“Nothing to see here, Fred. Move along.”
A male voice came from behind them. “No, Hannah. Get my daughter away from that moose. Right now.”
“Daddy is always spoiling our fun,” Hannah said to Callie, but she returned to the sidewalk as Nolan joined them.
“Come see Daddy, angel.”
Hannah transferred the baby to her father. “Don’t get her dirty.”
“I’d rather get her dirty than eaten by a moose.”
“He is not going to eat her. He loves her.”
Amanda wondered if they considered this conversation “normal.”
“Fred!” Hannah’s sharp command shifted the moose’s attention to her, which was a relief to Amanda. That stare was intimidating.
“Let Amanda cross the street. We like her. It’s all good.”
Fred let out a loud moo that made Amanda nearly jump out of her skin and took a step forward. And then another.
She let go of the breath she’d been holding as she watched him walk away, slowly, as if he was in no particular rush.
“I think you passed the test,” Hannah said.
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“My wife is stark raving nuts, in case you were wondering,” Nolan said.
“But he loves me anyway,” Hannah retorted, making a face at him.
“Someone’s gotta.”
They were too adorable for words, Amanda decided. “Thanks for helping me get his approval. I’m sure it was much more about you than me.”
“He does tend to follow my lead,” Hannah said in all seriousness. “Were you headed to the store?”
“I was. I’m hoping to find your dad there.”
“Callie and I just saw him in his office.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
Hannah waved Callie’s hand for her. “Say bye-bye to Auntie Amanda.”
“Bye, Callie,” Amanda said, touched to be given auntie status. Looking both ways for cars—and recalcitrant moose—Amanda crossed the street to the store, taking pains not to look at the blackened hulk of what remained of the inn next door. The place was crawling with workers cleaning up the debris.
She entered through the main doors and immediately felt calmer and more centered. The Green Mountain Country Store was one of the most magical places she’d ever been.
It would be hard to capture the essence of the place in mere words, but she looked forward to the challenge of using the personal experiences of people connected to the store to tell its story. She wandered through the toy department, past the household goods and the apothecary on her way upstairs to the offices, all the while wishing she had time to linger. The store drew her in like nowhere she’d ever been, and the thought of working there excited her.
Emma was eating lunch at her desk when Amanda walked into the reception area. “Hi there. How was the training?”
“It went very well.”
“I give you credit,” Emma said, flushing. “I’m not sure I could cover that topic with that audience.”
“Eh, I’m used to it. If you’ve seen one sex toy, you’ve seen them all.”
Emma laughed. “If you say so.”
“Is Linc available by any chance?”
“Sure. He’s in his office.”
“Thanks.”
“How’s the ankle?”
“Much better, thank goodness.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Amanda had started to walk away when she recalled that Emma had a daughter. “Your daughter…”
“What about her?”
“How old is she?”
“Just turned eleven. Why?”
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but at some point, my twelve-year-old daughter will be coming to live with me.”
“I did hear about that, and I’m happy for you even if the circumstances are tragic.”
“I know. I’ve been trying to keep that in mind as I think about having her with me. Maybe when Stella comes, we could get the girls together. She’ll need all the friends she can get.”
“I’d love that, and Simone would, too.”
“Great. Thank you.”
“Good luck with it all. If you need someone to talk to who understands girls that age, I’m right here.”
“I’ll absolutely take you up on that. Thank you.”
“Sure.”
Hunter came out of his office. “I thought I heard you. I wanted to tell you I found that keyboard we talked about. Would you like me to order it for you?”
“That’d be great. Can I give you my credit card?”
“I’ll order it through the store account and get you a good discount. You can pay for it when it arrives, if that works.”
“It does. Thank you so much. I can’t wait to be able to practice.”
“I’ll call you at Landon’s when it comes in.”
“Perfect. Thanks again.”
“No problem.”
Amanda went to Linc’s office and knocked on the door. “Hi there.”
“Amanda, hi. Come in.” Linc stood and gestured for her to have a seat. “The training seemed to go very well this morning. You did a wonderful job.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you were pleased.”
“Very much so. You handled their concerns like the pro you are.”
“It takes a minute, but once they realize these products aren’t that different from other health and wellness items, it does get easier for them to speak about them without getting embarrassed.”
“I appreciate your outstanding effort to help them see that. I think the product line will be a huge hit in our store and especially in the catalog.”
“I agree. What do you think of the idea of hiding the products in the store to make it a bit of a scavenger hunt to find them?”
“Brilliant. I talked to Wade about that, and he agrees.”
“I’ll make myself available to the sales team this week to work out any concerns or remaining issues.”
“And then what’s next for you?”
“I was hoping to discuss that with you.”
“I heard from Dani and from Landon that you’re interested in a position with our company.”
“I am. She mentioned the assistant manager job at the warehouse.”
“That’s open, but we have another thing coming up that I think might interest you even more.”
“What’s that?”
“Catalog director. Cameron and Lucy have overseen the first iteration of the catalog, but it’s going to be issued quarterly, so we’ll need fresh content and art for the cover with every new edition. With the first catalog hitting in September, we’re going to need Cam and Lucy focused on the website and e-commerce full time, which leaves us in need of someone to oversee the catalog going forward. Would that interest you?”
Amanda didn’t even have to think about it. “One hundred percent yes.”
Linc’s smile unfolded slowly across his handsome face. “You sure about that?”
They shared a laugh.
“It’s perfect. There’s nothing I’d rather do. I’ve been wanting to write more, and the kind of profiles I’ll be doing for the first catalog is the sort of thing I’m eager to do. That position would be a perfect fit for me.”