Colette smiled and led him to the back table. All the books had come in one giant box, so she had been working on organizing them into smaller boxes to move them easier. Each box had its own category. Looking up from the books in her hands, she looked at the box then at Keinan. "Oh! Two rows to the right. The rows themselves aren't organized in a way to make it easy to remember. Hm..."

Colette looked at the rows and started to think of something that may help him. Memorizing things is hard enough, so she couldn't imagine how it was for him. "Would you like a little map of the rows? Just until you get your bearings here?" She hoped she didn't make him feel bad by offering, it was just her personality to try and help or fix everything.

short this time. My pain is blocking the creativity flow. Ugh >_<)))

Well, he thanked her for the offering. That must mean he wasn't upset with her for that then. Silently letting out a breath of relief, she got back into her little groove with sorting the books. It was nice to have a little quiet. It gave her a chance to be productive and enjoy the feeling of peace. Colette looked up from her book piles to see Keinan done.

Smiling, she continued to work and let him decide what he wanted to do next. "When there are sales the hidden book fanatics love to all rush in here. It's like they all decided to emerge from their little caves," Colette said with a soft chuckle. "It is hidden, but that's why I love it. Only the usual customers are the ones to come in. Some I've made friends with, others I leave alone because they're too absorbed in their book hunt."

She smiled fondly as the memory of the day she found this place replayed in her mind. "I'm so thankful I found this place. I had been searching for a job for weeks, since the day I moved here, and had decided to walk around to look for a job. It was either that or stay in my apartment and stressfully pace while I looked through the newspaper for jobs. The owner was taking down the help wanted sign, but I just had to try."

Setting a few book piles off to the side, the bell rang. Colette turned around and saw someone had walked inside. "Wanna keep working on the books? I can go to the register, unless you feel like taking the first customer today?"

Book fanatics... He'd never quite thought of them like that, though he supposed it was fitting for sure. Keinan didn't spend much time reading, at least not normally. But he'd found a love for escaping through the words on the pages during the worst part of his life, and it was that love that had led him here, to this lovely little place that he was already starting to love.

"That's some story," he said with a grin, pausing briefly to study a book in his hands and carefully straighten out a page that had somehow gotten folded during shipping. "Seems we were both lucky to find this place, then. I've been looking for months, even interviewed a few places, nothing. Then I found this place, and I knew this was it."

He glanced up when the bell rang, then looked to Colette with a visible hesitation, unsure what to do. She offered to take care of the customer that had entered, and he gave a slight nod, lifting the box full of books that he'd collected. The shelf where these went, the mystery novels, was near the register. "I'll walk with you," he said, his ever-present grin never faltering.

Seeing the hesitation in his face showed it was the right choice to offer. It was totally fine that he chose to leave the customer up to her for now. That was the whole point of offering and not just telling him one way or the other. "Alrighty," she said with a quick nod before heading to the front of the store. With a quick glance and smile at him, Colette wandered over to the customer.

To her surprise, it was one of the regulars. What surprised her was that it was a mother with her daughter. It was a school day so she wasn't expecting to see the little one. "Good morning guys," she greeted with a wave. "What brings you both here so early?" The little girl immediately turned around and ran to her for a hug.

Liv, the little girl, looked at her with a huge smile. "My school has today off and mommy said we could come here and pick out books! I've been super good so I get to pick out three today!" Colette laughed and gave her an impressed look as she set her down. "That's awesome Liv!"

Even though Liv had just been talking to her, her eyes had landed on something new and furry. "Miss Lettie, why is there a doggie in here? I thought they weren't allowed in buildings." Ah, that's what caught the little girl's attention. Before the girl's mother could say anything, Colette bent down to her height and pointed at Echo's vest. "See what she's wearing?" Getting a little nod from Liv, she smiled and continued. "That vest means she's a special doggie. So special she gets to wear that vest and come inside. Doggies like her are workers so when they have it on they can't be petted. Always remember that okay? On some occasions, you can ask, but try not to. Cute girls like you are too distracting."

With that little lesson and a few tickles, Liv understood and went with her mom to go pick out her books. That didn't stop her from admiring Echo from a distance. Liv was smart for being so young and Colette was proud of her for understanding so quickly.