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Chapter Twenty-Two
In the morning, Kylie woke bleary eyed. She hadn’t got much sleep since her brain had been too busy flipping from happiness over the moments shared with Derek to guilt over those same moments and back again. She wasn’t ready to face the world, and yet she had a job interview to get to.
After showering and changing into one of her few business outfits left after the sale, she grabbed some coffee and toast and hit the road for Hampton. The day was sunny with little breeze and many of the trees along the road were leafy and green now. Kylie longed to open the car windows and enjoy the fresh air, but she had no desire to arrive at her interview with a mess of tangled hair.
Driving into Hampton, she thought back to all the trips into town she made as a teenager. Her and her friends would go to the movies at least once a month. It was significantly larger than Camden, having five high schools, a shopping mall, and an actual downtown strip. She drove down that very strip, which was bustling with office workers, coffee in hand and paying more attention to their phones then where they were going. There were some shoppers out, but it was still early for stores to be open.
She found a parking spot in front of a sweet little bakery with a retro red and white striped awning and lettering on the window that saidSweet Cheeks Café. A line started at the counter and went out the front door a few meters.
When she emerged from her car, she could instantly tell why. The mouth-watering aroma of baking bread and donuts filled the air, paired with the wafting scent of well-roasted coffee beans. It smelled heavenly, and she promised herself she would stop in after the interview.
The Kids Can Support Services office sat three buildings farther down the street and shared a front door with the cleanest tattoo shop she’d ever seen. Both front windows were adorned with cheerful paintings of cartoon characters and superheroes. When she entered the second door into Kids Can, she was almost barreled over by a tall, blond man who was on his way out. He stopped short before knocking her into the wall.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Can I help you?” he said, dropping some of his packages.
“It’s okay.” Kylie tried and failed to catch his things. “I’m actually here to see Dean?”
“Ah! You must be Kylie.” The man stuck out his free hand to shake hers. “I’m Chuck, and I’m running out. But Silvia can help you. Silvia!” he yelled to a woman standing at a desk toward the back of the front room. “Kylie’s here for the interview. Can you help her?”
Silvia looked up from her papers with a big smile. “Of course. Bye Chuck!”
“Good luck,” he said, before gathering up his packages and squeezing out the door.
“Thanks!” Kylie called after him and turned to Silvia, who extended her hand as well.
“Nice to meet you,” she said. “Dean’s in his office. I’ll let him know you’re here.”
Silvia disappeared down a hallway at the back of the main space. Kylie took a moment to get her bearings in the cheerful office.
There were two desks set up in the front room with computers and a single filing cabinet. In front of the window was a plush couch and a mismatched chair, a bin of toys, and a small shelf stuffed with books for toddlers, kids, and teens.
The room was painted a light blue, but the walls were heavily decorated with framed art made by children. It was bright and colourful.
At the top of one wall, above the many picture frames, stenciled letters spelled out in bright purpleKids Can Follow Their Dreams. Yes, this looked like a lovely place to work.
“Hi Kylie.” A man came out from the back area and reached out to shake her hand. “I’m Dean. It’s so nice to meet you. Won’t you please come on back, and we can chat about the position.”
She followed him to his office which was decorated much the same as the rest of the centre with framed kids’ artwork, but there were also framed photos of Dean with little league teams and summer camps and a photo standing on his desk of a woman and young boy who Kylie assumed were his family.
He himself was average height but quite built. His head was shaved close, and he had a large genuine smile. Dean was casual in dark jeans and a polo shirt.
Kylie worried about being overdressed in her chosen outfit, but she was the one being interviewed after all, not him.
The interview itself lasted a full hour. But it was more like a friendly chat than a grilling by a potential boss.
When he asked about her last job in Toronto, she chose not to hide why and how she’d left. She was completely honest, but she was sure to talk about how much of a lesson she’d learned there and how much she regretted losing such a great job.
To prove herself, as she’d done with Brad, she talked about the café and about planning the impromptu town fair and all that had gone into it. Dean did a lot of nodding. When the interview ended, she was sure she’d not only enjoy working there, but she could really make a difference in helping to build the organization’s profile and fundraising goals. With the promise he’d be in touch by Friday, Dean escorted her out.
The interview went so well she deserved a tiny celebration. The line was gone from in front of Sweet Cheeks Café when she got back to her car, so she went inside to treat herself for the ride home.
“Hi there!” A blonde woman maybe ten years older than Kylie stood behind the counter, wiping her hands on her apron. “What can I get for you?”
“There was a huge line here about an hour ago. What were all those people getting?” Kylie asked, wanting whatever specialty brought in a crowd.
The woman laughed. “Ah, that would be our gourmet donuts. Unfortunately, we sell out of those early every day. Hence the line.”
“Bummer,” Kylie said. A gourmet donut sounded like a perfectI-rocked-my-interviewtreat. “I guess I’ll have to be earlier next time. How about one of those?” She pointed to an over-sized pecan butter tart in the glass case.
“You got it,” the woman said, taking a pink cardboard box from below the counter and folding it up. “To go?”
“Yes, please and some coffee too if you have any,” she said, getting out her wallet.
“Fresh coffee is always on here.” The woman got Kylie’s tart carefully out of the case.
The butter tart was polished off before she was even halfway home. It was positively heavenly. Flaky crust, sweet, but not overly sweet or filling. She sipped her coffee the rest of the drive, wondering what a gourmet donut would taste like and hoping she’d get a chance to try one when going in to work at the Kids Can office someday soon.
