As for Maxine, she was a little more flexible. You could argue she was bad news herself and yet here she was making perfectly acceptable, non-murderous conversation with a fine young man. Fine being the operative word here. That he had this whole kicked puppy air about him helped. And hey, maybe she actually wanted to simply befriend the book shop owner this time. Stranger things had happened. His suggestion that she could have already run into a faerie and simply not notice made Maxine feel, at once, excited and stupid. "Of course I could!" She exclaimed, wide-eyed. How had she not considered this before? "Yes, I absolutely could have. Oh my, what a world we live in." She mused excitedly.
Hearing that this fine book enthusiast and his adorable dog might go hungry made Maxine almost pout. "We can't have that!" She remarked, shaken by the concept. All that subsided when Zach tried hard to conceal his look of utter surprise but didn't quite succeed. "Well, you ought to. Because you have mouths to feed and a wonderful establishment, and I," she pointed to herself, "have some money I'd like to invest. I would also not mind owning a book shop, even if only half of it." She leaned in closer with a smile. "I'd even let you choose which half."