What'd I get myself into

"What!?" Amber exclaimed. She whipped around just in time to see Lauren place a thick, red book on the checkout counter.

"Something tells me that's not in large print," Cole chuckled.

He started walking up to the counter where an old woman was helping Lauren. Lauren smiled when she noticed him come over.

"Hey Cole," she exclaimed running up to give him a hug at the same time. Lauren looked up at him, "I really, really like the kid's section. It's so much cooler than the one on Tenth Street!"

"Thanks, Lauren! Maggie told me I should change some things so I decided to start in the children's section. What do you think of the chalkboard wall," Cole asked.

"It's so cool! I already drew a picture on it and signed it and everything," Lauren said with a smile.

"Wow, that's amazing! Now I have a Lauren original! I'll never wash that chalkboard again! Remember me when you hit the big times," Cole exclaimed.

"I'd never forget you!" Lauren exclaimed in between the giggles over Cole's swooning.

Cole smiled. "That's nice to hear, kiddo. Now, you want to tell me why such a little girl is buying such a big book," he asked, gesturing to the red book Lauren had placed near the register a couple minutes ago.

"I was wondering the same thing," Amber said, finally coming over to join the group forming near checkout.

"Hello Amber," the old woman said sweetly.

"Hey Maggie! How're you doing," Amber asked.

"Just great dear, now that you're here to keep Cole in line," Maggie said with a smile.

"Hey! What'd I do?" Cole said feigning innocence, "I'm just a poor, young bookshop owner who may or may not have upset a customer."

"Cole, what did you do," Amber asked with a sigh.

"First, I would like to say it was all in innocent fun and furthermore, she deserved it," Cole said.

Maggie just gave him a knowing look, while Lauren couldn't handle the suspense.

"What happened, Cole? I want to know too," the girl cried out.

"A very pretty young lady came in earlier today and asked for help finding a book along with my phone number," Cole simply stated.

"Did you give it to her," Lauren asked.

"Well," he said. "I gave her a number."

"Boy, you are not helping your case by beating around the bush!" Maggie went ahead and explained, "I will say that this otherwise friendly looking girl was being a little too hands on than I like to see a young lady behaving; but, Cole gave her the number for an Italian sausage factory!"

"Well, that's what she seemed to be interested in," Cole said in defense.

Amber coughed to cover up her laughter.

"What's so wrong about that," Lauren asked innocently.

Amber and Cole tried to cover up there laughter, while Maggie just shook her head.

"It'll make sense when you're older dear," Maggie said to the girl. "Though, for your sake I hope it's still a long ways away."

Cole cleared his throat and did his best not to look at Amber knowing full well she'd make him start laughing again.

"Anyways, I believe Lauren was just about to tell us about this book," Cole stated, trying to stop anymore innocent questions from being asked as to avoid the girl's parents' wrath.

Lauren grinned, "Amber said she was going to read me any book I picked out; so, I wanted to get a long one. Ms. Maggie told me where to look!"

"Oh," said Amber looking at Maggie with questions in her eyes. "And might I ask where would that be?"

"In the back of the adult section! I found this one next to something about war in peace," Lauren said excitedly. "Wait until you see the pictures in this thing! It should be awesome!"