Once I could afford to take the bookshelves to the ceiling and store my overstock there, I planned on installing two or three library ladders in the shop, and then, it would be everything I dreamed. Just a few more big sales, and I’d be there.
I had just finished reshelving and ringing up the day’s last customers, when the bell over the door rang. I started to say, “I’m sorry, but we’re just closing” when I heard, “Oh, HARVEY!” in the voice of a person I loved dearly.
“Stephen Arritt-Hitchcock?! What are you doing here?”
“Don’t forget me, gorgeous,” Walter, Stephen’s husband said. “Surprise!!”
I couldn’t believe it. Stephen and Walter lived in San Francisco, where I had worked with Stephen back in the day. This was no casual drop by on the way home from dinner. They had flown cross-cou
