Slow Burn.

Chapter 8.

It's been a busy day at the shop. We've surprisingly had a lot of customers today, and I'm not sure for what reason. We haven't had a busy day like this since we first opened when I was a teenager. I look up to my dad who's walking through the front door with some drinks for us. I raise my eyebrow, "What's going on out there? Is something in the water? Why are people buying so many books?" I ask him with a chuckle, wanting to get to the bottom of today.

My dad hands me my tea and takes a drink of his coffee, "New cigar shop opening up a few doors down. I think they had an opening party, so it drew people downtown, and they decided to come buy some stuff. Not sure why, but I'm not bitchin'."

I give him a confused look, "Who owns the shop?"

Dad shrugs, "No idea, some guy from out of town I think." He tells me, and I nod, not sure who would randomly decide to choose Charming as a place to open a business. I mean, we moved it here and then my parents decided, so that's a bit of a different situation. "Looks pretty put together if ya' ask me." He says before heading to the back to restock shelves.

I nod to myself and let out a sigh as I go over today's numbers before our close at four. I'm in the middle of counting numbers and prepping for the deposit until I'm interrupted by the front door ringing. I look up and see two men, one in a suit, and the other in a button up khaki shirt. My eyebrows knit together as I don't recognize them, but I decide to be nice. "Hello gentlemen, how may I help you?" I ask as I straighten my posture and smile over to them.

The two men walk closer to me. The one in the suit smiling back while the other holds a hard stare onto me. "Ethan Zobelle." The older man introduces himself, extending his hand, "Local businessman here in Charming. I opened up the cigar shop a few doors down and wanted to give you and your father a gift." He tells me as he hands me a paper bag. I nod, feeling uncomfortable and unsure of how he would know about my father and I owning this business, especially if he isn't from here.

"You're too kind, thank-you." I tell him, accepting the bag and setting on the desk, "He loves cigars, so I'm sure he'll be quite content." I fake a smile and look over to the other man who's standing by Ethan Zobelle.

"AJ Weston." He says grumpily, and I just nod, not wanting to talk to him much anyways.

"Well, hopefully your business blooms in Charming and lives a prosperous life." I tell Ethan, "Charming is a great town for local shopping, and most of the men I know around here love cigars, so it seems like you've chosen a fantastic business venture."

He nods, "I appreciate your kind words, Ms. Kacey James." I look at him kind of shocked that he'd know my name without introducing myself. "We must get going now, but I wanted to drop that off for you and your father." He says with another smile, "You don't seem like the type to smoke cigars, but you never know. You can't always judge a book by the cover, can you? Sometimes we're pleasantly surprised." I nod, feeling like he's talking about something other than the cigars.

"Thanks for dropping by." I tell them kindly, "I'll see you out, and I'll make sure to pass these along to my father." I tell them as I walk them to the door.

Ethan stops in the doorway and turns to me, "Stay safe, Kacey." He tells me before walking out of the door with Weston. I feel my stomach turn and I lock the door quickly behind them, flipping the open sign and leaning against the door.

---

AJ Weston and Ethan Zobelle walk out of the book store, heading back towards the cigar shop. "That's her, that's Teller's old lady." Weston tells Zobelle, Surprised someone like her would go for Teller." He scoffs.