“I called Celeste’s social worker last night to see how she was doing, and she told me that Celeste planned to open for business today. When I heard that, I volunteered to make muffins. I’m just getting the ball rolling on your idea.” Hester reached around and grabbed the piece of paper on the counter behind her. After shaking off a sprinkling of flour, she handed it to Nora. “Here’s our Secret, Book, and Scone sign-up sheet.”
Nora looked at the paper and saw that Estella had offered to help for several hours on Tuesday and Thursday, while June was giving up all of her lunch breaks to work at Soothe. Nora was touched, but not surprised, by her friends’ kindness.
“As long as Sheldon’s okay with it, I’ll help Monday and Wednesday afternoons. I’ll have to play Friday by ear.”
Hester tossed her a pen. “Pencil yourself in while I box up your book pastries. June’s going to ask for volunteers during her knitting circle Wednesday night too.”
Nora’s brows rose. “In front of Dominique? I like her chutzpah.”
Hester began transferring the book pockets from tray to box. “Dominique’s a mom. I don’t think she’ll have the heart to pick on Celeste anymore. I don’t think anyone will after they hear about Bren.”
Nora was trying to decide if she should mention her encounter with Connie when Hester said, “I have something else to tell you, but it can’t leave this room. Seriously. It. Cannot. Leave. This. Kitchen.”
“It won’t. Promise.”
“Earlier this morning, Jasper was on his way to work when he saw my car parked out front. He came in to see why I was here because he didn’t know that I’d talked to Celeste’s social worker. He devoured a few of my pumpkin cream cheese swirl mistakes while I filled him in.” She smiled, momentarily lost in the memory of her boyfriend appreciating her food.
Nora rinsed her hands in the prep sink. The noise snapped Hester out of her daydream, and she resumed her narrative.
“While he was eating, he got a call. I was using the mixer at the time, so he went to the front to talk. When I turned the mixer off, I heard him say, ‘positive for marijuana, but no other drugs? Is he sure?’ He hung up, and I asked if the call was about Bren’s tox screen. He told me to forget what I’d heard and rushed out.”
“No other drugs,” Nora murmured. “She smoked at least one joint, so she would have tested positive for marijuana. But if there were no other drugs in her system, then what killed her?”
Hester’s expression was grave. “Exactly.”
This conversation replayed in Nora’s mind as she broke down the farm-to-table displays and returned the remaining books to the appropriate shelves. While she worked on this project, Sheldon made drinks, served food, and put out all the treasures Nora had found on Sunday.
Foot traffic was slow, which was normal for a Monday morning. There’d be an uptick around lunchtime, another when school let out, and a small rush between five and six when people came downtown for cocktails or dinner.
Nora wanted to use every lull to get the bookshop ready for the Highland Games. The festival didn’t take place in Miracle Springs, but a percentage of the twenty-five thousand attendees would pass through town on Friday, and Nora hoped to sell books to all of them.
Her first goal was to create an endcap for the Romance section. Thanks in part to the success of the Outlander series on television, romance novels set in Scotland had become very popular. Nora’s female readers couldn’t get enough of men in kilts, and during last year’s festival, any book that so much as hinted at a Highlander had flown off the shelf. Sadly, Nora’s inventory had been insufficient, and she’d failed to satisfy her customers’ needs.
This year, she was prepared. Not only did she have stacks of Diana Gabaldon in her stockroom, but she’d also ordered a generous supply of other captivating romantic fiction including Kiss of the Highlander, Lady of the Glen, On a Highland Shore, Kilted for Pleasure, To Love a Scottish Lord, and more.
The Mystery section would have its own endcap featuring the works of Ian Rankin, Conan Doyle, Val McDermid, Molly MacRae, Anna Lee Huber, and Kaitlyn Dunnett. And since there couldn’t be a celebration of Scotland without the inclusion of one of Nora’s favorite authors, a table near the readers’ circle would be devoted entirely to the charming works of Alexander McCall Smith.
On the Land of the Scots table, customers could find the requisite copies of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott poetry as well as contemporary Scottish writers like Carol Ann Duffy, Kate Atkinson, Irvine Welsh, and Jenni Fagan.