CHAPTERS

Chapters - Episode 12 (The One Where Albie Gets Sick)

2011-12-15T12:44:00.000-05:00

"And you know what the worst part of this whole thing is?" Meg whined into the phone. Emma had called her the moment she arrived home from Albie's work party.

"He never even called. No call, no text, no nothing. It's as if he's completely erased me from his mind."

Emma sighed audibly. "You're right, that sucks. If anything, he should have at least sent you a text to make sure you got home okay but Meg, what do you want from him? You're acting like a jealous girlfriend and the last time I checked, you've never played that role before."

"I am not acting like a jealous anything," Meg huffed. "Is it too much to ask for a little consideration? He obviously knows there's something wrong. I tried to explain what happened with Denise and it's like he doesn't believe what I say all of a sudden."

"Yeah," Emma agreed, dismissively.

"I mean, what would I have to gain by lying to him?"

"Nothing," Emma said, "you're right. He's being an ass, what more can I say?"

Meg sunk back into the couch and pulled a soft, worn acrylic throw blanket under her chin. "Nothing. You can't say anything because it's not about you. I guess I just needed someone to listen."

"That's what I'm here for," Emma said, sounding distracted. Meg thought she could hear the faint sounds of a nail file being delicately passed over Emma's perfect nail tips.

"I'm gonna go," Meg finally said. "I'm exhausted and I know you've got to be tired too."

"Actually," Emma replied, "I'm waiting for Joe Rile to call. He promised he'd call the moment he returned from Aspen and said that it could be the middle of the night before he finally got in from the airport. I guess he wasn't kidding."

Meg wracked her brain but did not recognize the name of the guy Emma was referring to. "Who's Joe Rile?"

"Joe Rile," Emma repeated, as if that in itself was enough of an explanation. When Meg didn't respond she elaborated.

"You know, the guy who transferred here from Colorado? I told you about him - Joe Rile Davis."

"What?"

"What?" Emma echoed.

Meg hesitated. "Joe Rile Davis? I thought his last name was Rile."

"No," Emma insisted. "His name is Joe Rile. You know, like Ann Marie or..." Emma had a tough time thinking of additional examples. "You know what I mean," she said, sounding frustrated. "A first-middle name combo."

Meg suppressed a laugh. "Yeah but, Joe Rile? What kind of name is that?"

"A cool one," Emma said quickly. "For a very cool guy."

"O-kay," Meg said, trying harder not to laugh. "Well, when the very cool Joe Rile calls, tell him Meg-Marie says hello."

Emma giggled and then turned serious. "Alright I will."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Meg said and heard Emma say It is tomorrow, before they hung up.

*

Meg dragged her feet at Chapters all day. The iced tea she'd had didn't energize her. The sugary doughnut was no help either. She'd even gotten desperate and made herself a cup of strong coffee in her Keurig brewer but even that didn't provide her with the jolt of caffeinated energy she sought.

It had been three days since Albie's work party and three days since they'd last spoke while forcing an uncomfortable 'goodbye' that night. Meg checked her phone incessantly but there was never anything to be found in the form of text, email or phone call, from her best friend.

Later that evening she was due to receive the ladies from the murder mystery book club and she anticipated a long evening. Lisa, Meg's youngest employee, was due to arrive as soon as she finished classes at the nearby University. She couldn't help but watch the clock and count down the minutes until she had someone to relieve her for just a bit. Just long enough to get out of the store for a bit and re-energize with a late lunch or early dinner.

Shelving books was one of Meg's least favorite activities because it was never as simple as adding new stock to the shelves. Arranging books alphabetically and according to genre caused a great deal of rearranging and the simple task of adding ten or fifteen new books on a shelf sometimes necessitated the adjusting of one or more entire shelves in order to accommodate for space. It was tedious but unavoidable.

Meg checked her watch again. Thirty minutes until Lisa arrived. That would give her just enough time to spruce up the table the book club would be utilizing with free bookmarks and tiny complimentary tablets of paper.

She could hear her cell phone ring from where she sat, surrounded by the last of her new book inventory. Meg jumped up to answer it before the ringing stopped. She would be upset if she missed a call from Albie after three long days.

"Hello?" she answered, trying not to sound winded from running across the store to reach her phone.

"Meg, it's Tom. Are you busy?"

She felt a twinge of disappointment but tried to push the feeling away. "No, it's okay." She looked around the empty store. "I'm working but I'm not exactly busy. What's up?"

"It's about Albie," Tom said, his voice sounding forced.

"I haven't heard a word from that jerk in three days so whatever you're going to say, spare me. I don't want to hear anything about him."

"Meg, listen," Tom said, quietly. "Albie's in the hospital. He's pretty sick."

"What?" Meg gasped. Her anger toward Albie all but forgotten. "What do you mean sick? What's wrong with him?"

"Albie never complains," Meg said. "He must have been pretty sick to check himself into the hospital."

"Yeah, that's the thing. He didn't go on his own...Denise took him. Drove him there in her car. Apparently he'd passed out."

"He passed out? And Denise hurled him into her car instead of calling 9-1-1? That doesn't make any sense."

Tom laughed. "Seriously, I don't mean to laugh but that's exactly what I thought too. I'm assuming he came to for her to get him in the car but yeah, the whole thing is a mystery at this point and I didn't want to ask Albie's mom too many questions over the phone."

"Where is he?" Meg asked.

Tom gave her the name of the hospital and just as she was about to check her watch, Lisa walked in the door.

"Just in time," Meg said, grabbing her purse and keys. "I hate to do this to you," she said to Lisa, "but I have to run out for a bit. A friend of mine is in the hospital and I need to run up there real quick."

"No problem," Lisa said and she wriggled free from her jacket.

"And just so you know, the women's murder mystery book club is due in at six-thirty. I should be back by then but if you need anything in the meantime, call me on my cell."

"I can handle it," Lisa said confidently.

Meg ran through the back room and into the parking lot where she quickly got in her car. She took a deep breath before backing out of her parking space.

She'd been so quick to get angry with Albie and here he was, sick for three days. Denise or no Denise, no one was going to keep her from seeing her best friend when he needed her. The story Tom had told her was a strange one but she vowed not to leave the hospital without some answers.

Chapters - Episode 11 (The One Where Meg Feels Ridiculous)

2011-04-18T11:24:00.004-04:00

Albie had extended the invitation to attend the cocktail party that weekend to Meg, Tom and Emma. He'd said nothing about Denise going but Meg steeled herself for a run-in with the crazy girl just in case.

Meg and Albie didn't speak about Denise or what had happened at Chapters ever again that week. They'd had two conversations - one text and one phone - and both were relatively short. Albie hadn't mentioned Denise so Meg was careful not to mention her either. Deep down though, Meg knew Albie had dismissed her accusations about his new girlfriend. He either didn't want to deal with a potentially uncomfortable situation or he really hadn't believed what Meg had told him about her unpleasant and unprovoked encounter with Denise. Either way, Meg felt a pointed sense of betrayal.

Meg waited to hear from Albie as Saturday rolled around but he never called or texted. Instead, she'd spoken briefly with Tom who informed her that he was going to pick up Emma for the party and offered to pick her up as well. Usually Meg would have appreciated such an offer (and the option to have a couple extra glasses of champagne without worrying about driving) but she politely declined. Not knowing what to expect at the party, she decided it would be best if she drove alone and in her own car.

Meg wanted to make sure Tom and Emma would already be at the party when she arrived. The last thing she wanted to do was to get there and have to make small talk with Albie and Denise by herself. In fact, she wasn't exactly sure what to expect at the party. Albie never actually mentioned if Denise was going or not but somehow, Meg had felt certain that she would be there.

As she walked through the doors of Dantonio's, a popular but fancy restaurant and bar, she instantly spotted Albie's back as he spoke with two other men in expensive-looking dark suits. Just as she'd expected, Denise stood at Albie's side wearing a very tight, form-fitting red dress. Her long hair cascaded in shiny waves at her shoulders. Even though she could only see Albie's back, Meg knew what an attractive couple they made.

She quickly surveyed the rest of the crowd immediately inside the doors and didn't see Tom or Emma anywhere. For all she knew, they could already be positioned inside at the bar or they might still be stuck in Saturday evening traffic. Either way, she wasn't going to venture inside without them. Typically, Meg was confident but the scene with Denise had effectively unnerved her and she didn't like the feeling one bit.

Not wanting to be spotted standing at the door like a complete fool, Meg ducked into the ladies room. Once inside, she sat down on one of the plush velvet sofas that made up the 'pre-ladies-room lounge' and pulled out her cell phone. She sent Emma a quick text asking her if she was already at Dantonio's or if she and Tom were still on there way. Instead of texting back, Emma called.

"Hey," Meg answered, "tell me you guys are here already." But Meg could hear traffic in the background which caused her to wince.

"I wish," Emma sighed. You're not going to believe this but genius over here," she said referring to Tom sarcastically, "forgot to put gas in the car and we are literally stuck on the side of the road waiting for roadside assistance."

"You've got to be kidding me," Meg replied.

"I wish I was," Emma said. In the background, Meg could hear Tom's sad attempts at defending himself, citing a long day, a long week, he hadn't even had time for dinner, etc.

"How long until they get there?" Meg asked, referring to the roadside assistance company.

"Forty-five minutes to an hour," Emma said, dejectedly.

"Do you want me to come and pick you up?" Meg asked, already knowing the answer. Emma would never leave Tom stranded, even if he was just waiting for a gas-rescue. Meg wouldn't have, either.

"No," Emma said, just as Meg predicted. "We're fine. Hungry, but fine."

"Hey!" Tom exclaimed in the background. "There's a Kit Kat in the glove compartment!"

Meg laughed, despite her situation.

"You know what?" she said, "I think I'm just going to go home."

"Why?" Emma asked. "Isn't Albie there? Can't you wait for us?"

Meg closed and opened her eyes forcefully, hoping that once she opened them again, she'd magically find herself back at home in her pajamas in front of the TV.

No such luck.

"I think he must be here somewhere," Meg answered, not wanting to get into the whole 'avoiding-Denise' thing again with Emma. She didn't want to subject herself to another lecture from Emma on how she was overreacting and that either way, Meg was Albie's best friend and if anyone should be avoiding someone, it should be Denise avoiding Meg out of embarrassment...not the other way around.

Just at that moment, the door to the ladies room swung open and as soon as Meg spotted the blur of red dress, she put her head down and faced the other direction. Thankfully, it was crowded in the lounge area and Meg had gone unnoticed by Denise. Denise walked right by her without a hint of recognition and passed the next set of doors into the ladies room.

"Hey," Meg said quickly, "I gotta go. I'll talk to you later," and with that, she hung up the phone. She wanted to take the opportunity to escape the ladies room, find Albie and make an excuse for leaving early.

Once back inside the restaurant, she did a quick surveillance of the crowd and spotted Albie standing at the bar, alone.

She quickly hightailed it across the room to reach him before Denise reappeared.

"Hi," she said, smiling at him. Albie looked very fresh, clean-shaven and sparkly-eyed. It was as if he'd literally just stepped out from a warm shower. "Don't you look handsome," she said, leaning in for a hug.

"And you look gorgeous, as usual. Where have you been?" he asked, mock-checking his watch. "I thought you'd be here like an hour ago."

Meg rolled her eyes. "I've been here for a little while. I got caught up talking to..." she trailed off, uncomfortably.

"Talking to who?" Albie asked.

"Umm, Jake...do you know him?" Meg stammered through a lie.

"Jake? Jake who?" Albie asked.

"Jake, umm, something-or-other. Anyway, how should I know - this is your work party," she laughed nervously.

"Huh," Albie said, thoughtfully, as he took two glasses of wine from the bar tender. "Would you like one?" he asked.

Meg shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine. Actually, I really need to get going."

"What, are you joking?" Albie asked, taking a sip from one of the glasses. "You just got here."

"No," Meg said, "like I said, I've been here for a little while already but I have to stop at the store real quick," she lied, referring to Chapters. "I think I left the back door unlocked and well, you know...with the psychopath next door, it wouldn't be smart to leave it unchecked."

"You can't go back there by yourself at this hour," Albie said. "It's pitch black out and the plaza will be deserted. If you really think you need to go, I'll go with you."

"Go where?" Denise asked, suddenly sidling up behind them.

Meg nearly jumped out of her skin, she'd been so surprised by the sound of Denise's voice. Denise pushed past Meg and took her place directly next to Albie.

"How are you?" Meg asked, as sincerely as she could muster.

This is getting ridiculous, she thought to herself. There was no logical explanation for the way she was allowing Denise to make her feel inferior.

"Fine, thanks," Denise replied cooly. She turned to Albie. "Did I hear you say you were going somewhere?"

Albie nodded as he handed Denise her glass of wine and set down his own on the bar. "Meg thinks she left the back door to the bookstore unlocked. I don't want her going back there alone so I'm gonna go with her."

"No, no, really," Meg protested. "I don't need anyone to come with me."

Denise glared at her and Meg forced herself to turn away.

"Bullshit," Albie said, cheerfully. "You're not going alone. It will take twenty minutes, tops and we'll be back here in time for the real food to be set out."

Meg looked around at the appetizers and canapes that must have cost a fortune to provide to such a crowd. If this wasn't the 'real food', they were surely in for something amazing, that much was sure. Too bad she was going to miss it.

"Where's Tom?" Albie asked. "And Emma? Are they around here somewhere?"

Meg shook her head. "They're waiting on the side of the freeway for roadside assistance to bring Tom a few gallons of gas. They ran out on the way here."

Albie laughed heartily. "Leave it to Tom!"

"Honestly," Meg said, bringing the conversation back around to her potential escape once again, "I'm going to get going. Thank you but I don't need you to come with me. I may not be coming back here afterward."

"Why not?" Albie asked, looking genuinely disappointed. "It's early. Things haven't even started yet."

Meg nodded. "I know and that's why I'm so disappointed. But I'm not feeling that great."

"That's a shame," Denise said, her tone dripping with faux-sincerity, for Albie's sake. "Maybe it would be best to let her go, Albs."

Albs? Meg repeated in her head. No one called Albie 'Albs' but her.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Albie asked Meg, looking at her seriously. "We'll be back in a minute," he told Denise firmly. He walked away with Meg in tow before Denise had the chance to object.

Once they were by the unused coat-check closet, he turned to her. "What's going on? Are you really sick?"

Meg opened her mouth to assure him she was but before she could get a word out, he silenced her.

"And before you answer that, you should realize that I can always tell when you're lying. Which brings me to my second question. Did you really leave the back door to the store unlocked?"

Meg started to object and continue with her story but she closed her mouth and shook her head. "No. To both. Okay? Happy?"

Albie sighed and put his hand on Meg's arm in a comforting gesture. "Happy? Why would you think that I'm happy to hear you make up lies to leave? Is it me? Have I done something wrong?"

Surprisingly, Meg felt the beginnings of tears sting her eyes and she had no idea what was prompting such a reaction inside of her. Maybe it was the fact that Denise was there and she felt like a total outsider or maybe it was because Albie was speaking to her in such soft, comforting tones. She didn't know so she quickly looked away and shook her head once again.

"You haven't done anything wrong. I just don't feel like being out tonight."

Albie looked at her and mercifully, said nothing about the tears he surely noticed. "Meg, tell me what's wrong."

Albie's insistence, coupled with his genuine concern, made her feel utterly ridiculous. She was utterly ridiculous.

"I don't know," she said. "If you want to know the truth, it's just the whole thing with Denise. As soon as I told you what happened with her at the store, you dismissed it like I'd made the whole thing up. I wouldn't do that, Albie. Think about it - why would I make something like that up?"

It was at that moment that Denise chose to approach them, despite Albie asking for a minute of privacy.

"Everything okay?" Denise asked. "You look upset, Meg. Are you alright?"

Meg took a deep breath and shot her a narrow glance. "Everything's fine," she replied. "I was just leaving."

Meg waited for Albie to say something, something to stop her, but he didn't. Meg took that as her cue to walk away.

"Tell Emma and Tom I went home," she said to him softly, almost inaudibly. "Have a good night," she said, as she walked away, knowing full-well, he couldn't hear her.

Chapters - Episode 10 (The One Where Meg Does Some Laundry and Some Thinking)

2011-03-30T14:59:00.001-04:00

"And then he just sighed and said I'd taken it all wrong," Meg said to Emma over the phone.

"Just like that? 'Meg, you've taken it the wrong way'? Is he deluded?" Emma replied.

"I don't know," Meg said, eying her face in her bathroom mirror. "I repeated the entire confrontation, beginning to end, just like I did for you. From the moment Denise walked in the door to the moment she walked out. I really thought he'd handle it differently."

"I don't know," Emma said, yawning. "Albie likes to say what he wants, he likes to do what he wants and he also likes to think what he wants. You should know that by now."

"Yeah, but come on," Meg whined. "I'm his best friend! I wouldn't lie to him about his girlfriend's behavior. I have no reason to."

"Exactly," Emma said, "you have nothing to gain. Which is why he's being all the more of an idiot for dismissing you."

Meg laughed. "Whatever. All I can say is I hope she won't be around for long because I will never go anywhere she's at - I don't care if the entire group goes. If she's there, I'm out."

"That could prove to be a problem," Emma said. "I think it will be a little hard to avoid her as long as Albie's dating her."

"Not my problem. He and I may be seeing a lot less of one another," Meg said stubbornly.

After closing the store that day, Meg locked up and decided to call it an early night. She drove home angry - angry at the fact that Denise had the audacity to come into her store and try to run the show and angry with Albie for being so passive.

Maybe passive wasn't the word, she thought. It was more like he just didn't believe her.

After she hung up with Emma, Meg lugged a heavy basket of dirty clothes into her first-floor laundry room and threw a load into the washer then began to clean up the kitchen. There wasn't much to do. She had exactly one glass and one fork to wash. Dinner had been a frozen entree of Chicken Parmesan and spaghetti. That wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't also been a diet frozen entree. She was starved and hadn't realized how badly she needed to grocery shop until that evening.

Chapters had been taking up nearly all her time lately and she'd been forced to neglect basic everyday things at her own place. Her condo was small with just two bedrooms but she loved every inch of it. She'd been on the real estate hunt for a long time before she found the gem she'd been searching for and she had Albie to thank. He had a friend who was a seasoned real estate agent and she had been on the constant look-out for a place that fit Meg's specifications. Once the woman happened upon her current address, she'd called Meg in a panic. She wanted her to get to the condo as soon as possible so Meg could make a quick decision. Buying a home didn't particularly fit the list of "quick decisions" she wanted to make in life but once she'd walked through the doors, she just knew the place had to be hers. And so it was. Less than two months later, Meg's new furniture had been arranged and her pictures hung. She'd wasted no time in making the place her own. And now she couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

The condo had been a good move on her part anyway, given that she'd been single now for almost a year. Her last boyfriend had up and left her, no warning, no apologies. She and Cole had dated for three years and Meg had thought he was the one. No one knew what to say when he'd left her for one of his co-workers the winter before. No one except Emma.

When Meg saw Emma for the first time after the break-up, she'd broken down into uncontrollable sobs. She had been barely able to put together a concise sentence when Emma gave her the 'talking to' that she'd desperately needed.

"That's what you get for dating a pompous ass with a name like 'Cole'," she'd said, unapologetically.

Emma didn't mince words and she didn't sugar coat the situation. She'd been very direct and very blunt with Meg about the entire situation. She didn't make Cole out to be any better or any worse than he'd actually been. Unfortunately, his bad qualities ended up far outweighing his good.

After the heart-to-heart with Emma, things started to get a little easier for Meg. She'd finally realized that Cole hadn't been the one for her and she'd been ignoring his bad qualities for too long - one of them being his controlling nature. After she and Cole broke up, she'd rekindled her close friendship with Albie. She was thankful that he didn't hold a grudge against her past behavior which had been on the neglectful side. It wasn't as if she never saw Albie - they'd talked several times a week in fact - but when she was with Cole, it wasn't the same. It was almost as if Cole felt he'd been in competition with Albie but not over Meg but over the success of their respective careers.

Albie never mentioned the strain Cole put on their friendship out of respect for Meg.

Until Cole dumped Meg. That was when Albie let loose about the job - and everything else that had ever bothered him about her boyfriend. What started out as a simple conversation between Albie and Meg had turned into a drunken bitch session with each of them trying to top the other with creative Cole-insults. By the end of that long night, Meg knew she was going to be okay.

Now here we are, Meg thought as she sat at her kitchen table, listening to the washer swish and swirl in the next room. She didn't want to lose her best friend again because of someone else's issues.

Quietly, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Albie's number but she hung up before it even had a chance to ring.

If Albie said she'd misunderstood Denise, then maybe she had.

No. That wasn't true.

She'd understood Denise just fine. But maybe the best way to deal with it was to ignore her and see how things played out. Meg didn't want to alienate herself from Albie and he'd only had a couple of dates with the girl. There was a good chance they were all getting way ahead of themselves for absolutely no reason. At least that was what she hoped.

Chapters - Episode 9 (The One Where Denise Pays a Little Visit)

2011-03-25T12:39:00.000-04:00

Meg learned that Albie had also apologized to Emma and Tom as well. Emma let him sweat it out a bit, acting more offended than she actually was, just so she could listen to Albie grovel a little. Tom, being a typical guy, quickly said 'no big deal' and the situation was all but forgotten.

In an effort to make things up to everyone, Albie offered to take the three of them along with him to a casual corporate gathering at a local museum that Saturday night. Meg was more than willing to go - she loved Albie's work-related functions. There was always great food, endless wine and champagne and usually a lot of interesting people to talk to.

Emma was the only one holding out. "I'm not sure I can make it," she later told Meg on the phone. "I've got a birthday party to go to."

"Whose birthday?" Meg asked, curious.

"You know Carol, the lady I work with?"

"I guess," Meg said.

"It's for her boyfriend," Emma said. "I don't want to go. I don't even know the guy, I just know that Carol's inviting all of her personal and work-related friends and she wants it to be some big deal for him. I'm not even sure I know his name...I think it might be Maurice or something..."

"That's ridiculous. You're going to miss out on a fun night out with us to hang out at some guy's birthday party whose name you don't even know?"

Emma laughed. "Yeah, I guess it does sounds kind of ridiculous. Alright, I'm in. I'll make up some kind of excuse for Carol. I didn't want to go anyway."

Meg was convinced that her weekend was going to turn out better than the last one.

She spent the rest of the day waiting on customers and helping the occasional person find a specific book and also filled online orders. She checked her daily sales total quite often over the course of the day, pleased to watch the number rise beyond the amount she had originally forecast. Only having been open for a couple of weeks, Meg was pleased with the way the store was being received and the amount of sales that were racking up. She knew a lot of her success had to do with the prime location of the store's plaza. The very thought brought on a twinge of nervousness when she thought about Dan Keagan's admission to Albie that he'd wanted her spot and was going to pursue taking it from her.

Not wanting to ruin her day, she pushed Dan Keagan out of her mind. He wasn't worth the worry.

It was a little after five o'clock when Denise walked into the store. Meg barely looked up and had to do a double-take when she saw the familiar face. At first she had a difficult time placing her but she quickly realized it was Albie's new girlfriend. She looked much different in the light of day, wearing far less makeup and dressed in casual chinos and sweater.

"Hi," Denise said, wasting no time approaching the counter. "Meg, isn't it?"

Meg nodded. She knew they'd only met briefly the other night but Meg was pretty sure the woman remembered her name without having to ask. "How are you, Denise?"

Denise looked around, seemingly surveying the store and then Meg as well. "Albie mentioned that you just opened this place," Denise said. "Very nice. I just left work and had some time to kill so here I am."

"Of course," Meg said, with a forced smile. "I'm glad you stopped by. You're welcome anytime."

The truth was, Meg was uncomfortable in Denise's presence. The scene at Albie's birthday did not go well inside the restaurant and Meg had been the first one to announce that she'd had enough and left. The fact that Emma and Tom followed was no surprise...they were loyal to both Meg and Albie but everyone could agree that they'd had their fill of Albie's drama that evening.

"I'm not really sure what happened the other night," Denise began, somewhat unexpectedly, "but I think you and I got off on the wrong foot."

Meg was taken aback by Denise's straightforward approach to an uncomfortable situation. She didn't know whether to admire it or be put off by it. Either way, she was cornered so there was no getting out of the confrontation at hand.

"It was a crazy night," Meg said, generically. "Things just got a little confusing and to be completely honest, I just needed to remove myself from the situation before anyone else got upset."

Denise's stare was piercing. Meg wondered if she would ever blink.

"I don't understand," Denise said, flatly. "Who was upset?"

Obviously, this isn't going to be easy, Meg thought.

"Well," she began, "Alice was upset. You couldn't tell?"

"And who's Alice?" Denise asked.

"Alice, the one you met at the table, remember? Our friend," Meg said, now confused more than before.

"Your friend or Albie's ex-girlfriend?" Denise asked, pointedly.

Meg wasn't sure what Denise was getting at and didn't answer right away. Before she could even think of what to say, Denise continued.

"Albie's your friend, Meg. Of course you already know that but you need to remember that Alice was simply someone he dated for a while. She's not someone you take sides with."

Meg shook her head, bewildered at how Alice could walk into her store blatantly looking for confrontation.

"I wasn't choosing sides," was all Meg could get out.

"You were and you did," Denise insisted. "But if you want to stay friends with Albie then you need to choose your loyalties and that means siding with his new girlfriend."

"What are you talking about?" Meg demanded.

Denise looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "I'm with Albie now. You and Emma and whoever else is part of your little group - you all need to understand that."

"The only thing I understand is that it sounds very much like you're threatening me."

Denise smiled. "I'm a nice person," she said. "And I can be a very good friend. But if someone crosses me, I'm very good at defending myself as well."

"Defending yourself?" Meg echoed. "Defending yourself from what?"

"Look, we can all go out, get along and have fun. Just don't let me catch you putting thoughts or doubts into Albie's head again. It took me all of last night to convince him that he needs to think for himself and do what he wants. Not what his friends want. So just watch it."

"Watch it?" Meg echoed again. She couldn't help repeating herself - the whole scenario was just too much. "Or what?"

"Or you can kiss your friendship with Albie goodbye," Denise replied.

"Tell me you're joking," Meg smirked. "In fact, don't bother. I think it's time you left now."

Denise nodded as she replaced her sunglasses on her face. "Think hard about what I've said because I don't like repeating myself."

Meg watched in utter disbelief as Denise walked out the door. She didn't know whether to laugh or scream.

What a bitch, she thought.

One thing was certain, she had a few phone calls to make and the first one was going to be to Albie.

Chapters - Episode 8 (The One Where Albie Apologizes)

2011-03-23T10:07:00.001-04:00

The next day, Meg busied herself with errands and a little shopkeeping. She wanted to rearrange a few shelves in an effort to make room for some new releases and needed to tidy the used paperback section. It didn't take long for the mass market paperbacks to get out of order and incorrectly re-shelved by customers.

Dressed in her most comfortable jeans and old navy blue cardigan, she'd thrown her hair in a pony tail and worked diligently on the tasks at hand. She was completely unprepared for the surprise visit she received from Mrs. Keagan, wife to her creepy neighbor, Dan.

She looked up to see a slight blonde woman tapping on the glass of her shop door. She climbed down my ladder and smoothed her hair and sweater before answering.

"Hello, there," she said, quietly. "We haven't met yet but I'm Darlene Keagan. My husband and I operate the catering business next door."

Meg held out a hand and shook Darlene's limp fingers. "Nice to meet you."

"I know you're not open right now but I didn't want to bother you during store hours. I know how busy we all get," she said. "Here, I wanted to give you these."

Meg nearly laughed out loud when she handed over another basket of muffins. What the hell was it with these people and their baked goods?

"Wow," Meg said with a mock smile. "More muffins. Thank you so much."

Darlene's smile faded slightly. "More?"

Meg nodded. "Yes, your husband has been kind enough to stop over with some a couple times already. These won't be wasted though, I assure you. They are delicious."

Mentally, she envisioned tossing them into the garbage one-by-one.

"You've spoken with Dan?" she asked, appearing quite confused.

"Yes," Meg said, "he's been here twice, I believe. Very thoughtful gestures of you both."

"Hmm," was all she said.

"Is there something wrong?" Meg asked.

Darlene Keagan smiled broadly and shook her head. "No, no, of course not. I thought Dan had said he'd tried to meet you but you've been too busy during business hours. I must have heard him wrong, that's all."

She smiled again, more confidently this time.

"Nope," Meg replied, "I'm certain we've met. Twice actually. Both times he arrived bearing muffins. You guys are great bakers. Would you like to come in? I can make some tea if you'd like..."

"No, thank you, but I can't. I really need to get back. We're working on food for an anniversary dinner and I can't be gone too long. It really was nice to meet you though, Megan."

"Oh, you can call me Meg. It was nice to meet you, too, Darlene."

But by then, Darlene Keagan had already turned to leave.

Meg tossed the muffin basket onto the counter and took a seat. Feeling hungry, she was tempted to eat one of them but just knowing they came from Dan Keagan's kitchen was enough to dissuade her.

And what was with him telling his wife they'd never met? They were a strange couple and Meg wanted nothing to do with either of them.

Later that day, Albie tapped on the door just as Meg was wrapping things up at Chapters. It had been a long, productive day and she was looking forward to a warm soak in the tub and catching up on her DVR'd shows.

"Hey," she said, opening the door. "I didn't know you were going to stop. You almost missed me."

"I know," he replied, setting down two plastic bags smelling of Chinese food onto the counter. "I was going to call but then I thought you'd tell me not to come."

He's right, Meg thought.

"What's all this?" she said, peeking into the bags.

Albie reached into the bags and began unpacking Chinese takeout boxes. "Vegetable Lo Mein, Chicken and Broccoli, egg rolls...your favorites."

Meg smiled. "Did you remember to get extra fortune cookies?"

Albie pulled a heaping pile of the individually wrapped cookies from the bag, letting them drop onto the counter. "That enough?"

"There's never enough fortune-telling to go around. You know that," she said.

They each passed on the plastic forks, unwrapping sets of wooden chopsticks instead. Meg sat down on one side of the checkout counter and Albie pulled another stool out to sit across from her.

"Should I see if I have any paper plates in the back?" she asked.

"No," Albie replied, "let's just share."

Meg made an awkward attempt at the lo mein, long strands of noodles hanging from her lips as she did. There was just no graceful way to eat lo mein with chopsticks.

"Dan Keagan's wife stopped by earlier," Meg informed him.

"Why am I not surprised?" Albie responded.

"She seemed nice enough, I guess. But get this - Dan never told her he'd met or spoken with me. Isn't that weird?"

Albie shrugged. "Not if he's trying to keep his plans to kick you out from her. Who knows though - it's hard to say. Maybe he's just an asshole, plain and simple. I wouldn't read into it too much."

Meg nodded. The last thing she needed was to try and understand the psychology of the Keagan's.

Albie set down the box of chicken and broccoli and wiped his mouth with a stiff paper napkin. "Listen, about last night..."

Meg held up her chopsticks in an effort to stop him. "I don't want to talk about it," she said, mouth full. "Forget about it."

Meg shook her head. "You're not doing anything wrong, Albie. You're dating - that's it. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is when you constantly bring someone new around and expect everyone to befriend them, and it doesn't work that way. No one wants to invest time or effort into getting to know someone only to realize that they won't be able to stay in contact with them when your relationship ends."

Albie said nothing.

Meg tapped his arm with her chopsticks. "Because you know one of these days we're going to choose the girlfriend over you, right?" she joked.

Albie smiled. "You couldn't live without me."

And he was right. Meg couldn't live without Albie. No matter how often he frustrated her or made her mad or got on her nerves, she couldn't imagine life without him.

"So what about Denise?" Meg asked. "Is she still talking to you after last night?"

Albie nodded. "Surprisingly, yes. Somehow I don't think she fully realized what was going on. She seemed to take the whole thing as a compliment or something. It was like she felt as if she'd won against Alice."

"That's pathetic," Meg said. "Not just because she got any satisfaction out of the whole situation but because she doesn't realize just how disrespectful you'd been to everyone."

"Oh, thanks a lot," Albie said.

"Well," Meg said honestly, "I didn't mean it as a compliment. It's the truth. If I were her I would have shaken your hand and said thanks for an interesting evening. And that would have been it. You would have never heard from me again."

"If I would have known it was that easy to get rid of you I would have taken you out on a date a long time ago," Albie joked.

Meg found herself laughing at Albie's backward sense of humor. Even when he was being completely impossible or a total jerk, she could understand his appeal to women.

"Thanks for dinner but I've got to get home," Meg said, placing the used takeout containers back into their bags. "Did you park around back?"

"Yeah," Albie said, replacing his stool and taking the bags from Meg.

Meg checked the lock on the front door and did a quick glance around the store to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything.

"Ready?" she said, leading them out the back door.

She pulled the door closed tightly behind them and reached inside her purse for her keys. When she looked across the alley, she saw Dan Keagan standing outside smoking a cigarette, staring at them.

Albie tossed the trash into the dumpster while Dan eyed them both but never nodded or even waved.

"That guy is a total psycho," Albie said as Meg got into her car.

"I know, what a weirdo. Just ignore him."

"I want you to ignore him - from now on. Don't talk to him or let him back in the store," Albie instructed. "I don't trust that guy."

As Albie got into his BMW, he looked purposely at Keagan and gave him a sarcastic smile and wave.

Meg wouldn't look at the guy as she drove away. She couldn't put her finger on it but Dan Keagan gave her a bad feeling.

Chapters - Episode 7 (The One Where Everyone Gets Fed Up)

2011-03-22T13:04:00.003-04:00

Albie backed up against the bar.

"I'm not going over there," he declared.

Meg strained her neck to get a good look at the situation unfolding at their table.

"You have to go back," Meg said. "What are you going to do - just leave your new girlfriend and Emma sitting there?"

Albie looked seriously afraid. "You guys go. Make up some excuse and get Denise out of there. Alice can't know I'm here with someone else."

Meg whipped around and stared Albie down. "We'll do no such thing. This is your mess. Be a man and go over there."

Tom was doing his best to stifle a laugh but it was no use.

"You think this is funny?" Albie asked, eyes fixed on their table.

"How could I not think this is funny? I think I will order that other drink," Tom said, flagging down the bartender. "This is getting good."

Albie took back the glass of wine from Meg and downed it in three large gulps. "This is ridiculous. I've done nothing wrong. I'm going over there."

Meg and Tom stood firmly in place. "Good luck," Meg said.

"Oh no," Albie said, grabbing her arm. "You two are coming with me."

Meg and Tom did their best to hide their amusement but it was no use. As soon as Emma spotted them she gave them a knowing look, willing them to rescue her. Meg wondered who was worse - Denise or Alice.

"Hey, there," Albie said, sliding into the booth next to Emma instead of Denise. "What are you doing here?" he asked, smiling at Alice.

Meg slid in next to Albie and Tom sat next to a very confused-looking Denise.

"I'm here with a few friends from work," Alice said. "I should ask you the same thing."

Albie looked flushed, his face reddening more by the minute.

"Just here with all these guys," he said, casually.

"Babe, what's up?" Denise asked. "Why are you sitting over there?"

Albie looked like he was literally going to pass out.

"Babe?" Alice repeated sarcastically.

"Yeah," Albie said, uncomfortably, "I guess we somehow switched seats around or something. Switch with me Tom," he said. "We're going to confuse the waiter."

Somehow, the whole scenario was still lost on Denise.

"Who is this?" Alice asked, referring to Denise.

Albie rose from his side of the booth and waited for Tom to get up and switch places with him.

"This?" Albie repeated idiotically, "this is our friend, Denise."

That perked up Denise's ears.

"Friend?" she asked.

Alice stared him down, not moving an inch. Tom wasn't moving either. No one was sure where to go or where things were headed.

Albie looked pained, extremely uncomfortable.

"Who is she, your new girlfriend?" Alice demanded.

Albie rubbed the back of his neck. Never one to want to make a scene, Meg thought he might actually make a run for it.

"What's going on, Albie?" Denise asked, looking at Alice.

"Screw this," Alice said, "I can see you're too much of a coward to be honest."

Albie said nothing. He was acting cowardly, Meg thought.

"And you guys," Alice said, eying Meg, Emma and Tom individually, "I thought you were my friends. Thanks for lying to me about tonight. I expect something like this from him, but not from you three."

With those uncomfortable parting words, Alice stormed off. No one knew what to say or tried to stop her. Another one of Albie's debacles, coming to bite them all in the ass.

"Sorry," Albie said to everyone. "I didn't expect to run into her here."

"Who?" Denise asked. "Will someone tell me what just happened."

Meg stepped in to explain. "That was Albie's ex-girlfriend. And our friend," she clarified, "although none of us acted like it."

"Are you okay, babe?" Denise asked, rubbing Albie's arm in an attempt to comfort him.

"Yeah," Albie said, dismissively, "I'm fine. I'm sorry - forget about what just happened."

Denise nodded but Meg had had enough.

She took a deep breath and gave Albie a sharp look. "I'm out of here."

Everyone looked startled as Meg dug her keys out of her tiny clutch and stood up to leave.

"What are you doing?" Albie asked, irritated that Alice's departure hadn't alleviated the situation.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm leaving."

"I can see that," he said, reaching out for her arm, "but why?"

"Because," she said quietly, but firmly, "I cant do this with you anymore. I can't get used to a different girl all the time, have you force us to accept and become friends with her only so you can dump her when you're short attention span fades."

She looked at Denise and said bluntly, "And I'm sorry you had to hear that but it always fades."

"Meg," Albie said, "come on, don't be like this."

"No," Emma said, standing up too, "she's right. I'm sick of being forced to befriend your constantly changing love interests only so we can look like the assholes in the end. Did you see Alice? She's pissed at all of use, not just you."

"And I can't say I blame her," Meg agreed. "This is too much."

Albie looked at Tom. "And I suppose you're leaving too, right?"

Never one for drama, Tom looked beyond uncomfortable. "I think I'm just going to make sure they get to their car. I'll talk to you later."

"Nice," Albie said. "It's my birthday and my friends walk out on me."

Meg threw a few bills on the table to cover their dinners. "Give that to the waiter for us."

~

Meg, Tom and Emma met at a local diner and ordered sandwiches and fries for dinner. Dressed up and looking very out of place inside the overly-lit diner, it was a fitting end for a ridiculous evening.

Meg was home in beg by midnight. After everything that had happened, she'd actually found herself enjoying the low-key dinner and conversation with Emma and Tom. Of course, the main topic of discussion had been Albie and his escapades but it felt good to finally let loose and vent about her best friend while feeling entitled instead of guilty about it.

After changing her clothes and washing off her makeup, she crawled into bed feeling full and tired and just a tiny bit achy.

She'd just fallen asleep when her phone rang around one a.m. Squinting her eyes to read the cell phone display, she saw it was Albie. She picked up the phone but said nothing.

"Meg?" he said. "Are you there?"

"I'm here," she said drowsily.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about tonight," he said softly. "I know I just woke you up but I couldn't wait until morning to tell you."

"Alright," Meg said, eyes closed. She felt around for the television's remote control and switched off the TV.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"No," Meg said. And she meant it. Meg could hold a grudge but the one person she could never stay mad at was Albie. Especially when he was being sincere, apologetic and very, very Albie.

A visit to the library

2011-03-16T08:50:00.000-04:00

I've been talking a lot about books, reading, book stores, libraries, etc., and since I had to stop at the library last night to pick up my reserved copy of "Guernsey", I thought I would take a few photos. This may or may not be interesting to you but the following are pictures from my local library.

Also, please take a look at yesterday's book club post if you haven't done so already. I'm in the process of creating an online book club and your feedback would be helpful!


Staircase to second floor

Cafe seating

View of third floor

Outside courtyard area...you can see we have a little snow left that hasn't yet melted!

Outside courtyard area

First floor view from second floor

Club seating at the end of book rows

Behind the check-out desk

Check out desk

Cafe area

Part of the fiction shelves

Internet/computer area to the right of this photo - information desk to the left

Magazine area

If you lift any of the magazine shelves, you'll find back-copies of each

Study/reading tables and information desk

Music section straight ahead - paperback fiction to the left

Taken from second floor

Book shelves and magazine area is straight ahead

View of third floor

Another view of the magazine reading area

Study/reading table and more club seating

Some of the sculptures - gives you an idea of how the second floor is bordered

Chapters - Episode 6 (The One Where Albie Introduces Denise to the Gang)

2010-06-25T12:05:00.000-04:00

Albie's birthday was a perfect disaster. At the last minute - the very last minute - the birthday boy, Meg's best friend, decided he wasn't in the mood for fondue.

"What do you mean you're not in the mood for fondue?" Meg asked as she drove her car in the direction of The Melting Pot.

"What's he saying?" Emma, seated beside Meg in the front seat, asked.

Meg waved Emma's question away with her hand as she strained to hear Albie's answer over the background noise from the bar he was at with his new girlfriend, Denise.

"I'm...we're...not really feeling the whole fondue thing tonight," Albie said, loudly. "I mean, it is my birthday, right? I get to choose?"

Meg swung her car off the ramp she'd been on headed toward Station Square and the restaurant.

"Of course you get to choose but damn, Albie, we're like two seconds away from there."

Albie effectively ignored Meg's irritation and suggested a little restaurant a few blocks away.

"The food there is great," he promised, "and they usually have some kind of band. I'm just not in the mood for the whole song and dance at the fondue place."

Meg sighed and then turned her car around. "Fine, we'll be there in ten minutes."

"Give me a little longer," Albie said, "I'm not as close as you are."

Meg disconnected the call and tossed her phone into a drink holder.

"Where are we going?" Emma asked. "You completely overshot The Melting Pot."

"No kidding," Meg said, sarcastically. "Prince Albert has changed his mind. We're going to some place called Seven now."

"We always have to do what Albie wants...go where he wants to go. I swear, he has no consideration," Emma fumed.

"Well," Meg began, "it is his birthday so I guess he's entitled to choose the place. But I guarantee you - this is what Denise wants," Meg said, unnecessarily stressing Denise's name. "Albie loves fondue. She's the one who doesn't want to go there."

"Did he say that?" Emma asked, as she checked her lipstick on her visor mirror.

"He started to say he wasn't in the mood for Melting Pot and then he changed it to 'we'."

"Yeah," Denise rolled her eyes, "it was her. Glad to see she's already in charge."

"You know how Albie is," Meg said, "he's always about the girl in the beginning but then he gets bored real fast. Denise is like all the rest - the sun will rise and set around her for a few weeks and then 'bam'...crash and burn."

Emma shook her head. "And to think I was once interested in him. Thank God I didn't go down that road."

Meg laughed. "But he does make quite a friend, doesn't he? I mean, we get all the good and none of the relationship drama. Win-win."

The two girls laughed at their spot-on assessment of Albie Barton.

*

Meg and Emma pulled into the crowded parking lot of Seven.

"God, this place is packed," Emma noted, straightening her dress as she stepped out of the car.

Meg looked around the parking lot and spotted a few women exiting a limo that had pulled up in front of the door.

"There must be some sort of bachelorette party going on, too."

They filed inside and instantly spotted their friend Tom who was surveying the crowd. He greeted both girls with a kiss.

"I thought I'd be the last one here," he said, "Albie called when I was on my way to the other place."

"I know," Meg said, "nothing like a last-minute change."

They approached the hostess and asked if there was any possibility of them getting a table. The hostess appeared doubtful but she studied the seating chart and reservation book anyway.

"I think I can squeeze you into a booth. We usually put four there but you can fit five if you'd like to try."

Meg looked at Tom and then Emma who were both in agreement. "That would be fine," she said, "whatever you have."

The three of them followed the hostess through the crowd and to their seat.

Moments later, Albie arrived with Denise.

"How'd you manage to get a table so fast?" he asked as he stepped aside to allow Denise to slide into the booth first. Tom, Meg and Emma sat quite scrunched across from them.

"This was the best they could offer," Tom said, a bit irritated. "I think you need a reservation in a place like this...especially during the weekend."

Albie shrugged. "Well, it all worked out and here we are. Everyone, this is Denise," he said, finally introducing his date. "Denise, this is Emma, Tom and Meg. My personal entourage."

Emma rolled her eyes. "At least that's what he thinks. Nice to meet you, Denise."

They all made their acquaintances and proceeded to look over the menus that were delivered by their server.

"The first round is on me," Albie said as he ordered two dirty martinis - one for himself and one for Denise.

"Oh my God, Albie," Meg said, "since when do you drink dirty martinis? You hate green olives."

Albie gave her a dirty look. "You must have me confused with someone else. I love green olives and all that...all that olive juice they add."

Meg stared at him and stifled the urge to shake her head.

"It's one of a million things we have in common," Denise said, leaning forward as if prepared to offer the group brand new insight on Albie. "The first time we went out for drinks I ordered a dirty martini and it was the craziest thing - Albie told me that was his favorite drink, too and I was like, karma."

"Karma?" Emma repeated not understanding her use of the term. "Don't you mean..."

Tom put his hands at his side and then reached over and lightly pinched both Emma and Meg on the leg, willing them to be on their best behavior and to silence Emma.

"Karma indeed," Tom said. "So what is it you do?"

"I'm a nail technician," she replied. "I work over at Vila Cera's in North Hills."

"Vila Cera's," Emma repeated, "I know that place. I used to go there, I don't know - about four years ago I guess. I stopped when I moved to the other end of the city."

"You should come back," Denise said, "I could fix up your nails for you - you'd love it."

Emma stared at her hands. "I just had them done..."

"So anyway," Meg interrupted as she turned her attentions to the menu. "What's good here?"

Albie sat up straight. "I've only been here once, with a client. I had the halibut and it was de-licious."

"Eww, yuck, babe," Denise said with a wrinkled nose as she sidled closer to Albie. "I don't eat fish."

"Yeah, me either, really," Albie lied. "The doctor I was with recommended it and I agreed to be nice. And to get him to buy my drugs," he laughed at his own joke referring to the prescription medication he sold to physicians.

Meg glared at her best friend, not quite recognizing the bumbling idiot he was channeling.

The server returned and they each ordered their entrees with the exception of Denise. She looped her arm through Albie's and told him she'd have whatever he was having. Meg knew Albie and she knew he loved seafood but she watched as he ordered two bacon-wrapped filets with baked potatoes on the side. Denise nudged him when she heard 'baked potatoes'.

"No baked potatoes?" Albie asked her.

She shook her head.

"Rice?" he suggested.

Meg gave Tom a sideways kick under the table and then made eye contact with Emma.

"Rice is good," Denise said, satisfied.

"Change that to rice," Albie told the server.

As soon as they'd finished ordering, Meg asked Albie if he'd go to the bar with her and help her choose another drink. She said she didn't like the one she ordered, which was a lie. In reality, she was looking for an excuse to have a word with him, alone.

"Wait until the guy comes back," Albie told her. "He'll get you something else."

Meg was losing her patience so she poked Albie's leg under the table with the toe of her pointy stiletto.

"Hey!" Denise cried out. "What was that?"

Meg sat up, looking and feeling mortified. "I'm sorry," she said, "I was just trying to cross my legs and I guess I stretched too far."

Denise leaned down and rubbed her leg dramatically. "That's okay," she said.

Meg couldn't understand how Denise's leg have been in the way but then she realized she must be practically sitting on top of Albie.

Meg looked over at Emma who started to laugh.

"I'm sorry," she lied, "I was just thinking of something that happened at work today."

"I'm going to the bar," Meg said, standing up.

"I'll come with you," Tom said, sliding out of the booth next.

Meg shot a look at Albie who finally picked up on what had happened. "I'll be right back," he told Denise.

"Yeah," Emma said, doing her best to appear pleasant, "all of you - hurry back."

Meg led the way through the crowd up to the bar. As soon as they reached it, she turned to Albie.

"Denise, huh," she said. "Really, Albie?"

Albie reached into his pocket to retrieve cash for her drink. "What do you mean?"

Meg looked at Tom for help.

"She's interesting," Tom said.

Albie sighed. "Meg, what do you want to drink?"

"Anything," she said, "nothing. I don't even want a drink. I wanted to talk to you without your appendage."

"Whatever," Albie said and then looked at Tom. "I suppose you don't like her, either."

Tom, who was always level-headed, always cool, shrugged. "Dude, I really don't care. Hey, do you guys think that girl over there with the nose tape is hot? In a weird, messed-up face kinda way?"

"Nice," Albie said, totally ignoring Tom's question, "you guys have known her what? All of five minutes and already you have her all figured out?"

Meg and Tom looked at each other and then nodded. "Yeah," Meg said, "that's usually the way it works."

"Well you're just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. She's a nice girl and I don't want you ruining anything for me."

Albie retrieved the glass of wine he'd ordered for Meg and proceeded to hand it to her. "Be nice," he warned.

"Or what?" Meg asked.

"Oh man," Tom said, "are you going to be sorry."

"I'm not the one who's going to be sorry," Meg huffed.

"No, no," Tom said, looking across the crowd, "not you. Albs," he said, "isn't that Alice over there?"

"What?" Albie said, turning around, "Where?"

"Over there," Tom subtly pointed. "Right. By. Our. Table."

Meg stretched her neck to get a look. And Tom was right.

Shocked, they watched from afar as Alice spotted Emma and proceeded to approach their booth.

Albie was gonna be in serious trouble.

Chapters - Episode 5 (The One Where Albie Decides Alice is Out of the Group)

2010-06-09T12:03:00.000-04:00

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.

Chapters - Episode 4 (The One Where Meg Puts Dan Keagan in His Place)

2010-06-02T12:02:00.000-04:00

"I thought the grand opening was wonderful," Meg's mother said to her on the phone later that night. "You have a great group of women working for you."

"Yeah, they're great but I'm not sure if I agree about the opening. I think it could have gone a little better."

"Meg," her mother said, "this was your first official day of business. I think you need to give things a little time. It sometimes takes years to get a new business off the ground and turning a profit. You knew this getting into it."

Meg rolled her eyes and leaned against her kitchen counter. "I know, it's just that I'm not sure I chose the best location anymore."

Her mother sighed. "I think you chose the perfect location. You're thinking too much. What you need is to rest and prepare for tomorrow."

Meg ended her conversation and retreated to her bedroom which was at the far end of her condo. The layout of her home was a one floor, two bedroom unit with two full bathrooms, living room, dining room, eat-in-kitchen and laundry room. She also had her own private balcony where she kept a small table and two patio chairs and one outdoor lounge chair for the rare occasion she was able to lie out in the sun.

Meg's home was a reflection of her personality - warm and inviting while at the same time cool and relaxed. Her wall colors were muted shades of grey and almond, alternating in each room. Her style was somewhat 'sixties mod', her furniture designed with clean lines and simple patterns. Her favorite pieces by far were the Herman Miller table and chairs in her kitchen. The table was a severe rectangle surrounded by molded wooden chairs with chrome-plated steel legs and a subtle veneer. Meg prided herself on furnishing her home slowly, carefully choosing each piece at a time until she was satisfied that it would complement the rest of her decor.

She decided to iron her work polo and khakis for the next day. The grand opening was scheduled to last the entire weekend and she figured there was no need to dress up or put on airs. She actually liked the polo shirts she'd ordered for herself and the staff. They were solid black with white embroidered lettering and logo and judging from earlier in the day, she thought they looked good on everyone.

Her mind went back to the conversation she had with Albie earlier in the day regarding Dan Keagan. She still couldn't get over how nervy it was of him to approach a virtual stranger and start bad-mouthing her business. He and his fake muffins - she should have thrown them in the trash.

*

The next day was Saturday and she arrived at work a little early to put out more cookies, water and coffee. She started her computer and reviewed her sales from the day before. She'd sold a total of sixteen books. Not great but it could have been worse. Her current price of used books was exactly half of the retail price listed on the cover. As soon as she'd move out some of her inventory, she planned to get the new books in.

Clare and Ev, her two oldest employees, arrived at 9:45. They walked in through the back door, chatting and both carrying the 'Chapters' tote bags she'd given them.

"I love that you're using those," Meg said, pointing to their bags.

"Are you kidding?" Ev said, "this bag is great! It holds everything but the kitchen sink. You wouldn't believe what I have stuffed into this thing."

"It's really cute," Clare said. "My sister already told me she wants one."

"I think we can arrange that," Meg said. Actually, having more tote bags made wasn't a bad idea. She thought perhaps she could offer them for sale down the road.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Clare asked.

"Well," Meg began, "it's the three of us until this afternoon. "Leslie will be coming in later and I'll close with her. Are you both comfortable with the cash register?"

"Absolutely," Clare said and Ev nodded in agreement. "You have everything organized so well in the system. When I sell a book, I pull up its record inside your master list and mark it 'sold'. Then I do the sales transaction. You really couldn't have made it any easier."

Meg was pleased. "I'm glad. It's my own home-grown system and I wanted to make sure it was as user friendly as possible."

"Even I thought it was easy," Ev said. "And I'm not your typical computer-type if you know what I mean."

"Since you're both comfortable, I'm going to take a bit of an extended lunch later. I have a couple of things I need to get done before it's just Leslie and I holding down the fort tonight."

As Ev and Clare busied themselves, Meg signed onto the Internet to pay a few personal bills and to check her email. She realized that Albie's birthday was coming up and she wanted to plan a dinner for him. She jotted a few ideas in her notebook. She'd call her other closest friend Emma along with their good friend Tom. She'd hesitated to write down Alice, Albie's ex, but for all intents and purposes Alice and Albie have remained fairly close. Meg thought that was mainly due to Alice's adoption of Albie's friends as her own, herself included. Alice had completely forfeited her own identity while they were dating and that was part of the reason Albie broke up with her. Albie was a strong personality and it took a strong personality to match him. He had no interest in dating a 'yes' woman. In fact, he enjoyed a good argument. And Alice enjoyed peace and quiet and was completely adverse to conflict. A match made in heaven, those two did not make.

But, Alice was kind and sweet and if you really got to know her you began to realize that she was also a bit selfish and narcissistic. She hid her more distasteful qualities well when she had to and that seemed to be all part of her strategy to make herself as attractive as possible to the male species. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Meg never tired of watching her try, though.

Predictably, Alice Greene was jealous of Meg solely because of her close relationship with Albie. Alice was sure Meg harbored a crush for him and quietly sabotaged his relationships. Although Meg had her word to say about anyone Albie dated, she never purposely interfered in an effort to snag him for herself. Meg and Albie had been friends for more than a decade. In a strange way, she could understand how his girlfriends might be intimidated by such history.

As she jotted down the guest list, she began to question why she'd bothered. It was always Tom, Emma, Albie and herself whenever they went out. The addition of Alice wasn't set in stone - she'd have to run that by Albie - but the four of them were core friends and rarely did anyone infiltrate their little group. Unless, that is, one of them was dating someone. At the current time, everyone was single.

Meg made a note to call Albie later and choose a restaurant for his birthday dinner. She looked up as two older women entered the store and were greeted by Clare. Meg smiled and walked over to welcome them.

"Hello, dear," the woman with up-swept grey hair replied.

"Would you ladies care for some coffee or cookies? Or both?" Meg asked with a wink.

The ladies approached the refreshment table and helped themselves to the coffee.

"I'm Madelyn Harold," the grey-haired woman introduced herself. "And this is my sister-in-law, Frannie Meikle. We've been waiting for you to open for weeks."

Meg smiled, her eyebrows raised. "Really, is that so? You must be book lovers then."

Both women nodded. "So much that we have our own club. We choose a different book every month then meet and discuss it."

"That's wonderful," Meg said, genuinely enthused. "I don't know where your club usually meets but we have two spaces perfect for such gatherings."

The women looked at each other and smiled. "We'll need to talk to the rest of the club but we have been considering the idea of moving it out of our homes and into a regular meeting spot."

"Why don't you talk it over and give me a call," Meg said, handing them her business card. "I'd be happy to work something out with you."

"That's wonderful," Frannie said. "We'll be in touch with you this weekend."

Meg returned to where she'd been standing behind the cash wrap and felt good about the ladies' book club. If she could get a few clubs to hold their meetings in her store, she might be able to sell them their books and receive a little return business in the process. She made a note with their names so she'd be able to address them correctly when they called.

More customers made their way through the store that morning. They'd sold fourteen books by noon - five of them were to a woman on her way to a relaxing beach vacation. She'd bought the books and planned to devour them while sunbathing in front of the ocean. Meg felt a pang of jealousy. She hadn't had a vacation in a long time and with the opening of 'Chapters' it was going to be quite some time before she'd have the chance again.

The store seemed to clear out around twelve-thirty. Meg wrapped up some of the papers she'd been working on and decided to leave for lunch. Ev and Clare had each taken thirty minute breaks so the store was covered.

Just as Meg went to grab her purse and keys, she saw the front door to the store open again. In walked Dan Keagan and Meg's stomach lurched at the very sight of him. In typical fashion, he held another gift basket.

"Hello, ladies," he greeted as he walked through the door. "How's business today?"

Meg walked out from behind the cash wrap desk and forced a sickening-sweet smile. "Excellent," she replied. "We're off to a great start."

Dan introduced himself to Ev and Clare and handed over the basket to them. "Just a few baked goods," he explained. "Cinnamon rolls, a few muffins..." he trailed off.

Great, Meg thought. More of his damn muffins.

"So what's in demand today?" Dan asked, attempting to appear friendly. "Shakespeare? Twain? Harlequin Romances?" he said with a laugh.

Meg squinted her eyes and gave him another fake smile. "Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that...your basic literary shit."

Clare and Ev looked at her, shocked. Clare laughed a little, possibly out of nervousness or possibly because she didn't know what else to do.

Dan chuckled, uneasily. "Well, that's certainly an interesting way to describe it."

Meg shrugged. "They're just books. Used books," she insisted. "How would you describe it?"

Dan shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I love to read," he said, lamely.

"Do you," Meg said, more of a statement than a question.

There was an awkward silence and then Dan spoke up. "Well, I just wanted to drop by and say hello. The place looks great. It was good to meet you, ladies."

"Yes," Ev said, "you, too."

"Bye," Meg said, sweetly.

As soon as Dan was safely out of earshot, Clare and Ev turned to her.

"What was that?" Clare spoke up.

Meg took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry to have done that in front of you," she apologized. "It's just that, that man is not exactly how he seems."

"He seemed nice enough to me," Ev said, defensively. "Look at all this," she said, uncovering the baked goods inside the basket. "It was a very nice gesture."

"I know," Meg said, "and I wish he was as nice as he appears but the truth is, Dan Keagan would like nothing more than for me to fall flat on my face and close up shop."

"Why?" Clare said. "What makes you say that?"

Meg proceeded to explain the whole story. They were her employees and more than that, they were nice people. The last thing she wanted to do was give them the impression that she's downright rude for no good reason.

"Ah, so the 'shit' comment was your little way of telling him you know what he said about your store to your friend Albie."

"Precisely," Meg said. "So please don't think I go out of my way to attack any do-gooders who walk through the door. That's not me."

"Hell, Meg," Ev said, "I knew something had to be going on. I know you're not that type of person."

Meg felt relieved that Ev and Clare understood. And she was furious that Dan Keagan thought he could waltz into her store under false pretenses so he could do nothing short of 'case the joint' to use an old expression.

Hopefully after their short little run-in, Mr. Keagan would realize that Meg was no push-over. If he planned to try and run her out of business, he'd be met with a fight.

Chapters - Episode 3 (The One Where Meg Hosts the Grand Opening)

2010-06-01T12:00:00.001-04:00

Meg woke up the day of the grand opening a full hour before her alarm clock was set to go off. Instead of rolling over in an attempt to gain a few extra minutes of sleep, she literally felt ready to jump up and start the day. She sat on the edge of her bed arching her back and stretching out her arms. At the same time, she spent a few reflective moments silently praying that her day would go well and that God would be on her side with her new venture. Meg Landry was not superstitious but she did work at keeping herself both spiritual and centered.

Meg was a girl who loved a good bath but today she'd forgo her morning soak in lieu of a brisk shower. She'd poured - literally poured - over the outfit she'd wear to the store that day. Her typical jeans or chinos with new trademark 'Chapters' polo shirt would not due. She'd struggled with her wardrobe choice because on one hand she wanted to keep things casual and real by donning her embroidered work shirt but at the same time she was the owner of a used bookstore and she would be representing her business for the first time to an area of town that could be described quite accurately as 'high end.' Chapters would have to prove itself - and so would she.

*

Lisa was the first to arrive for work. Meg felt an instant sense of pride upon seeing her in her official 'Chapters' uniform polo.

"How are you?" Meg greeted her with a smile.

"Good," Lisa said. "I'm really excited about today."

"Me, too," Meg agreed, barely able to contain her energy.

"Here," Lisa said, handing her a cup. "I don't know if you're a coffee drinker or not but it's iced caramel. My favorite."

Meg accepted the plastic cup gratefully and poked the straw through the tiny 'x' in the lid. "Wow," she said. "That's delicious."

"My favorite coffee shop is just a block from here - The Dusty Rose. Have you ever been there?"

"Never," Meg said, "but I'm going to have to make it a point to stop." Meg was no stranger to the city but she was definitely unfamiliar with her new block. It was a bit on the fancy side and that was the primary reason she believed she had more to prove about her store.

One by one, the rest of her small crew arrived, each wearing their uniform polos. Their outfits gave her the impression that they were all a part of her little army and she liked the feeling of being surrounded by their support.

True to old-fashioned form, Meg had ordered dozens of chocolate chip cookies to put out for the customers. She'd also ordered bottled water with the 'Chapters' logo for the occasion and set out traditional coffee in insulated carafes. She hoped that by providing a relaxing atmosphere with refreshments, people would feel encouraged to stay awhile to peruse the aisles and aisles of books.

"Everything looks great," Ev said. "I really like the bookmarks. They add a nice touch."

Meg picked up one of the many paper bookmarks she'd ordered. The front showed the 'Chapters' logo and website and the reverse side listed random author quotes.

"The more we can get our name out there, the better," she added.

People slowly began to filter in during the morning. Some were ecstatic about the opening of a privately-owned and locally-operated bookstore while others were simply curious. Somewhere in the middle were those who were less than enthused at the notion of a used bookstore in their midst.

"Where are you from?" one particularly snobbish woman asked Meg as she stuffed a bottle of water into her expensive handbag.

"I'm from here," Meg replied. "Born and raised."

"Whatever made you decide on a used bookstore?" she asked. "With Barnes and Noble and Borders just around the corner, what makes you think you'll be able to compete?"

Meg shook her head. "I'm not looking to compete with them directly," she answered. "It would be foolish for me to think that a small store like this is going to give them a run for their money. I'm here to offer people another option and to be honest, used books are a large part of the modern market."

"How so?" the woman asked, reaching for her second cookie.

"I've been selling used books on the Internet for years. There's a big demand."

The woman looked around, assessing the store. "Well, you certainly have a nice place, here. I just don't think you're business is going to last long enough to enjoy it."

Meg squinted at her and had to hold back the instinct to kick the woman right out of the store. Working with the public in retail for years had given her the patience to deal with difficult or down right rude individuals. "Well, feel free to have a look around," she said. "Have a good day."

She turned on her heel only to bump straight into Albie. "Hey," he said, jokingly, "watch it." He smoothed his shirt. "You almost wrinkled my brand new Armani ."

Meg smiled, relieved to see her best friend. She looked at him up and down, taking in the new shirt he referred to. "Very nice, Albs. What's the occasion?"

"What's the occasion?" he repeated. "This is the occasion!" He approached the refreshment table and grabbed a cookie. "Free cookies and bottled water is the occasion," he winked at her.

Meg smiled, grateful for Albie's support. She felt empowered whenever he was around because his confidence was nothing short of contagious.

"How's it been going?" he asked.

Meg looked around and sighed. "It's been slow. I think we've sold maybe six books all morning."

Albie assessed the crowd and nodded. "It's your first day. What did you expect?"

Meg shrugged. "I don't know...maybe to completely sell out my entire stock of books, receive and accept an offer to buy the store from a disgustingly rich, retired exec who's dream it was to retire in a bookstore, and then board a plane to St. Bart's where I'd live out the rest of my years without a care. Too much?"

Albie smiled. "Never too much. I like the way you think, sister."

Meg greeted everyone that walked through the door and introduced herself as the owner and operator. She thought it important to make personal connections in the hopes that they'd feel welcome and eventually return. Her family was there to help but they did more talking amongst themselves than any real work. If she added up her family with her employees, they vastly outnumbered the customers inside the store.

Albie had stepped outside to take a phone call, undoubtedly about his stocks. Meg could see him through the large window pane. She smiled as she watched him pace about in front of the store. He was in 'buy' or 'sell' mode...Albie always paced nervously when he was about to make a trade.

Thankfully, business began to pick up a bit around lunch time. She had several people come in to take a quick look around the store. One woman who worked nearby told her that she'd seen the grand opening sign and told a few of her co-workers about it. Word of mouth went far in the way of advertising.

About twenty minutes had gone by before Albie returned. He had a strange look on his face - a mix of irritation and confusion.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, leading her toward the back room.

"What's up?" Meg asked, trying to assess Albie's expression. "You look pissed...what's the matter?"

"Your next door neighbor's a dick, that's what's the matter," he said.

"What?" Meg asked, laughing. "Who are you talking about?"

"Dan Kerrigan or Keagel...Mr. Fancy-Ass Caterer."

"Keagan," Meg corrected. "Dan Keagan. I met him the other day. He seemed perfectly nice to me."

"I'll bet he did, the snake."

Meg leaned back against her desk. "What happened?"

Albie opened the refrigerator and helped himself to a bottle of iced tea. He shook it before unscrewing the lid.

"I was outside on the phone with Tom," he began referring to his broker. "I was just about to sell my shares of Tirell Gold. Remember I've been wanting to unload that?"

"Yeah, Albie but get to the point."

"Anyway, so I walked to the back lot where I parked my car earlier. By the way, I'm assuming it's okay to park back there, right?"

Meg nodded. "Yes, it's fine."

"So I'm on my way to my car to check on a few notes I'd made about Tirell and when I finished the call I began to walk back to the front. As I reached the sidewalk, I pass this guy up and he says he knows me."

"Who? Dan?"

Albie nodded. "He asks if I golfed with Jeff Dunn earlier this month at the country club and I said yes. He tells me he's good friends with Jeff and proceeds to make all this small talk b.s. with me as if I care. Then he asks me what I'm doing over this way and I tell him I'm here to check out the new bookstore. Then the guy's face gets all screwed up like he needs to spit or something."

"What?" Meg exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"He says not to waste my time going in because it's a shit-shop full of used books. He then proceeds to tell me that his brother-in-law owns this whole plaza and that he was supposed to get the contract to take over this space for an off-shoot of his catering business. He wanted to put a small restaurant in here."

"He called this place a 'shit-shop'?" Meg repeated.

"That he did. I told you the guy's a dick. Anyway, so he tells me that he and his wife had a recent falling out with the brother-in-law and that the brother-in-law leased it to you out of spite."

"Shut up," Meg said, in disbelief.

"No, he said you were literally the first person to come along after their blow-up and that Davidson...that's your landlord's name, right?"

Meg nodded.

"That Davidson nearly gave you the place."

"That's a lie," Meg defended. "I'm paying top dollar here, believe me."

Albie nodded. "I know, I know. I'm basically out there just letting this asshole dig his own grave with his big mouth."

"Wait," Meg said, putting a hand up to halt Albie's tirade. "What would make possess him to tell you these things? You're a virtual stranger to the guy."

Albie laughed. "That's where it gets good. He's going on and on, and all of a sudden I realize - he thinks I'm a lawyer like Jeff Dunn. He's telling me this story, as if it's just casual conversation but at the end of it all, he asks me what I think. And I say, 'I don't know, Guy...sounds pretty complicated.' And then he says he wasn't asking me my personal opinion...he wants to know if I think he has any legal recourse over the breaking of the verbal contract he had with his wife's brother over the commercial space."

"Oh my God, I cannot believe him," Meg said, pacing. "And do you know he had the nerve to stop here the other day with a basket of muffins? What a two-faced creep!"

Meg grabbed the bottle of iced tea from Albie's hand and took a long swig. "Did you end up telling him you're not a lawyer?"

"Hell no," Albie said, taking the tea back from her. "I wanted to keep the guy talking. If I told him I was here as your friend and that I'm actually a pharmaceutical sales rep and not a lawyer, do you think he would have said any of that to me?"

Meg shook her head. "What a presumptuous asshole."

Albie nodded. "Right. That all being said, what are we going to do about it?"

"Do about it?" Meg asked, confused. "There's nothing we can do about it. From what I can tell it's a family drama that we're no part of. Plus, I have a contract to be in this space. A legally binding contract. There's no way they can kick me out even if they wanted to."

Albie sat on her desk and squinted his eyes, deep in thought. "I wonder," he said. "Especially after all the hard work you've done to get this place presentable. I mean, it looks like a museum!"

Meg smiled. "Thanks for the compliment but I don't plan on letting that two-faced jerk reap the benefits of my work anytime soon."

Chapters - Episode 2 (The One Where Albie Stops By)

2010-05-26T11:54:00.001-04:00

To the outside world, Meg Landry appeared slightly disorganized - the key word being 'appeared'. In reality, Meg was quite organized, just a little on the messy side. But her mess had a system to it. Admittedly it was a system only Meg herself understood but that was all about to change.

When Meg worked at Carrington's she'd kept her work area clean and very neatly organized. That was due in part because she was forced to share her work area, which consisted of a counter-height check-out desk. Department managers like herself were graciously (insert sarcasm) permitted to keep their papers and notebooks and the like inside the tiny shelf under the register or inside any drawers that had room to spare but this particular set-up 'did not an executive office make'.

Meg's plans for Chapters were quite different. She'd had the check-out desk specially commissioned for the store. It was large and spacious with several drawers and shelves beneath the space where the register, which was basically a computer with a flat screen monitor, keyboard and attached cash drawer and credit card set-up, sat. Although her things were already scattered inside the lovely drawers in a muddled, mixed-up, jumbled sort of way, she was about to buckle down and make sense of it all. Now that all of the books were cataloged and placed upon the bookshelves, she had plenty of time to redeem herself and get organized before the new crew arrived.

And Meg's new employees were due to arrive in less than an hour. She'd hired four individuals and after securing their employment, she planned an orientation session where she would get them acquainted with the store and do a little training. Only having met them at the interviews she'd conducted, she was looking forward to getting them all together at the same time. This would also provide her with an opportunity to see how they'd interact with one another.

She'd created binders for each of her new charges. Inside she included various papers they would need, including time cards, instructions for the cash register, store policies, a graph that depicted the location of the different book genres, and several other papers important to their jobs.

Meg piled the binders on top of the cash-wrap desk and prepared to insert them into the new Chapters tote bags she'd had embroidered with their initials, especially for each one of them. Inside the tote bags were their new employee shirts, also embroidered with their first names, an insulated hot/cold thermos with the Chapters logo printed on it (ordered expressly for the grand opening) and the employee binder she'd created for them.

Meg lined up the heavy canvas totes like gift bags next to the register with time to spare. She glanced at her watch and realized she had fifteen more minutes until they were due to arrive. As she stepped into the back room to grab a cold bottle of water from the mid-sized fridge she'd purchased for everyone's use, she heard the front door open.

It was none other than Albie Barton, one of Meg's oldest friends.

"Hey, Albs," she said. "I didn't know you were dropping by today."

Albie was short for Albert. Albie didn't particularly like the shortened version of his name but he liked 'Albert', his great-grandfather's name, even less.

"That's because I didn't know myself until about five minutes ago. I have an appointment less than two blocks from here and I had a couple minutes to spare. Here," he said, handing her a large plastic cup brimming with iced coffee and whipped cream, "I brought you a Starbucks."

Meg smiled. Albie called any drink from any coffee shop a "Starbucks." It just so happened that this particular time, her iced drink had, indeed, come from Starbucks. Meg immediately discarded her bottle of water in favor of her favorite coffee concoction. "Thanks. That was awfully sweet of you."

"That's me - so sweet," Albie said, as he pretended to straighten his already perfected knotted neck tie.

"You look very handsome and professional," Meg said, taking a long sip of her drink.

"I'd better," he said. "I'm meeting a new doctor today."

Albie was a very successful, very wealthy pharmaceutical sales rep. He made a good deal of money from his job promoting his company's prescription drugs to doctors but he made a great deal of money in the stock market. Bull market or bear market - for Albie it didn't matter. He had a gift for knowing what stocks were going to soar and he almost always managed to unload those that were about to plummet, usually just within the nick of time.

Meg had made a fair amount of money, herself, using Albie's tips. He'd shown her how to set up an online trading account so she wouldn't have to bother with a broker. Most of the time though, Albie was the one watching out for her shares, telling her when to sell and when to buy. Without his mentoring, Meg would never have accumulated enough money to bring to the table when she met with the bank requesting her business loan. A used book store venture was high risk and the bank's underwriters wanted to ensure that she was taking her share of the risk, too.

"Get a load of this place," Albie said, turning around. "It looks so different from when we first started moving in the shelving."

"I know," Meg said. "Having books on those shelves makes a big difference, too."

"I gotta give you credit, Megan-m'lady, you have certainly worked your magic this time. I am officially impressed."

Meg smiled, pleased with Albie's good-natured compliment. "Thank you."

Just as Albie was turning to leave, Lisa, Meg's youngest employee of nineteen years old, walked through the door.

"Hi, Lisa," Meg greeted her. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Lisa said with a friendly smile.

"You're actually the first to arrive," Meg said. "Why don't you stash your purse in the back and we'll wait for the others to get here."

"Okay," Lisa said, looking at Albie and smiling.

"I'm sorry," Meg said, remembering her manners. "Lisa, this is my friend Albie. And he was just leaving."

Albie rolled his eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lisa," he said, reaching out to shake her hand. "And Meg is right...I'm off to flirt with the nurses."

"Are you a doctor?" Lisa asked, clearly admiring him.

"Oh no," Albie said with a smirk. "I'm much more important than a doctor. I am a medicine man."

Lisa looked at him, unsure of what he meant but understood he was making some kind of joke. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Enjoy your day, ladies!" he called from the door. "See ya around, Lisa." And Albie was gone.

"Pay no attention to him," Meg said with a smile. "He's a goof."

Lisa giggled on her way to the back room. Charming and funny, Albie had that kind of affect on people.

Within five minutes, all four of Meg's employees had officially reported for duty. Lisa Anderson was a college student with plenty of flexible evening hours to work. Leslie Knight was the mother of two small boys and Chapters was the first job she'd had in more than two years. She'd been focusing on being a mom to her children but now that they were slightly more independent and easier to handle, she had her evenings free while her husband took over after his day job. It was a good solution for the couple. They could certainly use the spare cash and Leslie could use a little time to herself.

Clare Robinson-Black was a bit of a kindred spirit in Meg's eyes. Clare had put in her share of unappreciated hours as a hair stylist in a fancy salon that made more money than it's stylists did. Fed up with the long hours and cut-throat, competitive atmosphere, Clare decided to return to college and finish up her marketing degree. She was enrolled in undergraduate classes in the evenings in an attempt to earn her bachelors degree and in the meantime, she'd offered to put the knowledge she'd acquired in her classes to good use for the marketing and promotion of Chapters. It was a win-win situation.

Evelyn Banks, or Ev as she liked to be called, was Meg's fourth and final employee. Ev was a retired middle school teacher. Looking at Ev, it was hard to believe she was, in fact, old enough to be living on a pension. In fact, Meg wasn't even sure she qualified for her pension yet. She may have put in enough years but she was a youthful-looking sixty-years old and Meg wasn't certain she could even collect at that age. In most situations, a person needed to have their years in as well as meet certain age criteria. Perhaps that was why Evelyn was so adamant about working as many hours a week as possible. Having worked retail herself, Meg could appreciate the need for hours so she'd agreed to sign on Ev with full-time status.

Meg gave everyone a few moments to get settled and acquainted. She lead them to a beautiful conference table in the corner of the store with heavy, plush chairs framing it. The very sight of it excited Meg each time she laid eyes on it.

"Pretty table," Leslie said, running her fingers across the top as she chose a seat.

"Thanks," Meg said, proud of her furniture selection. In fact, she'd also purchased several leather wing-backed chairs that dotted the store with tall table lamps placed next to each one, to encourage a comfortable reading atmosphere. When she saw the conference table for the first time, she immediately envisioned holding team meetings at it and allowing it to be reserved by book club groups.

Everything - every last detail - had so much thought behind it. Everything had it's purpose.

"We actually have a very small private meeting room in the rear of the store," she explained. "I believe the space was used by the previous tenants as possibly a manager or boss's office but it was just enough space for me to furnish it with an identical set of table and chairs. I thought having a private meeting space, as some of the local libraries do, would be a good selling feature for the store. At least I hope it will be," she said, sounding a bit uncertain.

Meg had plenty of ideas and plans but it was yet to be said which ones would work and which would need to be scrapped altogether.

"I think that's a great idea," Ev chimed in. "The more we can offer the customers, the better. It all adds to the function and draw of the store."

Meg smiled, pleased to hear an unbiased opinion. Or maybe since Ev worked there now, she was biased. Either way, it was nice to hear positive feedback. Meg had spent a lot of time running her ideas past her friends and family but she knew they wanted her to succeed and that their reactions may be not quite as reliable as an outsider's.

For the next thirty minutes, Meg poured over all of the information stored in the employee binders. She wanted to be thorough but not to the point of boring them to sleep. She realized that most of the information could be read in their spare time so she began to wrap up that part of the orientation to focus on more exciting stuff like the grand opening that was taking place over the weekend.

"Before we get into the events of the opening, are there any other general or procedural questions you can think of right now?"

Everyone shook their head 'no'.

Meg nodded. "I'm sure as we get more involved in things, you'll come up with questions." Meg folded her own binder closed. "Is there anything you can think of that we need in order to get started?" she asked, referring to supplies or information.

"Yes," Evelyn said. "How about a man? It looks like we're an all-female operation around here."

Everyone, including Meg, laughed.

"You have a point," Meg conceded.

Meg was happy with the rapport she felt between her and the others. Before getting started on the next order of business, she lead them to the back room so they could choose a beverage from the fridge. She'd stocked it with several types of Snapple, pop and water.

She looked at her watch, noting that they had about three more hours to go. She secretly hoped that was enough time to get all the details and plans ironed out for the grand opening. It was imperative that the weekend be successful so she could use it as an opportunity to get as many people through the doors as possible. That was the only way to quash any preconceived notions and show the town how amazing, functional and enjoyable her used book store was going to be.

Chapters - Episode 1 (The one where Meg meets her new neighbor)

2010-05-24T20:40:00.006-04:00

Meg Landry wiped her brow with the back of her hand. A typical gesture of someone who'd put in a hard day's work and and was feeling fatigued down to her very bones.

She took a long, hard look around the room in which she'd spent the last six hours. Every wall was lined with thick blonde-wood book shelves that now held the fruits of her labors - a few thousand books, cataloged, alphabetized by author and categorized by genre. All were used. The second-hand bookstore she was preparing to open was well on it's way to being a fully-functioning store. New books were part of her long-term plan but for the time being, she would get acclimated to her new business by offering only twice-loved versions.

Books had been a big part of Meg's life since she was a little girl. She consistently participated in school-sponsored summer reading programs and done so voluntarily. No one had to coax, bribe or talk her into them. In fact, Meg's reading list as a child was so extensive her parents had to divvy it up amongst paydays in order to pay for all the books she wanted and needed. Meg Landry had also loved the library as a girl but she preferred to purchase books so they could become a permanent part of the personal library that was housed in her bedroom.

It was that inbred love of books and reading that molded Meg's future and fueled her dreams. At thirty years of age, she still felt a little thrill each time she accumulated a new book. A new trade paperback or best seller was as much of a treat for her today as it was when she was a child.

Books were her escape from a reality that was at times unrewarding, unproductive and sometimes downright boring. At this stage in her life they were also going to provide her with a much-needed livelihood after she'd finally mustered up the courage to quit her job as a department store retail manager. Meg had watched - no, stood idly by - as Carrington's Department Store pulled in buckets full of money from the efforts of her customer service and sales savvy. And what did Carrington's give to her in return? A five percent raise each year and a hefty cut in her medical benefits. A fine thanks that was. Actually, she earned more money than her rasies amounted to just by excelling in their credit card program. Each employee would rack up five dollars for each new credit account they could persuade their customers to open. Meg was a very likable people-person and she had little trouble adding these little bonuses to her paycheck every week.

According to her "life calendar," it was now time for her to branch out on her own and try her hand at her own store but instead of selling designer handbags and shoes that cost a small fortune, she'd dug deep into her heart and instantly knew that her future and happiness depended on books.

Philosophically speaking, she'd come full circle.

As she approached her new checkout desk, a large counter-height carved workspace carved out of the same blonde wood as her shelves, she spotted a small stack of books she hadn't noticed earlier. She eyed them briefly and upon seeing her trademark price sticker, she remembered dropping them there when she'd answered the phone earlier. Apparently she'd simply forgotten them and as she looked at their organizational codes she realized that they belonged on a high shelf that she needed the step ladder to access. With a heavy sigh, she tucked them under her arm and proceeded to climb the ladder and insert the books neatly in their places. Step ladders and coding and lifting and tracking were all the reasons she felt so exhausted and she looked forward to a quiet evening of a bath and dinner to unwind after her laborous day.

Just as she stepped onto the highest rung of her ladder the front door to the store opened, letting a cool breeze swirl in as it did. She looked down from where she stood balanced on the ladder with a surprised expression. She mentally chastised herself for leaving the door unlocked while she was there alone.

A handsome man around thirty five years of age leaned into the store without completely entering.

"Hello," he said called out with a friendly smile and then looked up. "You must be my new neighbor."

Meg brushed the dust from her hands and proceeded to descend the ladder.

"Hi," she replied, "please, come in. I was just putting away the last of my books."

"Wow," he said, looking around. "Look at what you've done with this place. It looks amazing."

Meg smiled, proud of the hard work she'd poured into her latest venture. The commercial space she now possessed had been extremely out-dated and in much need of a makeover. She knew she'd have her work cut out for her by turning the former tax office into a bookstore but as always, she was up for the challenge. The finished product was all that more rewarding given the "bones" she'd had to work with.

"Thank you," she replied as she reached over to shake the man's hand.

"I'm Daniel Keagan," he said, taking her hand. "But you can call me Dan."

"Hello, Dan Keagan," Meg said with a friendly smile. "I'm Megan Landry but you can call me Meg."

Dan handed her a finely-woven wicker basket covered with a checkered dish towel. "This is for you," he said, handing it over. "It's just muffins and jam from next door."

"Oh," Meg said, "thank you. So you must own...or work at...Premiere Catering?"

"Owner," Dan said. "Guilty as charged. Sandy, my wife, and I run the place. Those muffins were left over from a party last week but they should still be fairly fresh."

Meg peeked under the towel, her eyebrows a bit furrowed. "Well, thank you," she said. "I'm sure they're delicious."

Dan then broke out into laughter. "I'm joking!" he exclaimed. "They were just baked this morning. I was just teasing."

Meg laughed, too. "You had me," she said, shrugging. "But hey, a gift is a gift so I wasn't going to say anything."

"Anyway," Dan said, "I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and welcome you to the neighborhood. I'm glad to see that a private business owner got this space instead of some corporation, you know?"

Meg nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. And I feel very lucky to have been able to secure this space. There were a lot of interested people."

"Well," Dan said, "the owner of this plaza is very particular about who his tenants are. You must have impressed him."

"I don't know about that," Meg said, "but it all worked out and I'm excited to finally be opening this weekend."

"I have to say," Dan started, "when I first heard there was a second-hand bookstore going in here, I wasn't sure what to think. You know how second-hand stores are usually...messy, disorganized. But this place is gorgeous. Very first rate."

"Thanks," Meg said, "I had a pretty distinct vision for what I wanted and I wanted to quash the old ideas of used books and give the place that new-store feeling."

"Then mission accomplished," Dan said, taking one last look around. "I've got to run but it was great to meet you," he said, shaking her hand one more time.

"Likewise," Meg said, "please tell your wife I said thank you for the muffins and if you two have a chance, please drop by this weekend for the grand opening."

"Will do," Dan said.

Meg watched Dan walk back to Premiere Catering through her large store front window and felt relieved and happy to have such congenial neighbors.

The sun was dimming and she was starved. She lifted the dish towel and took a hard look at the muffins and then covered them back up. Determined to lose ten pounds, muffins were not on her list of acceptable dinner foods. She'd make a quick trip past her parent's house on her way home and drop them off there instead.

Meg grabbed her keys, the binder that held her plans and various business papers and the basket of muffins and locked the front door. She then walked through the back of the store toward the rear that lead to the employee parking area. Just as she opened the door, she noticed Dan Keagan standing behind his store talking to another man. It looked as though they were arguing but as soon as Dan spotted her a friendly smile spread across his face as he waved.

She gave a little wave back before getting into her car. Something about their conversation didn't seem right but for all she knew it was maybe a simple argument amongst boss and employee.

Whatever, she thought. Her motto was to be friendly but not too friendly. She had no intentions on getting chummy with the Premiere Caterting Company or any of her other commercial neighbors. Whatever their heated discussion about was their business and she wanted to keep it that way.

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Follow over this way for the new 'Chapters' site: http://chaptersbookstore.blogspot.com