Dead, Bath, and Beyond by Lorraine Bartlett

Author:Lorraine Bartlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-10-17T14:51:01+00:00

It was half an hour before opening the next morning when Katie, Rose, and Edie assembled in the Artisans Alley front lobby. Their mission? To work on the plan to decorate for the upcoming harvest sale and use as many of those elements as possible for Halloween.

“And Thanksgiving, too,” Rose added. “There has to be a way to refresh the theme by rearranging.”

Edie spread out her hands. “Halloween, sure, but I don’t get the difference between harvest decorations and Thanksgiving decorations.”

“They’re mostly the same,” Katie said, thinking out loud, “but there’s still a difference. We’re thankful for more than harvest time. We’re thankful for all the good things that have happened in the year. We’re thankful for everything that we have. We’re thankful for family and friends and—”

“That’s it!” Edie thrust her hands up into the air. “We can do a family farming theme. We’ll use the corn shocks from the harvest stuff, and I bet we can borrow wagon wheels from that booth upstairs. We can also borrow some antique photos of farming families from what’s-his-face upstairs and stick them inside some of Ray Davenport’s frames, temporarily, of course.”

Her face grew animated. “And I bet if we take a walk around the floor we can find a bunch of other stuff to borrow that fits the theme. We can ask everybody to contribute something, that way no one’s left out.”

Katie and Rose stared at her, then looked at each other.

“I like it.” Rose nodded.

“Me, too,” Katie said. “I like it a lot.”

“I say it’s borderline brilliant,” said a voice from behind them.

Katie and the two other women turned to see a smiling Fred Cunningham walking toward them. “Morning, Fred,” they said, practically in unison.

“And a fine morning it is,” he responded jovially, sounding an awful lot like Duncan the morning before. Were they buddies? “I’d intended to ask you ladies how things are going, but I can tell without asking that you have things well in hand. Nicely done.”

They chatted for a few moments about the weather. Fred asked them to pass on his name if they knew anyone who was interested in buying, selling, or leasing property, and then he asked, “How’s it going with Brittany?” He gestured to the salon. “How’s the salon affecting your business at the Alley? Any problems? If it works well, I’d like to set up some other crossover enterprises, but I need to know about any problems, from both sides.”

Rose’s and Edie’s heads whipped around to stare at Katie.

Fred looked from them to Katie and back. “My acute powers of observation point to a potential problem. Would anyone like to tell me about it?”

Katie sighed. “It’s not a problem with Brittany or her salon. She’s been great, and I’ve had a number of vendors say that having her here is bringing new customers to Artisans Alley. And she’s told me she’s cautiously optimistic that her projections were on the low side, which she attributes to being in this location.” She tossed her head, and a wisp of hair touched her cheek.

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