped, "Thanks", and headed back out, wanting to hold onto the peeved feeling for the next hour.
}o{
As it so happened, she had only lost maybe about fifty percent of that peeved feeling by the time she heard the bells jingle a few minutes after eleven. She clung to that other half like a koala clung to her babe. It was petty maybe, but she didn't care. Sometimes a person just wanted to be peeved, wanted to feel the spite coursing through their veins.
She'd even clung to it through the smattering of customers who'd come in to purchase books, or simply look around because they had no idea a bookstore had moved in here and thank goodness for those signs out there because they'd never have known if they hadn't spotted that while driving by. … Damn it.
She'd clung to it while going online looking at prices for buying signs of her own to replace the Pity Party signs that had been erected. Challenge accepted…
Was he trying to prove a point? That he was better at this running a small business thing? Better than the young woman who swooped in to sign the lease on the place he wanted to rent to expand his comic book shop? Was he trying to send John Casey the landlord a message? Look what you missed out on by renting to this bookstore with its inept owner, look at how much better I am at this than she is…
Buying her own signs was way, way too expensive, and she knew even as she heard his voice drift into the back room of her shop that she was being unfairly cynical towards the guy by letting her thoughts drift in that direction.
"Sarah...?"
"Behind the counter," she announced over her shoulder. "You can come back here."
She had her hands full, trying to put a new box of advanced reader copies sent from a publisher up on her ARC shelves, and she didn't really feel like putting them down again to meet Chuck at the front. She didn't care if he came back here. She had nothing to hide, even if it was still kind of a mess back here.
Piles of books all over, boxes, empty and full, stacked everywhere, blocking walk ways. At least no one saw it from out there. Part of the selling point for this spot had been the huge storage space.
She didn't turn when she heard the tentative shuffle of his feet in the doorway as he came back.
"Hey…" he breathed, staying at the doorway. "Ooo. This place is big. That's kinda nice."
"Yeah." She wondered if he was thinking about the way he could've used this space if Casey had leased to him instead of putting him off in favor of Castle in the Air Books. "It's a mess but I'm still getting my feet."
She finally glanced at him over her shoulder as she put two more books up on the shelf.
He must've seen something in it because he sent her a wide-eyed look. "Am I in trouble for something?"
Having relieved her arms of their burden, she turned to give him a more significantly flat look, grabbing another handful of ARCs out of the box, but holding them in her hands instead of putting them away, still facing him. "Should you be?"
"…W-What?" He furrowed his brow in confusion. "I…I don't know."
"I counted at least ten signs out on in the grass surrounding this shopping center, all of them with the Castle in the Air Books logo on them, and I honestly don't have any idea how you even got my logo to be able to do that." She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head.
He didn't respond to that, instead shifting his weight. "Are you…upset? Because in the tone and the demeanor, I'm-I'm sensing…upsetedness."
Sarah took a deep breath, setting the books down and crossing her arms instead. "I'm not…angry. Or whatever. I just don't know why it wouldn't occur to you to ask me if that was something I wanted, if I wanted signs out around the shopping center."
He pursed his lips thoughtfully, not seeming to really understand where she was coming from. "So you don't…want people driving down those busy streets around our shopping center to know that you've opened a book shop in here?"
"Of course I do, you think I'm stupid? Yes. I want them to know I'm here. I just don't like things being done because…you think I need help, without consulting me. It's my store, you know?"
"Okay. Noted."
She sighed, not sure what else she expected. She hadn't wanted him to apologize and grovel at her feet, really. But he clearly disagreed with her and was letting her frustration roll off of his shoulders, and somehow that made her more frustrated. Why wasn't he arguing? Sticking up for himself?
And somehow it also kicked the fight out of her at the same time.
"A couple of people came in here and mentioned the signs being helpful." She started putting the books on the shelf again. "So it's not a bad thing. I just…want you to talk to me if you're gonna do something like that." She turned and pointed at him. "And I don't want people helping me out of pity, either."
"I don't pity you," he said with a shrug. "I guess I just know what it's like sitting in a shop needing folks to come in and not knowing how to make that happen. Signs worked for me, they worked for all of us when we first opened up shop."
She nodded.
"…Am I still in trouble?" he asked after a long moment then. She eyed him with a small smirk. "Then I'm…not in trouble. Can I go back to my schooldesk, Ms. Walker?"
"Okayyyy, now you're just being fresh," she drawled, unable to keep from showing him her amusement. "This place is important to me. I've got a lot to prove."
"From where I stand, you don't have anything to prove."
"All due respect, you don't know my story. I don't mean that in a…snappy way. It's just factual."
Chuck stuck his hands in his pockets. "You're right. I don't know your story. I'm gonna go sell some comic books. But hey…in the future, I'll make sure communication is better."
She looked at him steadily. "Thanks." He smiled and ducked out of the back, and she held her breath until she heard the bell ring as he left her store. She mumbled "Sorry I bit your head off" to herself, rolling her eyes, slumping to sit on a nearby box and wondering how in the hell she was going to make it out here.
}o{
"I've got a baaaaaaad feeling."
Chuck squinted up at the currently empty building's facade and took a sip from his giant iced latte. "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I'm not getting a good feeling, either."
"Maybe it's from drinking an iced coffee when it's in the fifties outside?" Flint asked, and they slurped their own hot drink as if to emphasize their sass.
He sent his employee a flat look. "Shut up," he chuckled.
"Any word on what's gonna be moving in here?" Flint asked, a smirk on their face.
"I haven't heard a peep. But it's right around the corner from us, so I hope it's a Discovery Zone but, like, for adults. Take a ten minute break, head over here, play on the jungle gym, dive into the ball pit, get some energy out. It'd be so cool to have that for when one of those neckbeard guys come in and question everyone else's comic book knowledge."
Flint cracked up. "I don't know what Discovery Zone is but I'm getting the idea through context. I wouldn't be mad about having something to help me unclench when a customer acts like a dick."
"I bet it's just gonna be a giant Sephora."
"I also wouldn't be mad about that," Flint chuckled. "I need some new mascara."
"You'd be able to pick from, like, five-thousand shades if this is Sephora. This building is massive." He gestured for Flint to follow him back to their shop then with a flick of his head and they were on their way. "You're right, though. I'm not getting a good vibe."
"I don't know what it is. I get stress when I look at it. I can feel my face breaking out."
Chuck laughed, shaking his head. But Flint wasn't wrong about the bad feeling. Growing up in Southern California meant he'd been in quite a few earthquakes, and every so often the clouds hit a certain way, kind of hazy, even as the weather was warm. The air became strangely still, creatures acted weird like dogs, cats, and the birds disappearing. Then bam.
He had that same sensation when he looked at that building, the realty sign indicating it had been sold, no one fessing up about whom the buyer was.
Like a deep dark cloud was on the horizon, closing in on them. Like an earthquake was about to hit.
When they got back to the shop from their little joint excursion for coffee, he couldn't help glancing over at the bookstore. He could see Sarah through the window, staring at her computer, a customer standing at the counter speaking with her. She was probably looking something up for him, or maybe ordering something for him.
He hadn't had a chance to speak with her, or do much more than a mere wave from across a parking lot in over a week. Not since she sort of chewed him out for the signs. He didn't really get her beef with the signs, but he also understood what injured pride looked like. And he thought maybe the gesture had put a dent in her pride.
And so…Chuck was back to tiptoeing.
He looked down at the hot cocoa he was carrying and wondered if he'd played the wrong hand with this. With his luck, he'd take it in to her and she'd have a massive chocolate allergy. But he thought hot cocoa was a safe bet, safer than coffee since he didn't know if she drank it or what kind she drank.
"You taking that to the bookstore owner?" Flint asked, grabbing the door to open it and go in.
"Yeah. I'll be a few minutes. You and Morgan mind going through our singles and figuring out which ones have been sitting for a while? We're gonna have to do a few sales bins for Small Business Saturday," he said, already backing towards the bookstore.
"You got it, boss. Want us to bin 'em already?"
"Nah, just pull 'em for now. Thank you!"
Flint waved him off and went inside, and Chuck turned on his heel, stopping at the door and realizing he had his iced coffee in one hand, the hot cocoa in the other, and nothing to open the door with. Damn it.
But then he spotted the customer waving at Sarah, carrying his bag of books with him as he made his way to the door. Thank God.
He jumped then when someone spoke up right near his ear.
"Need some help with that, fella?"
A tall redheaded young woman clad in all leather reached around him and grabbed the door, opening it for him and smirking. "After you."
But they both waited as the customer ducked out, thanking the redhead. She tipped an invisible hat at him, earning a long look that nearly caused the poor guy's foot to slip off of the curb, nearly sending him sprawling on the pavement. But he just barely caught himself, clearing his throat and hurrying to the lot.
Chuck heard the redhead snort, turning it into a cough. He turned to send her a wide-eyed look and she looked even more amused.
"Well? You goin' in or just standing here? You should know I'm pretty damn stubborn. I'll stand here for hours waiting for you to go in if you let me," she flirted, batting her eyelashes.
Blushing, he let out an, "Erm…" and rushed into the store with the drinks in hand.
"No! Way!"
He spun to face Sarah as she looked past him, and light exploded on her face as she rushed around the counter. She sprinted right past him and half-tackled the redhead who let out a cackle and sang, "Blooondiiiiiie!"
They kissed one another on the cheek and pulled back out of the hug, genuine glee in both of them, though the redhead's glee was wrapped up in more of a smirkish package.
"What the hell you doing here?" Sarah asked the slightly taller woman. "I thought you were gonna be in Cancún for the winter!"
"If you can believe it, Pierre is too afraid of the drug cartels to be in Cancún right now." She rolled her eyes. "I think it's just his way of getting cold feet. He didn't want to spend two months in Cancún with this." She then ran her hand up and down her modelesque figure. "Moron."
Chuck found he couldn't help but silently agree with her.
That was pretty moronic.
"So here I am. Thought I'd slip down to my old stomping ground and find my favorite blonde. Ventura's boring, LA's where it's at. At least for a little while, 'til I can find another playground to play in."
And then her bright blue eyes turned to settle on him again, as he stood there awkwardly with his iced coffee in one hand, Sarah's hot cocoa in the other, just a few feet away from the door.
"Speaking of play…" Sarah's apparent friend drawled smoothly, biting her lip, dragging her eyes down to his feet and back up again, oh so slowly. "…who's this?"
Sarah finally looked right at him, letting go of her friend and sending him a closed-mouth smile. "Oh. I'm sorry, it—I caught sight of Carina and… This-This is my best friend, Carina. We go way back, like fifteen years or something." She tucked a bit of hair that escaped her braid behind her ear. "Carina, this is Chuck. He owns the comic book shop next door."
"Does he?" Carina asked, sending her friend a look he couldn't read. "Comic books? Like those floppy things with a bunch of pictures and superheroes and ish?"
Chuck cleared his throat. "Yes. Yep, that's them. Pretty good description. It's very nice to meet you, Carina. I'd…shake your hand, but…"
"Right. Hands are full." Carina slinked closer. "I'll take the wheel then, tiger." And she put both hands on his shoulders and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Nice to meet you, comic book guy."
He knew he must be blushing so hard his head probably looked like a radish with a dark brown curly wig stuck on it.
"Heh. Um…Nice to, uh, meet you, too." Chuck caught the roll of Sarah's eyes and he wondered if this was Carina's whole thing. Terrorizing nerds. Or men in general, nerds or otherwise. She was out of pretty much every dude he'd ever met's league. Far, far out.
Side-stepping the redheaded model, he approached the blond one. "Sorry, I have bad timing. I don't want to interrupt this reunion. I just—Flint and I went to get some coffee at the place that's around the corner—just to get out of the shop and, um, stretch our legs…you know—so I thought maybe I'd…" He pushed the hot cocoa towards her. "It's not coffee because I realized when I got the idea to bring you back somethin' that I'm not sure if you drink coffee, and if you do, I have no idea what you would prefer. That place has a million different…ways you can…get coffee." He cleared his throat again. "Thought hot cocoa would be safer. Do you…drink that?"
"I do," she said quietly, slowly taking the drink from his hand. And damn it, their fingers brushed and that stupid pause happened, their eyes meeting again. "Thanks."
"Sure. Yeah, it's…no problem. I'll get outta your hair, though. Just wanted to deliver the cocoa." He smiled at her, then took a few steps back. "See ya around, Sarah."
"Yep."
"Right."
He turned on his heel and headed for the door, nearly forgetting his manners. But he remembered as he put his hand on the door, spinning to look at Carina. "Really nice to meet you, Carina. Again. Welcome back to LA. Well, Del Rey…technically. At this moment. Because that's where we currently…are." He pointed one finger down at the floor. "Heh. Okay. Bye."
"Nice to meet you, Chuckie. Thanks for getting my girl some hot chocolate…"
"Oh. Pffft. Of course. She's—No, I—Yeah. Of course. See ya!" He rushed out of the store and didn't slow down for even a moment as he made his way back to his own shop, guzzling his iced latte like he'd just ran a marathon with none of those folks along the route with the little Dixie cups full of water anywhere in sight.
}o{
Sarah absolutely dreaded the moment her best friend slowly turned from the door and Chuck's extremely awkward quick exit to give her that look. God damn that look.
Carina did slowly turn, though. After about twenty seconds of tortured waiting, she slowly turned. And her gleaming sky blue eyes were filled with so much that Sarah really wished would remain unsaid.
"There is so much you and I need to catch up on, Sar. So much. But right now I don't care about any of that," Carina said calmly, matter-of-factly even. She took measured steps to get closer to her blond friend and then stopped right in front of her. "I need to know everything there is to know about Mr. Hot Chocolate AKA that lanky drink of water. Right now."
Sarah sighed. She didn't like the stinging sensation in her gut. Like a little needle was poking her in there. A Carina-shaped needle. "So I take it you and Pierre called it quits if you're in here making eyes at my work neighbor."
Carina made a face. "Oh. Sarah. Have I been away for that long?" She clicked her tongue. "You know how I operate. I was flirting at him shamelessly because you're clearly very interested. Which is kind of fascinating because he is so not your usual. Not judging, though. Sometimes you need to wander outside the box if you want to have a little more fun."
"You know what? I did actually forget how much of a psychopath you can be sometimes."
Carina gasped.
"I'm offended…that you forgot. Ahhhh!" She pointed at Sarah, both of them laughing together.
But then the other part of what her friend said struck Sarah in the chest and she froze, her laughter dying at her lips. "Wait. What do you mean, I'm—I am not interested. What are you talking about? In him? That guy?"
She took a nervous sip of her hot cocoa and played it off as completely not nervous. Calm. Cool. As a cucumber.
Because she was telling the truth and Carina was crazy.
Carina sent her a flat look, then rolled her eyes, one hand on her hip. "That boy gave you the hot chocolate—wholesome AF, by the way—and turned around to go to the door… Girl, your pretty blue eyes checked. him. out. …Hard."
"What?! I didn't—Check him out? Now I know you're crazy."
"Damn. Don't be so desperate to deny what I'm saying that you say mean shit about the poor guy. He's got some things goin' for him. The comic book thing, not so much." She winced. "But that hair on his head is scrumptious, and he's nice and tall with good shoulders. Couldn't tell how the legs are because he's wearing pants that don't fit him properly, they're too baggy."
"You're talking about a human being, Carina. Not a fuckin' prize race horse."
"Eh. You were totally checking him out, Sarah. Completely. I couldn't tell, though, if you went straight to his ass or if you were checking out the whole package."
"You're nuts, Carina Miller." She shook her head dismissively. "Totally out of your mind."
"Oh come on, Sar. You aren't actually trying to lie to me right now. Like, I know you aren't. It's me." Sarah didn't say anything, merely rolling her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me like I'm making shit up. I saw you check him out when he left. Maybe you don't even know that you did it but you suuuure did iiiiiit."
Sarah sipped more hot cocoa, walking around to sit on the stool behind her counter. "I have work to do."
"You're so annoying, oh my God. Why can't you admit it?"
"Admit something that isn't true? Why would I do that?"
"No, strike that. Not annoying. Straight-up obnoxious."
Sarah sent her an amused glare. The problem was she didn't know that it was true. In fact, she had no idea what Carina was talking about. "Anyway, even if I did check him out, like you say, it doesn't have to mean anything."
"Okay, we're getting somewhere…" Carina pushed herself up against the counter. "And you are correct, it doesn't have to mean anything." Good. That worked. But she didn't have time to congratulate herself for the win because her redheaded best friend continued with, "However, the way he went out for coffee on his break and came back with hot chocolate for you and did that rambling little mess about not knowing if you like it, or if you like coffee, or what kind of coffee you like, stammering like a little kid…combined with you checking him out as he left…probably does mean something."
The brat folded her arms and rested them on the counter, hunching forward and looking up at Sarah through her eyelashes.
"You and Pierre are having relationship problems, your trip to Cancún was cancelled, and I saw in a press release that you, my literary agent friend, are repping a mystery writer who just dropped an absolute banger of a bestseller two months ago, which is still on the LA Times best sellers list. We should be talking about any of those things, all of those things, because I want to hear about your life. Not…this. Not that. Or him." She waved her hand dismissively towards the comic book shop.
"And you just went through hell and back to open this bookstore, you freaking did it though, got it all built out from that starting picture you sent me of the messed up freaking interior, you've got books on shelves, that sign flipped to open, you're making it happen, and you have a little interesting thing going on with the dork next door who sells comic books. You think I wanna talk about something else when that's on the table? Hell no!" Carina laughed. "So talk. I wanna hear about this. What's going on here? What is this little thing between you."
"There's no little thing between us."
"So it's a big thing?"
"There's no thing, will you stop?" Sarah asked, hearing a thread of desperation in her own voice. She tampered it immediately.
"Why not? He's okay. Not my type at all, and not really yours either, but he's not awful. I mean, I would…in a pinch."
"Stop being gross. He's a human being, not a dildo."
Carina pointed at her, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "Ah. You see that. You got defensive of him."
"It wasn't about him. I'd tell you to stop being gross about anyone because I care about people's humanity." She batted her eyelashes mockingly at her friend, earning an annoyed moan.
"Insufferable, Sarah. You're just so insufferable."
"Me?! You're using up our quality time by trying to pressure me into talking about this Nothing guy who owns the shop next to mine. He did something nice, brought me some very delicious hot cocoa on a cold day. That's all there is to it."
"Hmmm. Okay. Answer me this—"
"I don't want to."
"If I went over there right now," Carina continued as if Sarah hadn't said anything at all, "and I asked him out on a date…" Sarah couldn't help bristling even as she kept it from showing. "You'd be totally fine with that?"
Sarah sighed tiredly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No, I wouldn't be fine with it."
"A-ha!" She slapped her manicured hand down on the counter loudly, earning a bit of a glare from the store owner.
"Because I'd know the only reason you're asking him out on a date is that you're trying to prove some trivial paltry little point or whatever and you're a psychopath, and I'm not letting you do that to somebody. It's mean. And the poor guy just got dumped by his girlfriend, too, so it'd be especially fucked up."
Oh no. She really needed to be smarter around this brilliant, wily asshole that was Carina Miller. She could see her eyes light up, her jaw falling open. "Oh really? He just got dumped, huh?"
"Yes," Sarah sighed. "Right out there at that bench. I saw the whole thing from the window. And it was only a couple of weeks ago so I'm not letting you go near him. Not because he's…something…but because I'm not letting you do that to anyone. So there."
"You watched the whole dumping? That's interesting…"
"Okay, don't even make that sound like it's significant. If you knew someone was getting dumped and you could secretly watch it from behind a window, you absolutely would watch the whole thing. Don't even try to act like you wouldn't," Sarah argued with a smirk. Carina shrugged as if to say duh. "Anyway, I wouldn't have noticed probably except that the landlord was in here buying a book and he saw it and made me come over to watch it with him."
"The landlord? Ouch."
"It wasn't a good day for Chuck. And if you're a psychopath, John Casey—our landlord—is basically Robespierre."
Carina snorted. "He sounds fun."
"He likes me, so I'll take it. He definitely isn't too fond of Chuck, though. Hence why he leased this property to me without telling me that Chuck had been trying to lease this space to expand his comic shop." She shrugged. "I'm assuming that's why. I don't know for sure. It could've just been a money thing, too."
The literary agent sent her an intrigued look. "Hold on, he was trying to expand his store into this space?"
"According to Chuck—something he insisted on telling me the first time we met each other out back while throwing away our trash in the shared dumpster—" she added, making a face, "he'd been in talks with Casey about leasing this space as well as the one he's already leasing, and all of a sudden he tried to talk to Casey again about it and Casey told him he'd just leased it to someone else. Me." She poked herself in the chest with her thumb.
"Hold on. Wait. I have multiple things I need to clarify. This landlord made him think he was gonna get this space to expand into and then leased it to you anyway?" Sarah nodded. "Ouch." Sarah nodded again. "Also, he wants more space for comic books? I mean, how many comic books can there even be out there?" She made an utterly confused face that had Sarah laughing. "And also, he brought it up the first time he met you? Ohhhh my dude nooo," she breathed, wincing. "Not a great first impression."
"Nope. I think my first impression was actually before that, though. And I'm pretty sure now, looking back, that it was right after he found out Casey leased the space to me. I got out of my car, walking up to that door, minding my own business, and this guy standing nearby just lets out this string of curses like, 'Fucking Fuck! Fucker!' and scared me half to death. He looked extremely embarrassed then because I don't think he'd known I was there."
"Wow. Good ol' Chuckie… Not selling himself here."
Sarah smiled softly. "Nah, he really didn't. But I mean, I get him being mad. Casey did him dirty."
"Well, it's not your fault."
"He knows. I mean, I think he knew back then, too, he's just…I guess I understand him being bitter towards me, even if he knows I didn't, like…steal it from him purposely. I had no idea when I signed the lease that this was all going on. I just wanted to start my bookstore."
"If you'd known, would you have backed off? Found somewhere else?"
Sarah scoffed. "No."
Carina giggled. "Good girl."
"But I at least wouldn't have been blind-sided by Chuck and Casey's drama." She shrugged. "Anyway, it's kind of a moot point now. My store is open and there aren't…hard feelings."
"Obviously not." Carina tapped the lid on the hot cocoa significantly.
"There's nothing else to tell, okay? Anyway, he keeps doing stuff that makes me wonder if he pities me because the store isn't getting a lot of foot traffic or coming even close to making enough for me to live on. I have savings, it's okay," Sarah said quickly, knowing how Carina was. Protective, always protective, even if she enjoyed being a brat. She could just hear the I'll help you out, how much do you need, I have my check book right here, give me a number and it's yours, you can pay me back whenever thing. Because she'd heard it before. More than once.
Carina sighed. "Well, why do you think he pities you?"
"Just imposing advice on me, telling me what I should carry to get more people in here," she said, gesturing to her shelves, "trying to tell me how to market and promote the bookstore. Offering to freaking help. And I'm still not super convinced he didn't send his sister to buy a shit ton of books one day, and now she's been helping me with my website, too. For free—"
"Wait!" Carina cut in. "His sister is all wrapped up in this? You didn't tell me this before?! Sarah! Sarah Walker! His sister! If he pulled his sister in, he isn't pitying you, he isn't even just being nice, there is interest. Ooooh boy, I feel like I'm digging for treasure and I just heard the thunk of the shovel hitting the chest buried in the dirt."
"You fuggin' dork," Sarah scoffed. "I said I'm not convinced either way that he was the one who sent his sister. She's extremely sweet and funny and really good at website stuff. She's been a freaking gift." She leaned in. "Oh, and get this, she's a neurosurgeon. No big deal."
"His sister's a neurosurgeon and he sells comic books?" Carina laughed. "This guy gets more and more interesting."
Sarah felt a twinge of defensiveness in her chest. "Well, people have all these ideas about retail and retail workers, but we're not all that bad…"
Carina gave her a droll look. "You know what I mean. Of course there's nothing wrong with retail. I was mostly talking about the whole comic book angle. It's just funny how completely opposite it is from what his sister is doing with her life."
Yeah, she was right about comic books. And Sarah probably wouldn't ever get what the guy was selling in his shop, but he seemed into it and she wasn't gonna crap on someone for what they were into. Especially since people piled into his shop.
"It's a successful shop. Lots of people walking in and out of it all day long. And then I'm…fucking sitting in here at this desk playing with my website and fulfilling orders for catalogs and spring lists and summer will be coming up soon and talking to publisher reps I still can't really get a read on and they don't really get me yet either. And my budget is already really freaking small, how do I shrink it even more? I can't freaking afford to order this stuff and I have to do it anyway because I'm on time restraints."
She pushed her hands over her hair and growled in frustration.
"Hey, you opened your store, okay? It's here, it's open, books are on the shelves. You did all of this on your own. All by your freaking self. I doubt either of your parents helped." Sarah looked off to the side, feeling everything inside of her go hard. Funny how easily that happened when they were mentioned. That probably was the opposite of functional. "Sorry. I know that's a touchy subject," Carina sighed. "The people will come when they know you're here. You gotta get the word out. I'll help. I've got strings I can pull. And I promise that isn't pity."
Sarah rolled her head back and blinked at the ceiling. "Red, I appreciate that a lot. You know it's just…really hard for me to let other people do everything for me. Anytime I made the mistake of mentioning that I wanted a bookstore to my exes, I got the 'In this economy?!' shit. The doubt. The lack of faith. Why don't I go into nursing or something? At least I'd get a job. Blah blah. Nobody got it. And I want to be able to do this, get this up and running, actually make some money, but more importantly, sell some books. I feel like I was put here, on this earth, to get books into people's hands. But that narrative doesn't hold water if I can't be successful without everyone around me freaking holding my head above said water."
She picked up the stack of receipts next to her keyboard and slapped them back down again.
"I know you really suck at accepting help," Carina said. "Sorry, I phrased that in a mean way, but am I wrong?"
Sarah stared out through the windows, squinting, annoyed. She didn't know how to say it without sounding extremely vulnerable. "Carina, you know some of how it's been with my mom and dad. It's why I left LA for a while, and yet…somehow I still came back." She rolled her eyes at herself. "My parents have been leeching off of me since I was a toddler practically. And I don't ever want that to be me. Okay? I don't ever want anyone looking at me and feeling the way I feel when I look at my parents."
Her friend was quiet for a long moment, probably trying to figure out the best way to respond. And then a caring hand slid over hers. She looked up at Carina. There wasn't any pity there, which is why she'd kept this woman around all these years probably. She could trust that wouldn't ever be part of this friendship.
"Letting people with good intentions help you, just for the sake of helping you, or maybe because they…like you?" She tapped the hot cocoa again and Sarah fought off a blush. "That isn't automatically gonna make you a leech like Jack and Emma."
"I want Castle in the Air Books to make it because people want to buy books from me. That's it."
"And you'll get there. But until you do, maybe having someone who's running a successful business giving you advice isn't a terrible thing? Especially when he likes you, which he clearly does." Carina let out a snort. "You're a lot harder to read because you are who you are, but h'ooooo the energy that was coming out of that guy."
Sarah affected the best teasing look she could. "You sure that energy wasn't pointed at you, Leggy Redhead?" Carina rolled her eyes so hard Sarah was surprised they stayed in her head. "No, I know. I know," she sighed. "At least I tried."
That made her redheaded friend cackle. "I'm glad you're coming to terms with the fact that none of this playacting is working. He's cute, Sar. What's the harm?"
"I can't get mixed up in something with a guy who got dumped by his girlfriend a few weeks ago. That's probably a big part of that energy you felt coming at me. He's most likely still stinging from the break-up, and I'm sure he's lonely, too, poor guy. I've been there. And-And here's this single woman running the new bookstore right next to his shop. He's probably searching for…I dunno, something."
"You think he's got some rebound crush?"
"I don't know. I don't wanna make assumptions, okay? But more than anything, I don't want to get all caught up in whatever's going on there. I can't be involved. I need this bookstore to make it. I need to put one-hundred percent of my time and effort into making that happen. I can't be fucking around." She shook her head vehemently.
"Okay, okay. We'll stop talking about comic book boy like that. Instead, we'll figure out how to get folks into this store."
"No," Sarah said adamantly, and she yanked at the other stool so that it was nearer her, slapping the wooden seat. "Come here and sit down and tell me what's going on with you and Pierre."
"Nothing's going on with me and Pierre, because it's over."
Sarah frowned, spotting the tinge of hurt in her best friend's face. "C'mere. Sit. Talk to me." She gestured at the door. "I doubt you'll be interrupted much by customers since I don't seem to have any."
Rolling her eyes again, Carina wandered around the counter and hopped up onto the stool, and then she slumped forward and folded her arms on top of a couple of books Sarah'd received from USPS an hour earlier and hadn't put away yet. She dropped her forehead on her arms and let out a rough breath.
She patted her best friend's back and downsized her website with her other hand, her gaze falling to the hot cocoa the 'comic book boy' had brought for her. Maybe just a kindness, maybe more than a kindness. Maybe a peace offering after the sign situation in which she'd probably overreacted and had been more than a little ungrateful about.
Biting her lip, she stared at that cup of hot cocoa, her heart thudding distractingly in her chest.
A/N: I couldn't keep Carina Miller out of this fic if I tried.
Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a moment.
Take care and see you all soon!
-SC