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“Hi.” I reached for the baking dishes she had stacked on top of each other. “Let me grab those.”
“Thanks.” Megan released them to me and went up on her tiptoes to brush her lips across mine. “Hi, back.”
If I hadn’t had the dishes, I would have followed up and made the greeting last longer, but given the houseful of guests, it was probably just as well that I didn’t. “I think everyone’s in the kitchen. You ready for tomorrow?”
Megan groaned and waggled her hand from side to side. “Ish? We’re as ready as we’re going to be. I checked with some of the other shops on the street and decided to go ahead and open two hours earlier than usual for Black Friday. No one’s doing any super early morning doorbusters, thank goodness, but opening at eight is still not high on my list of exciting ways to spend the day after Thanksgiving.”
I chuckled and set the dishes on the counter. “The joy of retail.”
“You know it.” Megan shook her head, then brightened. “But I have three new employees. They’re all going to come in and work for part of the day, so it shouldn’t be as crazy as it might have been otherwise. At this point, I’m so ready for massive numbers of customers, I’m going to be disappointed if we don’t get them.”
“Well, I’m praying you do.” Kayla beamed at Megan. “And I’m so excited for you having employees again.”
“Me, too.” Austin nodded to underscore his words. “You were headed toward burnout. Again.”
Megan shrugged, but she didn’t deny it.
I was also glad, but that joy was tempered somewhat by knowing that from now until the new year was going to be her busy season. Which meant our relationship wasn’t her priority, even if it might be mine.
“All the food is ready. And it smells wonderful.” Mom looked around at the gathering of my friends and beamed. “Should we eat?”
I could get behind that. “Let’s. I thought we could set up a buffet here on the counter and then I have the table set in the dining room.”
There were murmurs of assent and before long, everyone had pulled together to set up the serving area so we could all fill our plates.
Mom glanced at me. “Cody, since you’re the host, why don’t you pray and you can carve the turkey.”
My eyebrows lifted. “I’ll pray, definitely, but you should carve. You’re much better at it.”
Everyone chuckled, but I was gratified to see Mom’s cheeks pink with pleasure. She nodded.
I held out my hand to Megan and the other to Mom. Before long, we stood in a loose circle, holding hands, and I bowed my head.
“Dear Jesus, thank You. Thank You for this group of friends. For my mom. For the blessings we all have in You. Bless this food to our bodies, and our bodies to Your service. In Your name, amen.” I squeezed Megan’s hand and added to my prayer in my thoughts.Thank You for Megan. Help me to know how to show her just how much I love her.
26
MEGAN
“Great job, guys. Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you.” I offered each of my new employees a high five. They laughed, but joined in. I sighed. What I wanted—more than anything else—was to sit down and take off my shoes. “Go home. Get some sleep. I’ll see Linda tomorrow morning at nine thirty, right?”
Linda nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
I fought a wince. The girl was a high school junior and she ma’amed and sirred everyone. Which was super polite and seemed to go over well with the customers, but it made me feel old.
“I really am fine with everyone calling me Megan. If it’s comfortable for you, of course.”
Linda winced. “I’ll try. My parents have drilled it into me for years.”
I chuckled. “It’s a good habit. For the rest of you, I’m still hammering out the schedule and I’ll shoot an email by the end of tomorrow letting you know your hours for next week. I don’t see any reason you can’t get the schedule you all requested. I just need to put it on the grid and make sure it’s got the coverage we need. Okay?”
Everyone murmured assent. They said their goodbyes and made their way to the front of the store. I unlocked the door to let them out and relocked it behind them before blowing out a breath. I had a few things thathadto be done as part of closing the store, but I wasn’t going to spend time on any of the “would be nice to do” items.
I was beat.
A knock on the door made me jump. I spun and the spike of adrenaline dissipated as I spotted Cody.
I put one hand over my chest as I unlocked the door to let him in. “Way to freak a girl out.”
