Happily Ever After by Denise Hunter

Author:Denise Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2013-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

A delighted sparkle in one’s eye or fluttering of one’s lashes can often convey all a young lady needs to say.

PEARL CHAMBERS, The Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship

CHAPTER NINE

Things were much worse than Gage had imagined. He’d been analyzing Molly’s operations in his spare time for the past couple weeks. He’d examined the price structure, the business’s efficiency, the benefits and costs of operations. He looked it all over, then did it again, hoping he’d missed something.

Molly kept asking how it was going, and he’d put her off, hoping to find something encouraging, but the news wasn’t good. Her price structure was spot-on. The store was efficiently run. She was frugal in her spending. She was doing everything right.

But the loan was eating up her profits. With that kind of overhead, she needed more business. For customers she needed advertising, for advertising she needed money, and for money she needed more customers. It was a vicious cycle.

There was no money. He looked at the bottom line, frowning as two customers entered Molly’s shop. Gage closed the book and moved around the counter.

He’d insisted Molly take Noah out for their lunch break. Molly felt bad about the kid spending his summer cooped up in the store. Besides, the place was a tomb. They sometimes went hours between customers.

He approached the middle-aged man and woman. “Can I help you?”

“We’re looking for a good pair of hiking socks,” the man said.

“Nothing too thick, though.” The woman tossed her blond ponytail over her shoulder. “My shoes are already snug.”

Unfortunately, Molly carried little merchandise. “I’m afraid we don’t carry them here. There’s a place a couple blocks down, though. Make a left on Main, and it’ll be on your right.”

“Thanks.”

He wondered if he should advise Molly to carry more merchandise. Forty percent of his profits came from product sales as opposed to tours.

“Left on Main?” the man said as he stepped out the door.

Gage nodded. “It’ll be on your right.”

“Thank you.” The woman moved aside to let Molly and Noah past.

Noah darted inside, heading to Molly’s office for a computer game, probably.

Molly was looking at Gage oddly, her cute smile nowhere to be found. He realized how what he’d said to the customer might’ve sounded to her.

“They were after hiking socks,” he said.

And that quickly her smile was back. “Oh.”

“How was lunch?”

“We got takeout from the Country Cupboard Café and took it to the square. A much-needed break—thank you.”

The phone rang. Molly picked it up and began answering questions about rafting tours.

Gage sat behind the counter and opened the book again, staring blankly at the pages. He wondered idly about the loan she was paying off. Wondered what they’d used as collateral. The space was rented and the business was new, so it wasn’t valuable—especially in its current condition.

They’d likely put up their home. No wonder she was anxious. If something didn’t happen fast, she’d lose her business, her home, and her income. A triple blow.

No wonder she’d asked for his help, as humiliating as that must’ve been.

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