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February first. The first day of the ‘month of love’ and just two short weeks until Valentine’s Day. The month always seemed never end for Jessie but it was mainly because of her mother. At twenty-six Jessie knew full well that her mother wished for her only daughter, Jessie, to be married and have at least one child by now but no man had ever stuck around more than a few months. Not that Jessie really cared. But her mother really did and she voiced her displeasure every time she called home. Jessie was just hanging up after just such a conversation. The brunette shook her head and pulled over the box of February decorations. Unlike the other boxes stored in her basement, February was a big mixed bag. Most of it was Valentines stuff but there was a stuff Gopher with a sign that read ‘beware the shadow’ that went by the register, and some President’s Day stuff too.

The gopher was the simplest thing to deal with and Jessie quickly grabbed a bunch of red and white paper hearts. A bit of tape would secure them to the sides of bookcases and to the windows, the cupids would be hung on the ceiling along with some hearts as well, and the bright garland would be wound around the banister leading up to her apartment on the second floor. Jessie found it amusing that the hearts would be mixed with the stars hanging over the astronomy section, a cupid would likely look like its riding the paintbrush over in the art area, the dragons could be chasing the hearts in the fantasy area, and as soon as she was done hanging stuff she would go and rearrange the books so the more ‘romance driven’ books would be the ones facing the customers. The presidents in the history section though got to skip the pink hearts of Valentine’s Day and instead got party hats and plastic birthday cakes.

Sometimes Jessie wondered if she got a bigger kick out of the way the store was decorated then the people who came in to buy books. But the looks on the kids faces as they realize that the whole store was decorated was priceless… and watching the adults finally realize that each decoration marks the section was hilarious.

Jessie had been hanging the last of the Valentine's Day decorations when she heard the bell over the door chime. She had a customer and since she was currently balanced precariously on a char trying to get a paper cupid to hang properly from the ceiling there was little she could do. Once the cherub was dangling from the clear fishing line properly she climbed down from the chair and went back to the front.

Who ever had come in had already made it into the stacks. Shrugging Jessie picked up a few books that needed to be re-shelved and headed into the shelves herself. She was in the plants section checking the small potted plants and shelving the last of her books, a guide to perennials, when she heard someone humming. Curious Jessie followed the sound until she spotted a young woman with long brown hair. "Hello. What tune was that?" She had been trying to place it for the last few moments as she searched for the singer but was coming up empty.

“Oh yes. I’ve heard that song before.” Jessie wouldn’t have been able to place the group or even the lyrics since most music that she listens to normally becomes a background noise. “I’m more of a fan of classical or soft music but Rascal Flatts is a good group too.” It always seemed like that one of their songs is on the radio when she ‘surfaced’ from a particularly good book or when she was done focusing on a particularly complicated stitch when knitting. The store normally had soft music playing, what a lot of people termed ‘elevator music’ but what Jessie thought of as more classical. But the part timers that Jessie hired would often play their own music although softly since heavy rock would really mess with people if it was blared.

In a moment of quiet Jessie took a second to see if any song was playing over the store’s hidden speakers… she didn’t hear anything which meant that the radio must have been turned off. She tried to remember if she had ever turned it on. When she first comes down in the morning the silence is so profound that it wasn’t worth turning on the radio to break the silence and then she would get distracted shelving books, checking the lists of books to order, and the other various things Jessie did to try to keep the store running smoothly. I really need to check on that order of the soon to be published books. she thought to herself.

Her tangent didn’t last more than a second before she was pulled out of her head by another question… a book related question. It was quite visible that she perked up. Anything to do with books was the main way to get her to open up. “Well the last time I tried to bake a pie I got a prize from the fair.” Jessie remembered that pie, it was burnt and the reactions of the judges made the whole crowd burst out laughing. “It was for most creative. But the second pie ended with the fire department showing up again.” Jessie glanced around and nodded to herself. The young woman had found the short section on cooking. The butler stand, Garcon, had a cookie book open to the valentine’s cookies section. There were miniature toy mixers used as book ends. Plastic fruit and vegetables were by the ‘healthy’ books while plastic pastries and cookies were used for the deserts section. “We should have at least a few books on pies, I know we have plenty of desert books that have pie sections at least.” She walked over to the proper section… right by Garcon actually, and began to check the books. She was distracted briefly when the other woman seemed to digress back to the decision on music. Distracted, Jessie answered in a offhand manor, “It’s not as strange as you think since Jackson will occasionally play some when he is on shift.”

“Instrumental mostly. It’s just something to have on the radio as I read a new book or shelving the books or working on the scarf for a friend. It’s background noise.” Jessie shrugged, “I’m more interested in a newly published book then new music.” For the brunette it really was just background noise, like white noise. It was something to block out when her focus turned to something else. Oddly it helped her focus easer then pure silence since she didn’t seem to jump from point to point or subject to subject. As a child they worried that Jessie might be ADD but found that she was just getting bored easily. The music seemed to help.

Jessie was focused on finding just the right pie cookbook when the other’s comment about a fair trickled through her mental argument about one book versus another. “I don’t know about the pie eating contest but in my case I think the ribbon was more for a joke since not one single judge could stand even a single bite of my pie.” She stared into space for a moment, “Not that I can really blame them. It was burnt but I tried to make it taste unique by mixing the sharp granny smith apples with the sweeter fuji apples. If the laughter of the crowd was any indication it wasn’t too good since the judges faces were kind of gaggy looking.” The friends who had taken her to the fair made fun of her for a good long while about trying to poison their high school principal, one of the judges. “Since I don’t really eat too many desserts I haven’t really made any more pies other than those two.” The first, for the contest and the second, which ended as a giant hockey puck. “Besides if I want pie I go to one of the local dinners since their pie is much better than anything I can make.” except that piece that ended up kicked all over the floor in its to go container Jessie silently added as she remembered one of the first times she ended up on the floor at Xander’s feet. It was a bit hard to believe it was on Pie day last year. That meant that she hadn’t yet been a knight for a full year yet since Pie day occurred the day after she became a knight.

“Jackson? He is one of the part timers I hire to work here in the store. He had a family thing so I’m working his shift for him.” Jessie shrugged and focused back on the books. Unbeknownst to Jessie, they were both having the same general thoughts as they both by passed the Martha Stewart books to go for the less well known ones. Jessie pulled out two books, she held out the first one. “The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by Emily and Melissa Elsen might have the type of pie you’re looking for. A Year of Pies sounds like it’s a good generic pie book for the whole year,” she said as she handed the second one to the other young woman as well. Jessie paused a moment and pulled out a third book. “Since you mentioned baking for a pie eating contest you might want to look at this one as well,” she said as she held Perfect Pies: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes from America’s Pie-Baking Chapion out.

((Book links: The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, A Year of Pies, Perfect Pies))

Jessie took a moment to answer the other woman’s question. While her lack of interest in desserts could be seen as watching her weight only Jessie knew that it was actually quite the opposite. As a knight she found that the fighting, training, and patrolling helped her lose weight much faster then was actually healthy. It wasn’t like the twenty six year old was overweight to begin with but now she found that she had to eat more then she use to in order to keep her weight up, as it was her doctor noticed the drop the last time she went in for a checkup. “I just tend to burn what I make, or it’s inedible.” Jessie brightened as she added, “The cookies I made last time were not bad, the ones that weren’t burnt that is.” Her poor cooking skills were pretty legendary among her friends. The food she could make always came out scary looking… but it was edible and in some cases it was pretty good, if Jessie did say so herself.

She smiled as all four books, the one the young woman selected and the three Jessie picked, were held in the other brunette’s hands. “Having a large selection of anything is always a good idea.” She looked around at her books. They were her friends and companions, and it pleased her to no end when someone found a book that suited their needs and they enjoyed as well. “If a flower store only sold carnations they would have a problem, just like if I only sold romances. It wouldn’t be as enjoyable as it is to find that one special book that you were looking for.” Jessie nodded, glad that it seemed the books had everything the young woman needed. “Well if you need more, or they don’t cover everything you need your welcome to come back.”

Jessie got up to head back to the main desk and register when the other brunette made the offer of dropping off some of her home made pie. “Oh, um…” She didn’t know what to say about that. What would be the proper trade to equal a slice of pie? Did it matter if it was homemade? That was something that she would have to think about but right now she knew she had to answer. “That would be very nice.” She added, “We hold something like a book club meeting every Monday after the store closes, you’re welcome to bring one of your pies then as well.” The invitation to the tea party had her mentally pausing once more. What did one talk of at a tea party? Attending might actually balance out any pie she brought over. Jessie never really understood why she felt the need to balance out the scales of fate by returning favor for favor but it made some things rather difficult to figure out. “A pie party sounds interesting. What exactly does one do at such a party?” A better understanding would make it easier to figure out how to repay the invention, if she actually went, or to figure out if attending such a gathering would be a way to repay something else.

"If we were all good at everything then there would be nothing new to learn." And for Jessie that would mean no more books which would be essentially the end of her world. "I stink at walking in heels." She tossed out in a off handed comment her mind thinking about how she was still having issues fighting, jumping, running... hell even walking in her uniform heeled boots. Before she could dwell on the topic of heels for more then a moment Jessie's mind was already off on another tangent.

The idea of a pie party seemed like a pretty enjoyable type of party. She might even be able to theme on of the book club meetings to be primarily pie related. They could discus pies mentioned in books, poems, short stories, and movies. Talk about how and what the pies represent, if anything. Compare various pies to characters and maybe even have a mini pie contest. Like the unofficial contest they already had but pie-centric rather then general snacks. "I wonder if tarts and turnovers are part of the pie 'family'?" She murmured to herself.

She was so the logistics of a having a pie party in the store that she nearly missed the woman's indication that she was ready to dig into her selection at home. "Oh, um, yes of course." The walk back to the counter was short as was the time to ring up the books. As Jessie bagged the books she slipped a business card into the cover page of the last book. "Here is the store's business card. It has our hours, phone number, and web site. If you find that these books aren't exactly what you need just give us a call or stop back in and I'll try to find you the book you want." The hunt for just the right kind of book always made Jessie happy.