"Not the open-your-heart-to-strangers type, eh?  Me neither, really, but thought I'd offer to be a friendly ear,"  James said, relieved that she'd said yes.  It could have gone badly, he knew, and it was too easy to go from being the quiet guy who owned the bookstore to the quiet creepy guy who owned a bookstore and liked to hit on younger women.  People might start asking questions, and then his stint in prison might come up, and he didn't want to go down that road.<br/><br/>"As for getting to know me, small towns like this tend to frown on outsiders.  Even here in Oregon, which is nice; you should see some of the towns I passed through out on the east coast.  Very 'Easy Rider' kinds of places."  He looked down at the book.  "Oh, yeah, nine hundred for the book.  Cash, credit, check, soul, whatever's convenient."  He said it with a smile, but as soon as he did he thought that the 'soul' part might be a bit much.<em>You're going to ruin this before it gets going, bozo.</em><br/><br/>"So, what day would be good for you?"