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The curiosity about the empty space at the table was killing me, but fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too much longer. I’d only taken a few sips of coffee when a tall man I didn’t recognize came up to the table. Everett stood and shook his hand, then looked at me and gestured to me.
“This is Wendy, the woman I was telling you about,” he said.
“Hello, Wendy,” the man said in a lilting accent I quickly recognized as French Canadian.
“Hi,” I said.
“Wendy,” Everett said, “this is Gerard. He’s our new surveyor, and I’ve asked him to teach you to survey.”
The words hit me but didn’t quite sink in. I continued to stare at Everett with no real reaction. I noticed Everett looking back at me, his eyebrows gradually lifting as he waited for me to say something.
“To teach me to survey?” I asked.
Repeating what he had just said was apparently the best I could come up with as I continued to work on processing what he was saying.
“Yes,” Everett said. The waitress came back at that second and asked if we were ready to order. The guys ordered, and I ordered something but wasn’t sure what. She walked away, and Everett turned his attention back to me. “You have a lot of potential, Wendy. I’ve seen it since you first came to work with us. Having two surveyors has always been the goal, so I want to give you the opportunity. Gerard here has a lot of experience, and he’ll be able to teach you everything he knows.”
I nodded, doing my best not to let my jaw drop. For all my worrying and coming up with every awful scenario I could, this lunch was turning out to be a good thing. The streak continued when the waitress returned, and I found out I’d managed to order the cheeseburger I had a hankering for. The three of us fell into conversation about the company and what getting trained to survey would mean.
I was still floating when we finished eating and were getting ready to leave. As I headed for the door, I heard someone calling out for us to wait. I turned around and saw the tall, tattooed guy from the kitchen coming toward us. I thought one of the guys might have ordered something to go and he was bringing it to them, but he stepped up to me and held out a bag.
“A cookie and a slice of my famous lemon pie. Congratulations.”
He smiled and walked away without another word. I just nodded and walked out of the diner feeling like a zombie. I figured I would think more about that interaction later when I was done freaking out about this new development.
7
FINN
It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I hadn’t even thought about how she might react to it. Hell, I didn’t even think about how I was going to react to it.
When Wendy accepted the bag of treats, her expression was one of overwhelming happiness, which I was glad for. I wondered if it was just a pile-on, though, something she wouldn’t think about later. She might just go home and wonder how she ended up with a bag of treats, completely blocking out the memory of me in the excitement of her promotion.
I hoped she didn’t.
As I continued working, I shook my head at myself. Sure, I had been known to make people treats before if something notable happened and I heard about it. Former coworkers had gotten little things from me for getting engaged or having a baby or passing an exam or whatever. Several had gotten a nice little snack from me for getting a raise or a promotion too. But rarely did I ever do that for customers.
It might be a little different, Wendy working for Everett, who was Helen’s partner, but I didn’t think the six degrees of separation game counted when giving away food. Still, I didn’t think Helen would mind either. I had enough reasonable expectation of control that I could give away something once in a while.
Besides, she seemed like she needed a perk-up. She’d seemed apprehensive and almost standoffish with the waitresses, like she knew they talked about her behind her back. I had seen her over the weekend with her toddler, the cute little guy with the light blond hair. She only wanted to talk to Janet.
I was also probably a bit struck by her looks. I couldn’t deny that part of it. For someone who had the chutzpah to go work at a logging company with a bunch of guys, Wendy was a knockout. With sandy-blonde hair kept somewhat short and a curvy, strong figure, she had the body of a former athlete. She wasn’t a waifish, dainty doll. She was all woman, everywhere. And she was absolutely stunning.
