“You’re kidding. And you work at the General Store?”
“I own it,” Maureen said, her shoulders squared, her pride obvious.
“That’s incredible. I can barely keep up with one job,” Presley joked.
“Most people around here have a couple specialties. In fact, your Beckett is one of the best hiking guides in town, a sports equipment specialist, and a sexy Instagram model.”
Presley liked the sound of “your Beckett” more than she should, but she skipped over the feeling to comment, “I’d cross that last thing off his résumé.”
Maureen and Jill both laughed.
“That’s my favorite one,” Maureen said.
“Mine, too,” said one of the other cashiers.
Presley shrugged. “Okay. Mine, too.”
Jill grabbed a couple of items off of the shelves and stuck them in their basket. When they made their way to the other side of the store, Presley noticed the wall. She’d sort of seen it when they first walked in, but the glance had not done it justice. It was one of those chalkboard walls, and it was huge. It was also jam-packed with the most random things.
ANDERSON AVAILABLE FOR CUTS TUESDAY & THURSDAY
CELEBRATE LOUIS’ RETIREMENT AT COMMUNITY HALL AUG 11
CARPLY FAMILY RENTING OUT HOUSE BOAT FOR ALL OF JULY. TAKERS?
THE WILSONS NEED HOUSE SITTERS.
TWO LAWN MOWERS, STILL WORK, NEED A HOME. CALL TEVIN.
CAMP COUNSELOR POSITION JUST OPENED UP. TALK TO MAUREEN.
WHO IS GOING TO RUN HIKES THIS SUMMER?
CAN WE ADD A MAP TO THE TOWN WEBSITE?
TOWN MEETING: JULY 8, 6:00.
Dozens and dozens of messages. Presley was captivated.
“We’ll be here all day if you read them all,” Jill joked.
“What is this?”
“It’s the community chalkboard. You want to sell something, find something, schedule an event, whatever. It’s usually all here.”
Presley shook her head, staring. “Just… everybody just writes down what they need?”
Jill nodded like this was standard operating procedure. “About four years ago, Gramps made a text thread with the eldest of like thirty families. He wanted to be more efficient in how we sent out community news. It was a pretty big mess. Let’s just say Smile may not keep secrets well, but if there’s a large text thread going, there’s no such thing as secrets. We shut it down.”
Presley laughed but she couldn’t wrap her head around it. There was nothing efficient about it but she absolutely loved it. “Doesn’t it make things hard to keep up with? I know you guys have a website, I checked it out. Wouldn’t it be easier for people to go there on their phones or Facebook?”
Shrugging, Jill picked up a bag of chips from one of the end shelves. “It’s more of a social thing and habit at this point, I think. Plus, I don’t know who would run it. Gramps is working on his book about the town and our city council is always short a few members. It’s slow, probably inefficient, but it works.”
Presley couldn’t stop grinning. This town was like nothing she’d ever seen. It was impossible not to be charmed. She was still in awe asthey made their way to the back of the store. An older man was sitting on a high-backed chair, a toothpick in his mouth, laughing at something on his phone. He glanced up when they approached.
“Hey there, Jilly.” He stood up, set his phone down.
“Hey, Miles. This is Presley.” Jill pointed at her, then added, “Miles is Maureen’s husband.”
