I turned and raised an eyebrow at him.
The smile got a little wider. “Or world domination,” he added. He looked at his watch. “Do you have time to go over the list of things you want to put an offer in on from the Thomas estate?”
“Yes,” I said. “Just give me five minutes to get Avery working on some new teacup gardens.”
Charlotte was at the cash desk with a pencil and a pad of paper, working on an idea for a window display for Valentine’s Day. Our window displays changed a lot, usually because Charlotte or Avery had come up with a new idea. But since their ideas seemed to bring customers into the store, I didn’t mind if they changed the window every second day.
I touched Charlotte on the shoulder as I passed her. “Come up with any ideas yet?” I asked. All I could see on the paper were some scratched-up hearts and the word “love” crossed out several times.
“What exactly did you have in mind for the window?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t really know. Just something other than hearts and chubby babies with bows and arrows. Something a little different.”
“Define ‘different,’” Charlotte said with a smile.
“I can’t quite do that yet,” I said.
Her eyes twinkled. “Can I ask Avery to help me?”
“I don’t know. Can you?” I said.
Charlotte laughed.
“If I say ‘yes, go ahead,’ am I going to regret it?” I asked.
“Possibly.”
“Go ahead,” I said, smiling back at her. “I trust you.”
I went out to the workroom and showed Avery the box of cups and saucers I wanted her to clean and fill with potting soil. Our tiny teacup gardens were a perennial hit with the tourists, and I wanted to have more ready for the next bunch of Canadian skiers.
“Want me to do the planting, too?” she asked.
“That would be a big help,” I said. “Thank you.”
She slipped off the stack of bracelets she was wearing on her left arm—some of them her own creations and some from her collection of vintage jewelry—and stacked them on the workbench. “Is it okay if I help Charlotte with the front window when I’m done?” she asked, picking up the box of teacups.
I nodded. “As a matter of fact, she’d like your help,” I said. “She’s looking for ideas.”
Avery grinned. “I’m full of ideas,” she said.
She was definitely full of something.
Mac was just coming out of the tiny staff room with two cups of coffee when I got to the top of the stairs.
“Umm, is one of those for me?” I asked.
“Yes, it is,” he said, holding out one of the mugs.
We spent the next hour going over our scribbled list of items we’d seen at the Thomas house that might work in the store. I was surprised by how many of the items I had scrawled on my handwritten list had ended up on Mac’s as well.
“Great minds think alike, I guess,” I said when we got to the sixth thing in a row.
“It’s better than fools seldom differ,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me.
I shifted sideways in my chair and tucked one foot up underneath me. “Speaking of fools,” I said. “I told Rose I wasn’t going to give them a hard time anymore about their investigations.”
“Why?” he asked, narrowing his dark eyes.
I stretched my shoulders, hunching them up around my ears. “It took me a while, but I realized that I’m wasting my time. They’re either going to nod and smile and do what they want anyway. Or argue until they wear me out and do what they want anyway. I decided to eliminate that whole part in the middle.” I pulled my hand back through my hair. “It’s the part that makes my hair fall out, so it seemed like a good part to get rid of.”
Mac tented his fingers over the mouth of his cup. “What about Nick?”
“He can fight with them if he wants to,” I said, stretching my arms out in front of me. “Let Nick’s hair fall out for a little while and see how he likes it.”
Mac stood up. “For what it’s worth, I think it’s a good decision,” he said. He looked toward the hallway. “I’d better go see how Avery is doing.” He gestured at the notepad on my lap. “Let me know if you want me to check the numbers before you put the final offer together.”
I nodded. “Thanks. I will.”
He hesitated in the doorway. “Sarah, what about the chandelier from Doran’s department store? What do you want to do with it? It doesn’t look like the North Landing project is going to happen, so are they still going to want to buy it for some other project?”
I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. “Is it ready?”
“I’ve cleaned it up and replaced the missing screws. I don’t want to do much more without some money on the table. What do you think?”
I looked up at the ceiling, but there weren’t any answers there. “I agree with you.” I got to my feet. “I think I’ll call Jon West’s office. If he’s not interested anymore, I’ll call the guy I told you about who’s renovating that restaurant.”
He nodded. “Let me know what happens.”
“I will,” I said.
Mac left, and I moved over to my desk. The door opened a little more and Elvis wandered in, giving a start of surprise when he saw me. “Merow?” he said inquiringly.
“Hey, it’s my office, too,” I said.
He looked around as if he were going to dispute my words. Then he walked around the desk, jumped onto my chair and gave me a look that was decidedly smug.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” I said. I scooped him up and sat down in the chair, and he settled himself happily on my lap. I had the feeling I’d just been conned.
I called the North by West office and left a message with Jon West’s assistant. She promised she’d have him call me back as soon as possible. That was the kind of promise I tended to view with a lot of skepticism, so I was surprised when my phone rang only twenty minutes later and it was the North by West developer on the other end.
“Thank you for getting back to me so quickly, Jon,” I said. “I wanted to check with you before we put the chandelier from the Doran’s department store up on our website or sold it to someone else.”
“Oh, I’m still interested in it,” he said.
“You are?” I couldn’t quite keep the surprise out of my voice.
“I could be there in about half an hour to take another look at it,” he said. I heard what sounded like the slam of a vehicle door.
“That would work,” I said. “Do you remember how to find us?”
“I do,” he said. “I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
I hung up the phone and leaned back in the chair, stroking Elvis’s fur with one hand. “Jon West is going to be here in about half an hour,” I said.
He turned his head and looked at me with one green eye.
“Yes, I know Rose will be all over him like you on a can of Tasty Tenders.”
He lifted his head and licked his lips.
“I don’t actually have any right now,” I said.
That got me a glare before he dropped his head again. Elvis may have been a cat, but he seemed to have a better command of the English language than some people did.
I looked at the papers I’d just laid on my desk. “I’ll work on these later,” I said to Elvis. “Let’s go see what’s happening downstairs.”
He jumped to the floor before I could set him down. I got up, brushed the cat hair off my lap and put on a little rosy lip gloss. Elvis, meanwhile, was washing his face.
“Ready?” I asked.
He made one last pass behind his left ear.
“You look good,” I said.
He tipped his head to one side and eyed me. Then he meowed again and started for the door.
Apparently we both looked presentable.
“You know, I read somewhere that the longer people live together, the more they start doing the same things,” I said as we started down the stairs. “Do you think that happens with cats and people?”
Elvis stopped on the second step and gave me a look that could only be interpreted as “Don’t be ridiculous.”