She paused, studied him. Bertie Loftis was a striver and a romantic. He’d won roles in productions, everything from Rent to Samuel Beckett. He had a huge talent and a passion for acting. In the heartbreaking profession to which he’d devoted his life, that wasn’t always enough. “You’re so talented,” she said. “Your acting gives me chills. I’m amazed you’re not headlining somewhere.”

“Just haven’t found that sweet spot—the right role at the right time. And a giant helping of pure, unadulterated luck.” He braided his fingers together and stared down at his hands. “My acting coach says it’s fear. Acting in a role forces you to show the world who you really are. He says I have a block against going there.” He leaned back in his chair. “Could be my breakout role is right here, reading Horton Hears a Who! to the Tuesday Tots. And there are times when I could be completely happy with that, I swear. If the rent wasn’t so damn high in the city, I probably would be.”

“Blythe used to say you’ll never be happy with what you want until you can be happy with what you’ve got,” Cleo said.

What Natalie wanted was unreachable—for Grandy to be all right. What she had was a man whose memories were fading and who was suffering from mysterious physical symptoms the doctors couldn’t explain. “Moving right along,” she said. “I’ve been looking for ways to get our revenues up. Contrary to the naysayers, bookselling is not dead. We need the bookstore to be more than a bookstore. Mom relied so much on the long-term customers she loved. I think we can build on it.”

“Cool,” said Bertie.

“How can we help?” asked Cleo.

“I’ve been doing the analytics on revenues. And I think I see a way to bring in more sales.” Digital inventory management was not sexy, but it did come in handy. Her skills had kicked in as she took a deep dive through the shop records. She had stayed up late, checking for trends to see if she could find a way to improve the numbers.

“I found a pattern that makes sense to me. A spike in sales occurs when a much-anticipated book is published. We need to settle the unpaid accounts with publishers and get those books on the shelves. I also noticed a spike when there’s an author event. And obviously, the more popular the author, the higher the sales.”

Cleo nodded. “So let’s organize an author event.”

“Specifically, a children’s author. We can vouch for that,” Bertie said. “Kids come with adults. So that means the adult might buy a book, too.”

“Exactly. I want to kick off this new phase with a major author event.” In spite of everything, she felt a soft uptick of optimism.