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“Good,” she said. “But it’s not all bad. I don’t want to make it seem like I hate everything. I really do love my job.”
“I know you do. And you’re amazing at it.”
“Thanks,” she said. “There’s actually a promotion coming up soon, and I really hope I get. But I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to jinx it.”
I laughed as she made the gesture of locking up her mouth and throwing away the key.
“Well, speaking of promotions,” I said.
“Yes?” she asked, reaching for another slice.
“I just found out that Everett wants me to learn how to do surveying,” I said. “He hired a really experienced surveyor, and he’s having him teach me. It’ll mean more money.”
Deana’s eyes widened. “That’s incredible! Congratulations! I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m really excited. I’ve been wanting to take on more responsibility and do more with the crew, but I didn’t want to really hope for it because I didn’t want to get crushed. I can barely believe it’s happening. He told me over lunch at the diner.”
“You are the best thing that’s happened to that logging company.”
I laughed. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“I am. And I’m glad they are finally really recognizing it.”
I started to tell her about the sexy tatted-up cook who handed over the lemon pie that turned out to be nearly orgasmic, but I stopped myself. For some reason, I wanted to hold that close. Besides, it wasn’t like anything else happened. He just gave me a couple of treats to congratulate me. It wasn’t really flirting. There wasn’t any need to bring it up.
I didn’t think.
Besides, I didn’t have time for hot cooks.
9
FINN
I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about cute logging company girls. Not with Helen coming back from maternity leave. She texted me while I was at Gerry’s, letting me know she was planning on coming back in a week and we were going to sit down and go over some ideas she had while she was sitting around her house. I knew that being a new mother was a hard job, but it was extremely Helen-ish to refer to it as “sitting around her house” and for her to have spent any downtime when she actually did end up with thinking about work rather than sleeping.
I went into work on Monday feeling refreshed and happy about having a burgeoning close friend in town in Gerry. He and I stayed up until late at night as he opened up about his former relationship that he earlier said he didn’t want to talk about yet. I helped keep the conversation light, and we both passed out around sunrise. I slept in on Sunday until I heard him tooling around in the kitchen, and then we ate breakfast, went for a hike through the woods near his place, and made plans to hang out again soon.
By the time I got back home Sunday night, I was exhausted and got to bed earlier than normal, meaning I was at work Monday about an hour earlier than normal. I spent the extra time thinking about what I wanted to bring to the table with my meeting with Helen later in the week. I had a few ideas and needed to try them out before I suggested they hit the menu, and I spent a little bit of time working on one of the breakfast ideas, making four versions of it with slight modifications.
Rebecca was the first one in, and we sat down at one of the tables to taste the four dishes. She was always excited when I made experimental breakfasts on the days she was coming in early. I enjoyed making them for her, because she knew Helen well and helped me get an idea of which ones she would like.
“Do you think she is going to add this one?” Rebecca asked, pointing at the waffle and lemon pie concoction with her fork.
“I think so,” I said. “Maybe. I like it. The lemon curd sells it in a way as a dessert as well as a breakfast item, I think. I just don’t know what to pair it with.”
“I’m sure Helen will help you figure it out,” she said, stuffing another bite into her mouth. “I am so glad I came in early today.”
“I put you on the schedule early on purpose,” I said. “I knew I was going to need someone to help me test items and had planned on doing it today before I even knew Helen was coming back so soon.”
“Aww, you chose me? Not Janet?” Rebecca asked.
“Well, you know Helen best,” I said. “And also, Janet tells me when she hates things in a way that makes me wonder if I should ever cook at all.”
“You don’t mean that,” Rebecca laughed. “She’s just good at teasing you.”
