Connie's Cafe/Book Shop

Chapter 2 - Six months on

As Connie reached up to place the last books on the top shelf the sleeve of her top stretched back revealing her slim wrists and her ugly scar. Most of the time Connie wore long sleeves to cover the scar which ran down her lower arm from the elbow down to her wrist. Tim, Betty and Pat had all seen the scar but Connie had always brushed away any questions with simple answers that it was from an accident that happened long ago. She then always changed the subject.

Tim watched her tug her sleeve down, covering the scar. He wondered what had happened to her. He saw Connie as a confident, happy, complete person most of the time, but he couldn't help feeling she was hiding some sort of tragedy. She never explained the scar and never spoke of her family, not even her parents. Questions were simply brushed off.

The door of the shop opened, a mother and two young children walked in. Good, customers. They had been quite quiet with only a couple of sales first thing this morning and nothing since then. Hopefully this family would find something of interest and buy a couple of books.

As they came in Connie greeted them with a smile and offered to help. They walked off into the children's section.

Tim busied himself with rearranging the pastries and popping on some fresh coffee. The shop always smelled better with the coffee brewing in the background.

The mother did indeed buy three books and as she was leaving Amy came in. Amy had started to become a regular customer, not that she bought many books but she loved to hang around the store, drinking coffee and chatting.

"Hi Amy, How's life" Connie greeted her as she came towards the counter.

"I'm good, ohh loving that smell." She answered sniffing the air.

"I've just put on the coffee." Tim told her as he started to bring out the cups and poured three large coffees for everyone.

"Umm just what I needed, what a day!" Amy moaned as she slid onto the stool, "Everything that could have gone wrong, has." she announced.

Connie laughed and sat opposite Amy with Tim taking the last stool.

"Come on then, tell us what happened."

Amy, a Private Detective, when on to explain how she had been hired to follow what appeared to be a cheating husband, but she had dropped her camera, her car had given her problems and in the end it had all been for nothing as the offending husband had actually been working and telling his wife the truth, there wasn't any affair! Amy had Connie and Tim in stitches with all her antics. Poor Amy, she really had had an awful day.

As she was coming to the end of her story Betty and Pat arrived for their afternoon coffee and pastry.

They took their usual table. Betty complained about the weather, complained about her aches and pains and complained about the noise from the road. Pat just sat and drank his coffee.

Around 5 pm they all left and Tim and Connie tidied up. There were no more customers that day.

As Connie tidied up the last of the magazines she left around the coffee tables for her customers to read she looked up at the children's section close to the coffee area.

"Tim" she called a little absent mindedly, "I've been thinking, what do you think if we re-vamp this area completely. Add a children's area for kids to sit down read and play whilst the parents can have coffee or better still look around the shop?"

"Umm, on the surface the idea sounds good," Answered Tim, "But if they read the books how are you going to sell them afterwards?"

"Well no, I'd buy some cheap books together with the freebies I get sometimes and maybe some from the little second hand book down the road, just invest a little and then hopefully their parents will buy the new books!"

Tim thought for a bit, "Yeh, I think it would be a good idea, it shouldn't take much. But you would have to make the area colourful, add seating, maybe some bean bags and things like that." He added.

They talked some more and decided to make some solid plans the following day and hopefully have the whole place open by the following weekend.

As Connie locked up she hoped sales would pick up, this whole week had been slow, she needed some sales. The children's corner might just be the boost she needed.

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