“Congratulations to you and Dani,” Landon said as an oddly hollow feeling overtook him. His twin brother was getting married. “That’s big news.”
“I couldn’t be happier. We want to do it soon so we can get busy having a bunch of kids.”
“That’s not happening,” Dani said into the phone.
“It’s on, baby. You promised me seven.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Don’t worry, Dani,” Hannah said. “We believe you.”
“Hey!” Lucas said.
“Welcome to the family, Dani,” Landon added. “We’ll be here to support you as you put up with him.”
“I’ll remember this when your turn comes,” Lucas said. “We’ve gotta go call Gramps to tell him the news, even though Dad probably already told him—and took credit for the whole thing. Talk to you guys later.”
“Love you all,” Hannah said.
“We love you, too,” Lucas said. “Later.”
Landon was convinced his “turn” was a long way off, especially in light of the fact that he couldn’t seem to move past Go with Amanda.
“That’s some big news,” Hannah said after she put down the phone.
“For sure.”
“Why do you look like you just lost your best friend?”
“Because I kinda did.”
“Nah, that’s not true. You guys will still be tight.”
“It won’t be the same.”
“I still talk to Hunter every day now that we’re both married.”
“You do?”
“Every single day. He stops by to see Callie a couple of times a week, or we meet for lunch. We see him and Megan for dinner at least once a week. We make an effort, Landon.”
“That seems to be the word of the day.” He kissed his sister’s cheek and the baby’s head. “You ladies have a nice day.”
“Good luck. Don’t mess this up. I don’t want to deal with your pouting ass if this doesn’t work.”
“My ass doesn’t pout.”
“Get. Out.”
“I’m going. Don’t get up. I can see myself out. And, Han, thanks.”
“Any time, little brother.”
On the way to his truck, Landon stopped to give Dexter another scratch on the top of his cute little moose head. Was that where moose liked to be scratched? He would ask Hannah that the next time he saw her. She was a bit of a moose whisperer. Fred, the town moose, was like a poodle when she was around, and now she had Dexter eating out of the palm of her hand, too.
In a family full of odd characters, Hannah fit right in.
Landon got into his big black pickup truck and backed out of his sister’s driveway. He needed to get to work at the farm, and after that, he had a date to prepare for.
Chapter Five
“God has his plans and his reasons. Sometimes we are supposed to go through things so that we learn lessons.”
—Dolly Parton
That morning, Amanda participated in a conference call with work, thankful she’d been allowed to decline the face-to-face option since she didn’t feel like dealing with hair straighteners or makeup. Thankfully, her boss was also her mother, Joyce, who had started the meeting by welcoming Amanda back and asking how she was doing—even though Amanda had already spoken to her before the meeting. The Q&A was for the rest of their team.
“I’m doing okay,” Amanda said. “Still hobbling around on crutches and trying to shake off the near-death experience. But otherwise, I’m hanging in there.”
“I know I speak for all of us when I tell you how thankful we are that you’re on the mend,” Joyce said. “You gave us a heck of a scare.”
I gave myself a heck of a scare, she thought. “Thank you for the kind thoughts and the flowers and sending the new computer and phone. I promise to get back to work next week.”
“Take your time and come back when you’re ready.”
Their colleagues had been so wonderful to Amanda since the fire. “I really appreciate the support.”
“How close is the Green Mountain Country Store to officially rolling out the product line?” one of the salesmen asked.
“Close,” Amanda said. “They were waiting to coordinate with their new catalog, which is in final stages, and next week, I’ll finally be training their sales force.”
“Excellent. We’re all looking forward to seeing how it goes there. It’s a great test for markets in smaller towns.”
“We think it’ll do very well here. We have the full support of the Abbott family, particularly the CEO, Lincoln Abbott, who’s backed the line from the get-go.”
Amanda was determined to prove he’d been right to go all in with their products.
They moved on to other items on the agenda, including the upcoming trade show season that was a big part of their business. The ten-member sales team took turns attending the shows and doing product demonstrations in the hope that retailers would choose to carry their line.
That’s how she’d landed the Green Mountain Country Store account. She’d first met Landon’s brother Colton at a trade show in New York after he’d been sent by Lincoln. Later, she’d found out that Lincoln had also been trying to help along Colton’s relationship with Lucy by sending him to New York, where Lucy had lived at the time.
From what Amanda had been told, Lincoln had faced an uphill battle in convincing his business-partner children that the line could be successful in their store and in the catalog. Amanda was certain that Linc had been right. She expected their product line to be very popular at the store—and especially in the catalog.
Funny how much had happened since she first met Colton in New York. Now she was staying with his brother after another of his brothers had nearly been killed saving her. Speaking of Lucas, she was long overdue to thank him in person for saving her life. Maybe she could get Landon to take her to see him later.
She glanced at the clock on the stove.
Landon ought to be home by now.
She immediately dismissed that thought. Was that what it’d come to? Her life revolving around his comings and goings? Well, sort of… There was no need to worry about him driving on mountain roads, as he was an expert at such things, but since the fire, she felt anxiety over the dumbest things. Add Landon being late coming home from a night shift to the list of things that had triggered her lately.
When noon came and went with no sign of him, she figured out he’d probably gone to work at the tree farm for the day.
Hours later, she was standing by the window, watching for him, when the big black truck made the turn into the driveway.
Amanda breathed a sigh of relief. In this cell phone wasteland known as Butler, Vermont, it was stressful not to have a way to check on someone when they were running late. Would she have checked on him if she could have? Well, probably…
How long would this new sense of impending doom last? She had no idea, but as Landon came into the cabin, bringing the scents of pine and woodsmoke with him, she was pouring herself a cup of coffee and trying to act nonchalant. He didn’t need to know that she’d worried about him all day. In the seconds she had left before she had to talk to him, she was determined to shake off the freaking doom. Enough already with that nonsense.