AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t want to be an accountant. And I don’t want to leave Blue Cedar Falls,” she said firmly. She looked at Devin, asking him to hear the weight of her words.
She was done worrying about what everyone else expected her to do.
Devin’s own actions, telling Han about them, had been an inspiration. He wasn’t going to let other people’s opinions hold him back anymore. So neither was she.
“I like it here.” She squeezed Uncle Arthur’s hands. “I’m happy here. I have friends, family.” Leaning in conspiratorially, she murmured, “And a really nice boyfriend.”
Devin smiled, and her heart glowed. He wasn’t going to fight her on this. Good.
Because she would fight. For her family and for her future and for her vision of how she wanted to spend her life, now that she’d finally figured it out.
“You don’t have to…” Uncle Arthur put his other hand on top of hers.
“I want to. So you just focus on getting better. Leave all the worrying about Harvest Home to me.”
Uncle Arthur finally smiled. “I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else.”
The warmth in her heart only grew.
“There are some grants we can apply for,” he said, that gleam appearing in his eyes, exhausted as they were. “So we can get you a salary. If you go to my desk in the back office—”
“After you get out of the hospital,” she assured him, reaching in to fluff his pillows. “Until then, you just rest.” She nodded, both to him and to herself. “I’ve got everything under control.”
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
One month later…
“So, as you can see in Figure C in your handout.” Zoe clicked a button on the remote for the LCD projector she’d borrowed from Lian. She arched a brow toward her audience as the spreadsheet she’d meticulously compiled came into view. “Taking into account average rent for a one-bedroom apartment, food, gas, personal expenses, and an acceptable rate of savings for a person in my age bracket…”
At the back of the room, June silently wiggled her hand, reminding Zoe about the laser pointer in her other hand. Right. Thank goodness the two of them had practiced this together last night.
She aimed the little red dot at the total at the bottom of the column. “Projected monthly expenses can be satisfactorily accounted for with projected earnings.”
“Hold on a second.” Clay held up his hand.
“I know exactly what you’re going to say, Mr. Hawthorne.” Zoe flipped to the next slide. “Income is broken out in Figure D.” As the assembled crowd all turned the pages in their handout, she moved the laser pointer to highlight each number as she explained it. “Earnings fall into two major categories. The first is the modest salary I’ll be able to begin drawing from Harvest Home once our grant applications to expand our staff are accepted.”
Uncle Arthur nodded, leaning forward to agree. “The grant proposals are very good.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chao.” Zoe shifted the pointer. “The second category is income from my part-time position in the hospitality industry.”
“You mean waitressing,” Clay said.
“Waitressing, hostessing”—she set down the pointer and remote to begin counting on her fingers—“bartending—”
“Okay, okay,” Clay interrupted. “You’re good, but—”
“And bookkeeping.”
His mouth snapped closed. “Wait.”
“Admit you need the help,” June said from the back.
“Hey—”
“With these additional responsibilities, I’ve determined that I’ll be earning a twenty percent raise.”
