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Laverne turned to me. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“I don’t mind. When is the party?” I shook back my hair.
“Friday night.”
I swallowed. Another week here. Another week of being around Beckett?
Did I dare?
Was I just putting off the inevitable? I wasn’t even sure he wanted me here.
“Are you sure? It’s a lot to ask. I actually just hired someone to help me with the entertainment arm of The Lodge. Beckett is also adding cabins to the property. Because I don’t have enough on my plate.”
She sounded a little overwhelmed.
“I was looking for excuses not to go home, to be honest. You’re doing me a favor.”
“I doubt that, but I’m desperate enough to take you up on it.” She gave me another hard squeeze.
Her pocket buzzed against me and we both laughed.
Laverne dipped her hand into the pocket of her lightweight cardigan. She sighed and put her glasses back on. “No matter how big I make the font on this damn thing, I need my cheaters.” She quickly texted someone back. “Kain is over at the taproom and said he’d be happy to help out.”
“Great. Does he have a truck? Or do I need to contact someone?”
Please don’t say Beckett.I wasn’t quite ready for that one.
“I’ll send you and Cara up there with one of our trucks. You can pick out what you need and then we can go back if we need more.”
“Throwing me right into the mix.”
She laughed. “Welcome to Brothers Three Orchard, Helena. I almost said Happy Acres. It’s going to take some getting used to. My sister and her husband took to retirement much better than I did. Fred, my husband, doesn’t really know how to not be busy.” With a sigh, she shoved her phone back in her pocket. “Someday I’ll learn to slow down.”
“Maybe with your new hire, you can delegate some.”
Her laugh was immediate and booming. “That’s the dream, but I probably wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t have a million balls in the air.”
“When does…” I trailed off for the name of the person.
“Belinda Grayson. She starts on Monday. Poor girl has no idea what she’s in for, but she seems excited for the challenge. I desperately need the help. When we started doing weddings, I thought it would be a once in a while thing.”
“When Beckett told me about the rockstars and Zoe, well…I’d say you didn’t have much chance in not succeeding. Especially with how beautiful this property is.”
“You’re probably right. We don’t even do any marketing much to Rachel’s consternation.” Laverne huffed out a half laugh. “I can’t keep up with just word of mouth.”
“Might mean you need to raise your prices.”
“Oh, I couldn’t. We love being an affordable place for people to celebrate all kinds of things.”
“Then you’ll need to pour your revenue into more people. Your staff is wonderful from what I’ve seen. I’d replace the so-called professionals I work with in Manhattan with any one of them.”
Laverne’s eyes went shiny. “I’m pretty sure that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Well, you turned this emergency right around. Now let’s get you and Cara a truck to start getting this fiasco planned out. I’ll jiggle the schedule around and see if I can get you some people to work the party. Then we’ll have to figure out food.”
I grabbed the legal pad off the table. “Mind if I steal this?”
