Things were going well for Meg Landry at Chapters. She'd quit her moaning and groaning and all the second-guessing that went along with it and finally declared her grand opening a success.
She'd sold over a hundred books within the three-day time span. Sure, a large part of that was due to a few 'star' customers who'd loaded up on cheap paperbacks but nevertheless - sales were sales and Meg wasn't about to look a gift-sale...
Gift sale...gift-horse...what is that expression? she thought.
It didn't matter - she wasn't about to balk at her sales and that was that!
On Monday, Meg received a phone call from Madelyn Harold, the woman who was looking for new space for her book club. The all women's group (well, not entirely all women - they had one lone man to speak of) decided they'd like to meet every other Thursday. Through their conversation, Meg learned that their group is primarily mystery-focused. Madelyn agreed to provide Meg with a list of books they'd already read so Meg could make recommendations for future selections.
The Sassy Sleuths, as they were known, read one book per month but met twice to discuss it. It was apparent that their book club was as much a social gathering as it was a literary project and Meg began to think of ideas of how she could enhance their meetings.
Meg loved their name - The Sassy Sleuths. One book club, booked.
*
For all intents and purposes, Meg's new employees were working out better than she'd hoped. Ev was a spitfire, Clare was the clever voice of reason, Lisa was young and energetic with lots of creative ideas, and Leslie was a calm and methodical presence. They all brought something different to the table but at the same time, they were all very complementary. A good balance, she'd chosen.
While Lisa worked the floor, Meg sat behind the counter and got to work on placing orders for "new" books. Used books were the backbone of the store but she knew she'd be missing out on an opportunity to make money by not at least offering those on the best seller list.
Alice, Albie's ex-girlfriend, texted her to let her know she'd be at Albie's birthday dinner at The Melting Pot - a trendy fondue restaurant Meg had chosen for the occasion. Alice said she'd call her later in the day to touch base about the plans.
Meg pulled up Albie's number in her cell phone and texted him to let him know that she'd finally heard back from everyone regarding his birthday dinner - Alice, Tom and Emma. Seconds later her phone rang and she saw it was him calling her back.
"What's up?" she asked as she slid from her chair and went in the back room to talk.
"Meg," he began, "you know I love you, right?"
Meg smirked. "That's an interesting way to start the conversation."
"Whatever," he said, "I'm telling you that so now I can yell at you."
"Yell at me?" she said. "For what?"
Albie told her to hold on. She could hear people talking in the background.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Hold on a second," he said again.
Meg waited for the background noise to die down and then Albie spoke again.
"I was just leaving Dr. Sunil's office," he said. "I was dropping off samples when you called."
"You called me," Meg clarified.
"Yeah, you're right," Albie said, as she heard his car door close and the background go quiet. "I swear, I am so busy today I don't know if I'm coming or going. I hate this job."
"No you don't," Meg said. "You happen to love your job."
"Yeah, most days I do but I can't stand running around like this. I need an assistant."
"You have an assistant," Meg pointed out. "Her name's Jackie, remember?"
Albie sighed. "She's the office assistant, not my assistant. There's a difference."
"Anyway," Meg said, in an attempt to get him back on track, "what are you calling for?"
"That's a nice way to talk to the man you love," he chided.
Meg laughed. "Take it or leave it."
"I read your text," he said. "Please tell me you made a severe typo."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Alice," Albie said. "Did you invite her to my birthday dinner?"
"Yeah," Meg said, "of course I did, why?"
"Because," Albie stressed, "when you told me you wanted to go out to dinner and that you'd already spoke with Tom and all that, I decided to ask Denise."
Meg helped herself to a piece of Dove chocolate from a bag she kept in the refrigerator and sighed. "Who the hell is Denise?"
"Denise is the girl I met at the dry cleaners, remember?"
Meg thought for a moment and the sad thing was, she did remember Albie saying something about a woman he'd met while dropping off eight work suits to be cleaned.
"You're actually going out with her?" Meg asked. "I thought that was a fleeting moment type thing."
"I'm not 'going out' with her. Not technically, anyway. I'm just sort of seeing her. The point is, I thought I could bring her to dinner so you guys could check her out."
"Check her out, huh," Meg said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, you know, give me your opinion."
"If you're not serious with her, then what does it matter what anyone thinks?"
Albie sighed audibly. "Do you always have to understand everything? Pick apart every detail? All I know is Alice can't go."
"Then you call her and tell her," Meg said.
"I'm not the one who invited her!" Albie exclaimed.
Meg laughed. "We invite Alice everywhere. We see her more now than when you two were dating. And that was all your decision to include her so much."
"Yeah, because I felt bad for her. C'mon, Meg. Just tell her you screwed up the dates and that we're going next week instead."
Meg shook her head. "Are you serious, Albie? Why can't you call Denise and tell her you screwed up?"
"I could but I don't wanna," he said, childishly.
"I figured as much," Meg said, as she peeked her head out and watched Lisa ring up a woman with four books. She loved seeing books make their way out the door.
"Look," Meg said, "I'll tell her - this once. If Alice is out of the loop, you'd better decide and let everyone know. It's not fair to impose your friends to include her and then discard her when it's no longer convenient to have her around."
"You know how she is," Albie said, "I could care less if she came with us but I don't think she'd be able to handle it."
"Because you're such a heart breaker," Meg said, giggling. "No woman can resist your charms or forget you when it's over."
*
Meg hadn't heard a word from Dan Keagan since their last encounter. She'd seen him in the back parking lot earlier that morning but instead of waving, he quickly looked away, pretending he hadn't noticed her.
She also thought she saw his wife the day before, same time, getting out of her car. Meg assumed it was his wife but since she hadn't actually met the woman, she couldn't say for sure. She wanted to walk over and introduce herself and see if she was in any way a reflection of her two-faced husband but unfortunately, the woman scurried inside the back door before Meg could make her way over. Was Mrs. Keagan avoiding her? Perhaps. Maybe her husband had instructed her to. In any event, Meg wasn't the least bit put off by the situation.
She had bigger fish to fry. And worse calls to make. Fooling Alice was not going to be easy. She had a way of knowing when Albie was lying or hiding something.
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