Read Online The Journal: Fault Line (The Journal Book 5) by Deborah D. Moore - Free Book Online Page A

vandalism and theft. I understand people are
going to get hungry, and they will do anything to get food for
their families, and I don’t want them smashing my windows to get
it. I do plan on reopening all the stores once things settle
down. That might not be for weeks, even months, and I want my
places intact.”
    “What are you going to do?” Christine asked,
taking a bite of the toast she had made for them. The loaf of bread
she had picked up the other night was quickly dwindling.
    “That’s why I’m here. I’m hoping you could
give me some fresh ideas.”
    Christine thought about it while she got the
coffee pot to refill their cups. “People can’t steal if you don’t
have anything.”
    “I’ve thought about that. I don’t like the
idea of good food going to waste though. There’s a great deal of
perishable food in each store and we sure can’t eat forty loaves of
bread before it all goes stale. Then there is everything in the
coolers: milk, ice cream, eggs, things like that.”
    “People also can’t steal your stuff if you
give it to them. What if you give away all those perishable items,
would that satisfy people enough to keep them away from the
stores?”
    He thought about that for a minute. “And I
can regulate how much I give by how much they see. Christine,
that’s brilliant!” he beamed. “I also want to give my employees a
chance to get some of the stock too. After all, they mean more to
me than strangers.”
    “You have three stores. What if you divide
what’s on the shelves between two stores and move all extra stock
to the third store, that way no one will see what you really
have.”
    “I can let the employees have their pick of
one store, then move anything left to the next store and open it to
the public. Once the shelves are picked clean, I can open the
blinds so it will be obvious there’s nothing left. I like this, and
it just might work.”
    “What’s your plan of action now?” she asked,
thinking of that kiss and feeling warm inside.
    “First would be to decide which store for
which group.”
    “What about which store to keep your stock
at?” she asked.
    “That’s easy. The Spring Hill store, since
that’s where I live.”
    “You live in one of your stores?” she raised
a finely sculpted eyebrow.
    “It was my first store. To work it, I
converted the upstairs into an apartment so I could be there all
the time. It isn’t much, a bedroom, a bath, and an open living area
with a kitchenette. It’s comfortable and has served me well these
past few years since I don’t need much space.”
    “That makes sense.” With a gleam in her eye
Christine said, “I’ll be right back.”
    Trevor busied himself making more toast, and
noticed how low the bread bag was, instantly realizing how much he
wanted to take care of this new girl in his life.
    When she returned, Christine had a sketch pad
and a box of colored pencils. She quickly drew a series of roads in
black and drew three squares in purple to represent the different
stores.
    “Spring Hill is between stores two and three
and a bit to the north,” she tapped the one square and put a “1”
inside the lines. Trevor took the pencil from her and put a “2” at
Main Street and a “3” at Exit 31, recreating the order he’d
acquired the stores.
    “If we use a green pencil to designate
perishables, blue for liquid and non-perishables like bottled
water, beer, wine and so on, and red for back room stock, how would
you divide what you have?” She laid the three pencils in front of
him.
    He picked up the green pencil and drew a line
from store #1 to #2 and to #3, then from #2 to #3, then put an
arrow to indicate the direction of flow.
    Christine looked at the lines. “Explain.”
    “We split the stuff from Spring Hill between
the two, and after the employees take what they want, we take the
rest to the remaining store.”
    “Okay, I understand that. Wouldn’t it be
better to have the Main Street store the one open to