Anna couldn’t erase the smile from her lips. She’d dreamt again last night. It was the same dream she’d had before, but this time she recognized the man’s face. It was clearly Joseph’s. Chills had traveled up her spine and arms the second she awoke. And now, as she tried to concentrate on the customers in the store, they’d returned. She felt so giddy, as though she could run out into the snow and turn cartwheels.
Joe had dropped her off this morning and said he had errands to run in town again. This time she’d agreed to have lunch with him. She did wonder what business he had in town, but she didn’t want to be nosy. She’d asked a couple of questions, but all his answers had been vague. It seemed Joseph still held some secrets he was not willing to reveal.
Anna glanced around the store. Where did all these people come from? There had to be at least twice as many as yesterday.
“Excuse me, Ma’am.”
Anna looked up at the forty-something Englisch woman in front of her. “May I help you?”
The woman nodded and pointed to Mammi’s Christmas quilt. “Is that one of the quilts that will be discounted during your After-Thanksgiving Sale?”
With a puzzled look, Anna asked, “After-Thanksgiving Sale? I’m sorry, I don’t know what–”
Linda quickly approached. “Anna, I’m sorry to interrupt but will you go help the customers over in the corner? They’re asking questions about your faceless Amish dolls and I thought you could answer them more accurately than I can, since you make them.”
“Yes, but this woman was asking about a Thanksgiving Sale?” Anna referred the lady to Linda.
“After-Thanksgiving Sale,” the customer corrected. “I was wondering if that quilt was going to be on sale.”
Linda shooed Anna away to help the other customers while she waited on the woman. Anna wondered what After-Thanksgiving Sale the lady had been talking about. She hadn’t heard anything about a sale from Linda. No doubt the lady probably got them mixed up with one of the other stores in town that participated in some Black Friday sale. But they’d never participated in that madness.
Anna glanced up at the clock and noticed it was almost noon. Where had the day gone? She approached the other customers near her handmade dolls. “May I help you?”
“Are you the one who makes these adorable little dolls?” a woman asked.
“Yes.”
“I see you only have four here. Do you have any more in the back?”
“No. That is all we have available,” Anna replied apologetically. “But I could make more if you need them.”
“I was hoping to purchase a set for each of my granddaughters. I’ll need at least five sets.” The woman smiled. “Can you make them with blue and green clothes? Those are my favorites.”
Anna mentally counted how long it would take her to make them. “When do you need them?”
“I’ll need them for Christmas, but I’d rather not wait until the last minute.” The woman opened up her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Anna waited patiently while watching the lady tap the phone’s screen several times. “My calendar,” the woman explained. “Is two weeks enough time?”
“Two weeks will be fine.”
“That’s wonderful. Where do I pay for them?”
Anna looked up to see Joe standing at the register ringing up customers. She smiled and walked the customer over to the counter. “This man here can help you.”
Joseph winked at Anna. “Linda put me to work. I guess we can do lunch later, jah?”
Anna smiled at Joe’s use of Pennsylvania Deitsh. It seemed he’d been speaking it more lately and it warmed Anna’s heart. “Jah.”
“It looks like more customers just walked in. You’d better go help them,” he suggested, while receiving the customer’s payment.
Anna nodded and walked toward another group of inquisitive customers. This is crazy! I’ve never seen so many people in here before.
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“Whew! I thought the customers would never stop coming,” Anna said as she took a seat next to Joe behind the sales counter.
Linda rotated the key in the lock and finally turned the sign to CLOSED, thirty minutes after normal closing time. “I think that was the best day we’ve ever had!” Linda said enthusiastically.
Joe winked at Linda behind Anna’s back. “Just wait until the After-Thanksgiving Sale. I bet we get even more customers.”
“Whoever had the idea to come up with that was brilliant,” Anna smiled.
Linda’s eyes widened. “Oh, Anna, I didn’t tell you. Your grandmother’s quilt sold.”
“It did? Really?” Anna glanced over at the quilt still hanging in the window. “Why is it still here then?”
“The lady already paid for it, but she won’t pick it up until Friday. She didn’t want to take the chance of missing it. I went ahead and gave her the sale price,” Linda said.
“Sale price? What is the sale price?” A worried frown crossed Anna’s brow.
“Six hundred-fifty dollars.” Linda smiled.
Anna’s jaw dropped. “What? That’s the sale price? But that’s more than what we were asking for in the first place!”
Joe perked up and smiled. “Go look at the tag.”
Anna rushed to the quilt and turned the paper hang tag around. “This says Thirteen hundred dollars!” Anna looked at Linda in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Linda began, “I had a marketing genius come into the store a while back. He offered to do a free promotion for me. When he looked at the items in our store, he noticed many of them were underpriced. The gentleman agreed to do some research and price our items according to our competitors’ prices.”
“But we don’t have any competitors,” Anna reasoned.
“We do online. Quilts like your grandmother’s sell for up to two thousand dollars, so six hundred dollars is a really good deal.” Linda glanced down at the clipboard in her hand. “Which reminds me. You said your grandmother has more quilts, right?”
Anna nodded.
“We’re going to need them,” Linda said. “Can you bring in at least four?”
Anna’s brow shot up. “Do you think we might sell that many?”
“Who knows? But I’d like to be prepared just in case.”
Joe piped in. “I think that’s a good idea.”
Linda turned to Joe. “Do you think you can come back and work on Friday? We’re going to need all the help we can get. Besides, I think the female customers enjoy seeing a man in the store. I can tell Anna does,” she teased.
A beautiful blush darkened Anna’s cheeks when she caught Joe’s smile.
“We’d better get home, Anna. We don’t want your grandmother to worry,” Joe warned.
“Can you two come in an hour early on Friday? I’d like to rearrange the store a little bit and find places for your grandmother’s quilts,” Linda requested.
“Jah,” Anna agreed. “I can’t wait to tell Mammi about her Christmas quilt!”