AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, you two, hurry up,” said Tom, standing on top of the rock. Max was beside him, wagging his tale.
It didn’t take Kate long to reach the rock. Tom held out his hand to draw her up onto the rock, Ethan following on behind. When she reached his side Tom gave her an encouraging look. He knew what this was doing to her, and she wanted to throttle him for leading them here.
“Wow,” said Ethan, taking in the view. “I had no idea. What a great place.”
The three of them took a seat on the flat rock, Kate facing the two men rather than the view. She couldn’t bring herself to look. To imagine things. She knew that below them, the lake spread out, the gray sky, green pine trees, and the brown of the bare deciduous trees reflected in it. She’d seen that view plenty of times.
Ethan gave Kate a curious look but said nothing. She drew her knees up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
“Do you see your cabin over there, Ethan?” Tom asked, pointing. “Or rather Zig’s.”
Ethan looked in the direction he’d indicated and nodded. “Yep. I see it now. It’s a great place. So quiet, beautiful.”
“Will you be sorry to leave come January?” she asked Ethan. “It is January you’re leaving, right?”
Ethan nodded. “Sadly yes. Emphasis on ‘sadly.’”
“You’ll come back, though, right?” said Tom. “You’d be welcome at our place any time.”
Ethan looked at Tom, the sadness increased. “Really, I wish I could promise I’ll be back, but I have no idea if I can. It’s dependent on a lot of things not entirely in my control.”
Tom nodded. “I get that. I wish I could be sure of things, too. And where I’ll be.”
Kate looked at Tom. She’d heard all the unspoken pain, frustration, and confusion in his voice.
“Do you think you’ll keep the store?” Ethan asked.
It was a question Kate had known had to be voiced, but she hadn’t had the courage to speak it, let alone hear the answers. She was glad that Ethan had been the one to say it.
Tom sighed. “I don’t know. I suppose I’ll keep things as they have been. I’ll probably have to cut back on my own projects, though. Dad did a lot of the general admin and the books. I searched out vendors and worked with them, monitored inventory, that kind of thing.”
“Get someone to look after the books,” said Kate. “Or maybe I could do it. I don’t have experience, but I can take some online courses.”
Tom gave her a quizzical look. “You’re thinking of sticking around?”
She shrugged. “I’ll pitch in as long as I’m here.” It was an impulse to help. To keep things running as they had been so that there was as little change as possible. It was what her father would have wanted, wasn’t it? She couldn’t bear it if Tom decided they should sell the store.
“Have you thought about changing the direction of the store a little bit so that you can incorporate your own work more?” asked Ethan. “Also maybe taper off the general manufactured furniture and bring in other artists who design and craft furniture. Make it more bespoke. Go after the high-end clients. Market online more. You have a website, right?”
Kate looked at Tom, his face stunned with the ideas that Ethan had thrown out. She could see it had really sparked something inside of Tom, and even she felt excited by the thought of Ethan’s suggestions.
“What’s the website like, Tom?” she asked. “I haven’t looked at it in years.”
Tom shrugged. “It’s still pretty basic. Dad would send updates to the guy he paid to set it up. Like sales, new arrivals, that kind of thing.”
Ethan nodded. “For that type of store, that’s fair enough. If you decide to go in a different direction, you could up the marketing outreach on that end.”
Tom grinned. “Listen to you, finance guy.”
“Ethan took business courses at college,” said Kate, knowing even that statement undersold the worth of the suggestions he’d made. She realized again that he’d led a life filled with so many unknown elements in the years since she’d seen him.
“Really?” said Tom. “Well, thanks. It certainly seems a lot handier than my own degree in plant biology.”
“Biology?” asked Ethan.
Tom snorted. “Yeah, I had this idea I would be studying trees. You know, their composition. Find ways to help them survive disease at the cellular level. I ended up loving wood and creating things with it. Natural segue.”
Ethan laughed. “Natural segue.”
