“Taking a personal interest is my specialty. If I point the customers toward something they might want to buy, sometimes they actually do it.”

“And you hope they’ll follow the directive on the sign out front? The name of your store?”

“That’s right. Seas the Day.”

“Punny.” The woman gave Tina a sidelong glance and turned her attention back to the bookshelf.

“I’ve found it works on curious passersby and tourists very well. Which one are you?” Tina asked.

Before the woman could answer the bell rang and a harried young father entered with a double stroller and twin toddler boys who ran inside, one chasing the other. Tina helped wrangle the two rascals and assisted the man, who was looking for a birthday present for his wife. While she was talking to the guy and giving him gift suggestions, Tina glanced over at the dark-haired woman who was leafing through a coffee table book. Tina tried to focus on the father and listen to him over the racket his kids were making. The boys began to rip and run around the store and Tina calmly distracted them with a popup book while their father hurriedly browsed. The two boys got bored and Tina looked around for something else to occupy them with before they destroyed her store when she caught the woman’s eyes. With a faint smile, the woman held up the book and a fifty dollar bill, then laid the money on the counter by the cash register. Then she was gone, and Tina looked down and the two toddlers who were pulling on her hands and yammering nonsense to draw her attention.

I didn’t even get her name, Tina thought. No matter. In a town this small they were likely to run into each other again.

After she’d dealt with the father’s purchase and sent him on his way, she updated her computer inventory to reflect the book the stranger had bought, a book about Caribbean artists. The woman had left much more money than she’d needed to for the price of the book. Tina supposed she meant it as a tip, perhaps, but she didn’t feel right about taking it. No one tipped that high. She set aside the change in an envelope and stuck it in her purse and forgot about the encounter for the time being.