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I nod, understanding exactly what she means. Summer probably makes most of her money over the summer, through big events, and that keeps the business afloat through the rest of the year.
“I’m glad it wasn’t catastrophic,” I reply and turn when I hear footsteps coming down the dock toward us. “Hey, Chase.”
“Can I go in?” Summer demands, springing up from her seat. “Please?”
“Yeah, the crew is packing it in for the day. You can go in and daydream all you want.”
“Yes.” She wraps her arms around Chase’s neck, plants a big kiss on him, and then runs off, headed for her new house.
“She’s excited,” Chase says and sets Lily, the French bulldog he’s holding, on the dock. “I don’t want to get her hopes up too high, but it looks like it’ll be finished by the end of next week.”
“That’s great.” I stand and grin at my younger brother. I’m fucking proud of him. He’s built exactly the life he wants here in our little town and out here at the ranch.
“There will be a party.” He grins and looks back at the house where Summer disappeared. “Because, of course, there will be.”
“It’ll be fun,” I reply and follow his gaze. “It’s a hell of a house. I love the wrap-around porch. The view of the sunsets will be fucking amazing.”
“We’ve already sat on it and watched the sunset,” he confirms with a nod. “Life is really fucking good, man.”
I glance at Jake, whose grin has to be a mile wide as he listens to us. “Yeah, it is great. Hey, when this is all done, I have a project for you.”
That grabs Chase’s attention. “What kind of project?”
“I want a new table, about three feet by three feet, that I can set up in the corner of my office so Jake and I can have breakfast in there, since we usually eat in there anyway.”
Jake’s gaze whips around to mine, his eyes wide. “We can sit on the couch or whatever.”
“A table would be nicer,” I reply with a shrug. “And Chase makes one hell of a nice one. What do you think?”
“I can do that,” Chase replies with a nod. “Give me a couple of weeks, and it’ll be done.”
“No hurry,” I assure him.
Yeah, life is fucking great.
CHAPTER THREE
POLLY
“We did awesome.” Katie, the youngest of my employees at sixteen, props her hands on her hips and grins at the rest of us. All four of my girls insisted on coming in today to help me finish arranging clothes and displays for our reopening tomorrow.
They wouldn’t even let me pay them. Well, Melissa didn’t seem to like that she was spending her Sunday here without getting paid, but she went along with the others. I assured her that she didn’t have to stay, but she insisted that she wanted to, so I dropped it. I think she didn’t like the idea of being left out.
All four of them waltzed in at ten this morning with coffees from Millie’s place and announced that they’d be helping until it was done. And I was so relieved because I still had so much to do.
“It looks so great,” Melissa agrees with a smile and points to a nearby rack. “I can’t wait to try on that pink dress.”
They discuss which clothes they’ll be buying for the summer, and I don’t butt in or complain at all. I offer a good discount so my employees can buy their clothes here, wear them at work, and when they’re not here, too. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing strategy.
“I have to go,” Jessica says as she slings her handbag over her shoulder. “I have to get the kids from my piece-of-shit ex and get them dinner. I have to call him a piece-of-shit now because I can’t do it in front of the children.”
“I have to go, too,” my fourth and final employee, Grace, adds. “My brother wants help in the vegetable garden. At least it’s light out until almost eleven at night, and we can do chores late.”
“Thank you all so much for helping me today.” I give them each a big hug. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be here well into the night, and now I can get some rest before tomorrow.”
“You do a lot for us,” Katie says and quickly checks her phone, shooting off a text faster than anyone else I’ve seen. How do her fingers move like that? “I’m just excited that school’s out so I can work more hours. You guys usually get to have all the fun.”
“I do believe that Katie is a workaholic,” Jessica says with a laugh.
