Chapter 6: Calvin

Calvin didn’t even try to stifle the yawn that overtook him as he unlocked the front door to the bookstore. It had been a long, mostly sleepless night, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to even make it through the morning—let alone the rest of the day.

But he didn’t care.

Well… he mostly didn’t care. His body was dragging, but his mind was wide awake, just like it had been ever since he’d gotten off the phone last night.

Ever since he’d heard Jack’s voice.

Jack.

God, it was crazy how just hearing that deep, familiar voice could take him back ten years in the blink of an eye.

He flipped on the lights and squinted against the harsh fluorescent glare. It really was going to be a long day.

Adding an extra shot of espresso to his morning mocha had been the best thing to happen since he’d rolled out of bed, but he could already tell he might need to make a second trip down to Steamin’ Beans—Trenton’s across-the-street competitor—for another round of caffeine by lunchtime.

Shambling back to the office like a zombie, he tried to remind himself not to get his hopes up about Jack. While they had ended up having a nice conversation—eventually, after several terrifyingly awkward minutes at the start—Calvin still hadn’t been able to get as much information as he had hoped.

Which was probably to be expected, since what he’d been hoping for was a miracle.

Still, while Jack hadn’t exactly offered to swoop in and save the day, he had said he’d think about everything Calvin had told him and would see what he could do.

And that was… something.

It had been such a relief that Jack had answered the phone in the first place that Calvin had momentarily forgotten why he’d called in the first place. He could have been perfectly happy just to bask in that warm voice again, especially after worrying for so long whether or not to even dial Jack’s number.

Calvin had barely sunk down into his cushioned office chair and turned on the computer before he heard the bell above the front door jingle.

“Seriously?” he groaned, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment as he breathed a heavy sigh.

The store wasn’t even technically open for another half-hour, but Calvin liked to unlock early just in case any customers happened to stop by.

They usually didn’t, though.

Except of course someone would come in today, when he was operating on barely any sleep and wanted nothing more than to put his head down on the desk in front of him and take a nap.

“Hello?” Bea Roberts’ voice carried through the store to the back office. “Are you in here, sweetie?”

With a lot more effort than it should have taken, Calvin pushed himself up out of the chair and poked his head out the office door just in time to see Bea heading straight toward him.

“Back here,” he called, even though she had obviously known exactly where to look first. “I’ll be with you in just a second.”

He had hoped for a few moments to get his thoughts together and to take another big gulp of caffeine, but Bea appeared at the doorway before any of those things could happen.

“Oh, you don’t have to come up to the front on my account, dear,” she said, walking in and sitting down in the chair opposite Calvin’s desk. “I’m just popping in for a quick word and then I’ll be on my way.”

Calvin nodded, doing his best to keep up with the force of nature that was Bea Roberts. All he could really think of at the moment was how small his office seemed as it tried to contain her larger-than-life personality.

She might seem like an unassuming, diminutive grandmother at first glance, but Calvin had seen plenty of people succumb to her shock-and-awe charm offensive.

“Great,” Calvin said, finally. “What can I, um… do for you?”

She gave him a sweet smile that belied the intensity in her eyes. “Did you call Jack like I asked? Is he on board with our little plan?”

“Our plan?” Calvin felt his eyes go wide and was certain he must have looked like a deer in headlights, but Bea either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “Did we have a plan?”

“Oh, sweetie,” she shook her head slightly. “Didn’t we go over all of this yesterday? He’s miserable up there in Boston, I just know he is. We have to make him see how much better it could be here and how much good he could do if he’d just…” She sighed, then her eyes narrowed. “You did call him, though, right? At least tell me you did that.”

“I did,” Calvin said, quickly. He was pretty sure that hadn’t been the plan, though. And if her plan really was to compare Boston with Silver Lake… well, Calvin was pretty sure even her powers of persuasion weren’t up to that task. “I called him and we, um, talked.”

“About?”

God, why did he feel like he was suddenly on the witness stand? And why did it seem like no matter what he was about to say, it wouldn’t be the right thing?

“About…” Oh, lord. What had they talked about, exactly? It was all sort of a blur to Calvin now. “About the situation here in Silver Lake, mostly.” Maybe. Probably. As far as he could remember. “And just… that it was good to talk again after so long?”

“Wonderful,” she said, leaning in and smiling in a way that probably would have reminded Calvin of a wolf if it had been anyone else. “That’s a good start, dear. Well done. Now, did he say when he’ll be coming down to help us?”

“Coming down?” Calvin shook his head. “He, um… didn’t say.”

Mostly because Calvin hadn’t asked. Had she really expected him to try and persuade Jack to visit?

Surely not.

Surely that would seem far-fetched, even for someone with her powers of persuasion. Which, it hardly had to be said, were powers Calvin did not possess.

“Did he act like he might come, though?” she asked. “Did he say he was going to think about it?”

Calvin nibbled at his lip. “Not exactly.”

“Calvin.” She took a quick breath and rolled her shoulders back. “Tell me exactly what Jack said. Word for word.”

“Oh, um… word for word?” Calvin blinked. He couldn’t think of any words at the moment, and she wanted him to recite a conversation that had happened twelve hours ago? For at least the millionth time this morning, Calvin wished he could just go back to bed. But that obviously wasn’t an option. And from the way Bea was looking at him, he wasn’t going anywhere until she got the information she wanted. “Okay. I’ll try to remember exactly what he said.”

He took a deep breath and glanced at the clock on the wall. Still fifteen minutes to go until the store was officially even open.

This was not going to be a good day.