The Book Charmer

by Karen Hawkins

  “Jenkins was a penny-pincher,” Erma said with distaste. “Getting him to pay for anything was like pulling teeth. That’s why he was voted out.”

  Grace nodded. “Under his aegis, the festivals became stale and anemic.”

  Zoe returned the report to her folder. “We were left with two poorly functioning generic festivals mainly geared toward tourists, which was completely contrary to why the festivals were originally established. The further away from the original purposes of the festivals that the town got, the less successful they were.”

  Kat sat back in her seat. “We forgot our client base.”

  “Exactly,” Grace said.

  There was a moment of silence as everyone considered this. Nate dropped the paper on the table in front of him. “We need to go back to the old formula.”

  “Yes,” Grace said. “Which is why I want to revisit the festival budget.”

  “Praise the Lord!” Erma said.

  “What’s to revisit?” Ava asked. “You said at the last meeting that we need to do some sort of business outreach or we’re sunk, and that there’s no more money.”

  “Which is still true, and I’m going to address that. But first I want to talk about something I discovered this morning.” She looked around the table. “I went through the town archives, almost three hundred years of history. It was a fascinating history lesson. But now Dove Pond is failing, and there are similarities to the failing companies I used to help restructure, more than I’d realized. As I told Sarah this morning, when we’d first take on a company, we’d spend weeks, sometimes months, getting to know who they were, what they were, and how they were viewed. That’s their branding. And of all the things a company owns, their brand is worth more than anything else.”

  “Sure,” Kat said. “Like Nike or Nabisco—you know what those represent.”

  “Exactly. When you’re helping a company restructure, the last thing you want to do is damage their brand. In fact, you do everything you can to protect it and, if you can, build on it.”

  “And you think the Apple Festival is part of the town brand?” Erma said.

  “No. The town’s brand isn’t the festivals. It’s all of you.”

  Sarah leaned forward. “Us?”

  Grace nodded. “While I was reading through the deeds and the old newspapers and the old flyers for references to the Apple Festival, I kept seeing the same thing over and over. I saw the Bells, the Doves, the Parkers, the Moores, the Carters, the Jepsons, the Tingles, the Boltons—all of you, all your families. And you’re all still here. You’re the brand.” She tapped the binder in front of her. “The Apple Festival was a huge event because it was a family event.”

  Sarah blinked. “And family is what Dove Pond is all about.”

  “Exactly. That’s our brand. And that’s what we need to focus on if we want to bring the town back.”

  “But . . . how do we do that?” Ed asked.

  “We sell ourselves on the basis of what we have, not what we don’t.”

  Ava looked confused. “But what do we have?”

  Grace pointed to Zoe. “We have a bank eager to increase its business accounts.”

  “You know it,” Zoe agreed in a fervent tone.

  Grace pointed to Kat. “A huge amount of available, low-cost commercial properties.”

  “Most of the owners would be willing to cut good deals, too,” Kat said. “Especially for long-term leases.”

  “Good,” Grace said. “We also have plenty of businesses interested in promoting themselves and finding new customers.”

  “Count me in,” Nate said.

  “Me too,” Ed agreed.

  “Oh my God,” Ava said. “I’m starting to see what you’re saying. We should combine the two.”

  Grace smiled.

  “Wait. What?” Sarah felt as if she was the only one being left behind.

  Zoe sent her an impatient look. “The Apple Festival could be the ultimate small-business outreach event.”

  Grace leaned back in her chair. “But we have to go back and make it what it used to be, a festival about this town, about the people who live here.”

  “How do we do that?” Sarah asked.

  “We showcase who we are,” Grace said. “Dove Pond is a beautiful, friendly, family-oriented town.”

  “With,” Zoe added, “a huge potential for low-cost, small-business start-ups. That’s who we’ve always been. We just haven’t focused on that. We haven’t told anyone.”

  “Which means,” Grace said, “that every business and every community entity in Dove Pond should have a booth.”

  “All of them?” Nate looked surprised.

  Grace nodded.

  “The churches could have booths,” Erma said. “They could do a cake walk or something like that. They’ll love it.”

  Grace added, “So will most community groups.”

  Ed brightened. “I’m a member of the Kiwanis and we just had the Callahan brothers make us a half a dozen corn hole boards. We got them for our summer barbecues, but we’re always looking for ways to raise money for the children’s hospital. People love that game, too.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Grace said.

  “The Moonlight could set up a lunch tent,” Ava said thoughtfully. “I could sell spring plants, and my teas too.”

  “The bank can hand out piggy banks and totes,” Zoe added. “Dad was just saying last week that we don’t do outreach the way we used to, so this would be a good start.”

  This is so exciting. Sarah’s mind whirled with ideas. “The Callahan brothers make beautiful wood items like cheese trays and salad bowls and cutting boards. And Doc Bolton is always saying we should have a health fair, so I bet he’d be willing to host a tent for free blood pressure readings, where he can hand out some of his pamphlets.”

  “He loves handing those out.” Ed rubbed his chin. “Maggie and I can do dog grooming and sell some of the discontinued items we’ve got in boxes in the back. We need to get rid of that stuff, anyway.”

  “You can sell new items, too,” Zoe reminded him. “Just mingle it between the sale items.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Ed agreed with a thoughtful nod.

  “I’ll set up a summer gardening display and do some planting workshops,” Nate offered.

  “We could put the schedule on the website,” Grace said.

  “Great. I’ll get that to you this week.”

  “Hmm.” Kat tilted her head to one side. “I wonder if Lisa Tilden would be willing to bring some of her coworkers and do mini massages? It would be a great way for her to build up her local client base.”

  “Perfect!” Zoe said. “I’d pay for that.”

  “Me, too,” Nate said fervently. When everyone looked at him, he flushed and said, “What? I’ve got a bad back.”

  Kat grinned. “Right. Bad back. That’s a great excuse, Nate.”

  “What about T.W.?” Erma asked. “He’s got all of those near-tame animals. They’re like house pets.”

  “So?” Ed said.

  Erma gave him an impatient look. “So he could do a petting zoo. He’s got chickens, pygmy goats, a pony named Bruce Lee, and the cutest baby donkey right now, too, as well as two lambs.”

  “Yes!” Grace couldn’t have looked more pleased. “You see what’s happening? Dove Pond is happening. This is who we are. And this is what we need to sell.”

  Sarah heard Grace say “we” and had to fight the urge to yell out a celebratory “whoop-whoop.”

  “I like this.” Kat tapped her folder. “We should also invite these businesses who’ve left. Most are still local and would see our community as potential clients.”

  “Great idea,” Grace agreed.

  “I’ll buy in,” Nate said. “I don’t see how we can’t. But how do you envision the outreach part of your plan?”

  “At the festival, we’ll have a special area where we’ll welcome any and all businesses. We’ll treat them for what they are, prospective investors in our
town. We’ll have a packet of key information available for each of them when they arrive, and we’ll assign a guide who will show them our beautiful town.”

  “I love this,” Erma said, beaming. “I take it you’ve already thought about the funding issue? You’ve thought of everything else.”

  “Zoe and I figured that out earlier this afternoon. We’re going to add vendors to our fair.”

  Erma’s smile slipped. “We’ve always had vendors.”

  “Not this many. We’re going to add a lot.”

  Zoe nodded. “We’re expanding the size of the festival—doubling it, in fact.”

  “My God,” Erma said, her eyes huge behind her glasses. “But how will that make our festival affordable?”

  “Because we’re going to charge a vendor fee again.”

  “No!” Erma threw down her pen. “People will hate that.”

  “We already thought about that,” Zoe said smoothly. “We’re not charging a traditional fee. We’re only asking for a cut of profits over a certain amount.”

  “A generous amount,” Grace said. “If a vendor doesn’t make a good profit, neither will we.”

  “Isn’t that taking a chance?” Ava asked.

  “I’d prefer to call it a calculated risk,” Grace said. “But it means we’ve got to hit the ground running. We need to plump up our vendor list as soon as possible and get commitments. Erma, I was hoping you’d take the lead on the vendors.”

  Erma flushed but looked pleased. “Me?”

  Grace pulled out a folder. “Would you mind?”

  “No! I mean, I’m glad to help.”

  Grace slid the folder to Erma. “We’ll talk about it after the meeting. Since we’re going to ask for a cut of their profits, we’ll need to do more for the vendors.”

  Zoe nodded. “Welcome baskets, a listing on the town website and on all promotional materials—we want to get the word out for them.”

  “Sheesh,” Sarah said. “I never thought about having a welcome basket for vendors.”

  Ed shook his head. “Every year, we had a festival checklist and we’d just go down it and check off the boxes. And when it was done, we just sort of quit.”

  “Some of that was Mrs. Phelps,” Ava pointed out.

  “She was too busy to do more than the basics,” Grace said. “The clerk’s job can be overwhelming; there’s a lot of paperwork. I daresay she saw the social club the way I did initially—as an inconvenience that needed to be gotten over with as quickly and painlessly as possible.”

  “Done right, it’s a big job.” Ed closed his folder and leaned his elbows on it, his hands clasped on top. “But shouldn’t we be careful what sort of businesses we try to lure to our town? We want the ones that would be a good fit, the ones the locals would support.”

  Nate gave a skeptical laugh. “Can we target like that?”

  “Sure,” Zoe said. “We’ll do it the same way you sell mulch at the hardware store. You put it on display by the front door with a lot of photos of gorgeous lawns, and you ask every single person going through the checkout line who has bought a spade or a garden hose if they need any.”

  Nate grinned. “It works.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But how do we know which businesses to ask?” Ava asked.

  “Grace and I are working on a list,” Zoe said. “Some are obvious. We lost our local pediatrician when Dr. Lynn retired, and his offices are available. He was plenty busy, too, so there’s an opportunity there, if we could find a good match. And the theater has been closed since Lou Jacobs died. It’s a beautiful building. After his death, Jules Stewart from the Moonlight bought it. She said she’s willing to let it go for the right price, and it’s the perfect place for an independent movie house.”

  “I love indie films,” Sarah said.

  Grace looked at Ava and smiled. “You’re on our business list too.”

  “Me?” Ava looked from Grace to Zoe and back. “I already have greenhouses and an office.”

  “Yes,” Zoe said, “but you don’t have a teahouse.”

  Ava opened her eyes wider. “A teahouse?”

  “That would be a nice addition to town,” Erma said.

  “I love teahouses,” Sarah said. “Nothing goes better with a good book than a cup of hot tea and a scone.”

  Ava considered it. “I guess I could. I never thought about it, but—no. I don’t know how to cook, and no one wants tea without food.”

  Kat shrugged. “If you’re interested, we can work on that.”

  “She’s right,” Zoe said. “That’s the least of your worries. And if you had the right manager, you wouldn’t even have to be there. It would turn a heck of a profit without you having to divide your attention between the two places.”

  Ava leaned back in her seat. “I’ll give it some thought. But . . . you know, I could do it. I just never thought about it.”

  “Exactly.” Looking smug, Zoe turned to Kat. “We’re going to need a list of all the available office and warehouse spaces in town and their prices. We want to include it in the business welcome packets.”

  Kat brightened. “I’ll get right on it. May I put my company name on the list?”

  “Of course. You’re the only commercial realtor in town, you know.”

  Grace beamed around the table. “I know it seems overwhelming, but the reality of Dove Pond is that it slipped away slowly, one business at a time. We can bring it back the same way.”

  “One business at a time,” Ava said, looking bemused.

  “Do you really think it’s possible?” Erma asked.

  Grace shrugged. “Nothing’s guaranteed, but yes, I do. I think Dove Pond will get better and that this committee will make it happen.”

  “And better is”—Sarah grinned—“better.”

  “Wow,” Erma said. “Just wow.” She placed her hands flat on the table and slid her chair closer. “So what do we do now?”

  “First things first,” Grace said. “We’re going to focus on our festival planning for the rest of the meeting. We’ll call an extra meeting Monday to brainstorm the business aspect. Zoe will be in charge of that.”

  “On it, boss,” Zoe said.

  “What will you do?” Kat asked Grace.

  “I’ll be in charge of the logistics—tents, electricity, safety. The basic setup.”

  Sarah thought about the town, and all her hopes for it, which were too numerous to count. She was happy to see the enthusiasm humming in the room, which boded well for the festival. But today she had a higher purpose. She cleared her throat. “Before we get into the festival planning, there’s another issue I’d like to bring up.”

  Everyone stopped talking. As if she sensed Sarah’s nervousness, Ava nodded her encouragement.

  Grace, who’d just pulled her notepad closer, looked up, surprised. “What’s that?”

  Sarah pulled a paper out of her folder and slid it across the table to Grace.

  Grace picked it up and read it aloud. “ ‘Monday, Paw Printz for dog washing. Tuesday, help Ava package teas. Wednesday and Friday, the library for Children’s Hour. Thursday, the Moonlight for pie class.’ ” She lowered the list. “What’s this?”

  “It’s something the committee and I put together,” Sarah said. “It’s for Daisy.”

  “For Daisy?”

  Sarah nodded. “We know you’ve had a really difficult time lately, and we wanted to help. So we’d like to hire Daisy to assist us with a few things. She’ll get two dollars a week.”

  “We didn’t want to pay her too much,” Erma said. “That’s not good for a child.”

  “But Maggie and I really could use the help at Paw Printz,” Ed said. “Monday’s our busiest day.”

  “And you know I always need extra hands packaging my teas,” Ava said. “I have almost more orders than I can fill.”

  “I’ve been struggling to make Children’s Hour better,” Sarah added. “Daisy can help me select the books and then read to the other kids. It would be goo
d for her, too, because this way she’ll see at least a few familiar faces when she starts school.”

  Grace slowly put the list back on the table. “I— You all . . . I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything,” Nate said. “I’ll run out and pick her up at one every day after lunch. I go right by there on my way back to work, so you won’t have to leave the office.”

  Sarah added, “She can ride home with you when she’s done. She’ll be safe and busy, and except when she’s helping Ava, she’ll be somewhere close by, so you can check on her at any time.”

  Grace’s eyes were shiny. “I can’t let you do this.”

  “You’ll hurt our feelings if you say no,” Ava said.

  “It’ll be good for Daisy,” Sarah added.

  “And it’ll let Linda spend more time with Mama G,” Kat said.

  Grace pressed her hand to her cheek. After a moment, her eyes bright with tears, she looked at Sarah. “You knew about this during our ride this morning.”

  “I did, but I didn’t want to say anything until we were all together. This is a gift from the whole town, Grace. All you have to do is say yes.”

  “I—” Grace swiped at her eyes and looked at the people sitting around the table as if she were just seeing them for the very first time.

  Finally, she met Sarah’s gaze. “I can’t say no. Daisy will love this.” And in the softest, warmest voice Sarah had ever heard Grace use, she said, “Thank you.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Grace

  Grace pulled her car into the driveway and climbed out. Things were amazingly good. The committee meeting had gone even better than she’d hoped, and the offer to help with Daisy—Grace’s eyes clouded with tears once again. The town’s offer of help had been so generous, and so needed. Grace couldn’t help feeling . . . hopeful. Yes, that’s what it was. She felt hopeful. And maybe even a little happy.

  It was funny, but she’d thought she’d never feel that way again, at least not until she’d moved back to Charlotte. That just goes to show how little I know myself.