The Boyfriend of the Month Club by Maria Geraci Page B

Abuela caught Grace’s gaze and winked.
    Grace gave Charlie an “I-told-you-so look.”
    “I’ll go find Sarah,” Charlie muttered. “The more the merrier.”
    Grace could only shake her head at her brother’s naivety. If Charlie thought there was safety in numbers, then he didn’t know much about women.
     
     
    Grace opened the door to the den to find Pop rifling through the shelves, trying to find some family photos that Phoebe had insisted on seeing (Sarah was right—this Phoebe was good). It was the first time since they’d been at the house that Grace had found an opportunity to talk to her father alone.
    Pamphlets with pictures of Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower were strewn over the desk in the center of the room. Her parents’ thirty-fifth wedding anniversary was in April. To celebrate, they were going on their first trip to Europe. Pop pulled out a photo album. “Look what I found, Tomato. Your high school album!”
    “I think we should open the store on Sundays,” Grace blurted. No sense in beating about the bush.
    Pop smiled like he’d heard this a thousand times before. Which he had. “We aren’t opening the shop on Sunday. It’s a family business, and Sunday is a family day.”
    “I get that. But it’s also a lost day in revenue. People travel on Sundays, Pop. And they stop and spend money. Only they don’t spend money at Florida Charlie’s because it isn’t open. You wouldn’t have to be at the store. Lots of the kids we hire would love extra money. We could pay them time and half if that would make you feel better.”
    “What if something goes wrong? What if we need a manager on site? That would mean you or Penny or your mother or I would have to go in and take care of the crisis.” He shook his head. “We’ve discussed this before and my answer is still the same.”
    Grace bit back a frustrated reply and opted for a more tactful approach. “Pop, you pay me to manage the store, and as the manager, I feel that it’s in the business’s best interests to open on Sunday. How about if I draw up a plan that would show some projected revenue figures? I could train Marty or one of the other senior cashiers to handle any emergency that might come up. We could do a trial run. Maybe open one Sunday a month and see how it goes?”
    Pop flipped open the photo album. “Remember this? It’s your senior prom.”
    “Yeah, I remember. Lots of fun. So how about it, Pop?”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    Grace knew exactly what “I’ll think about it” meant. It meant no.
    “Speaking of the store,” Pop said, “I stopped by yesterday. Grace, honey, I thought I told you I wanted that alligator tooth up front where the customers can see it. We spent a lot of money advertising that tooth. Folks driving down on vacation see the billboards on the highway, get all excited about it, then come into the store to find that the tooth is stuck somewhere in the back. No hoopla, no fanfare, no nuthin. Remember, presentation is everything. My dad taught me that.”
    “Pop,” Grace said gently, “I just don’t think people are into that kind of stuff anymore. People stop at the store to buy T-shirts, and sunscreen, and hats.”
    Pop placed his hand on the small of her back and led her out of the den and into the dining room where the rest of the family and Sarah and Phoebe were already seated. “It’s Sunday, and we don’t talk business on Sunday, right?”
    “Right,” Grace repeated, knowing there was no point in arguing further. If Charlie said something, though, then maybe Pop would listen. Grace thought about the best way to approach her brother. Charlie wasn’t interested in the family business as a career, but Grace knew he didn’t want to see Florida Charlie’s go down the drain. If Grace asked Charlie, he would offer to help. But Charlie was so busy with his job that he was always making promises he never followed up on. This time though, he was just going to have to make time. Grace would