Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 52100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
On Wednesdays in Sven’s Beard, most everyone knocked off work late morning, and it was considered unacceptable to be working after noon unless you worked at the hospital or some other essential job.
“I’m just going to check out the progress on my house and the arena,” I said.
“The arena is work! You need to go fishing or kayaking this afternoon. Svensdays are for feeding your soul.”
No matter how old I got, my mom would never stop thinking she knew better than me. Since moving back, I’d started to learn that arguing was futile. Placating her made things a lot easier.
“That sounds nice,” I said.
The timer on her oven sounded and she put on oven-safe gloves. “Take some cookies with you. Do you want me to make you a sandwich?”
“No, I’m good, Mom. Thanks for doing this campout for the kids.”
“It’s our pleasure.”
She pulled out another sheet of cookies and gave me a stern look as I snagged another cookie from the platter.
“Don’t embarrass your father and me by working on Svensdays, Holt. We care about the traditions in our town.”
I gave her a wry smile. “I’ll try not to be an embarrassment.”
“We’re thrilled for your success, but this is a town of proud people who would do anything for their neighbors, and they expect our town to be respected.”
I’d just seen the house and arena yesterday, so they hadn’t changed much. My parents had done a lot for me, and my mom wasn’t asking for much, really. An afternoon to myself to relax while they took care of my kids? I could handle that.
“Does Dad’s friend Pete still own that property on the lake outside town?” I asked.
“He does. He tells us all the time to come out anytime.”
I’d spent many happy weekend afternoons on that property, hiking and fishing with my dad. It was something I looked forward to doing with my own kids now that we lived here.
“I think I’ll head over there,” I said. “Tell Dad I’m borrowing a pole from the garage.”
“I will. And wear bug spray, or the mosquitoes will make a meal out of you.”
By that evening, my hamstrings were feeling the effects of my five-mile hike in the woods. I’d showered and shaved before heading out to The Hideout, a popular local bar, to meet up with Grady.
He was at a table with a few other people, and I paused for a second when I saw Shea. She’d been on my mind constantly since the weekend, but I hadn’t seen her at The Moose.
How could I casually say hi to the woman I burned for? My beer buzz had made me share more of myself with her at the cabin than I normally would have, but I wasn’t sorry.
“You should quit,” Avon said to Shea as I approached the table. “No matter who your boss is, that place has always taken advantage of you.”
“I second that motion,” Grady said, clinking his beer bottle against his fiancée’s.
“Hey,” he said, noticing me. “Saved you a seat.”
It was right next to him, on the opposite side of the table from Shea, which I knew was no accident.
“Hey,” I said, meeting Shea’s eyes. “Having trouble at work?”
Her shoulders slumped as she sighed. “Still dealing with the fallout from taking the weekend off.”
I furrowed my brow, confused. “Are your days off usually during the week?”
“What are these days off you speak of?” She smiled weakly.
“They don’t let her take days off,” Grady said. “Can you believe that shit?”
“Not at all?”
A protective instinct surged inside of me. If someone was taking advantage of Shea in any way, I wouldn’t stand for it.
“I had Mondays and Thursdays off when I started there. But then I became the chef, and I lost my most experienced cook because he wanted the chef’s job. I know I sound self-important, but it’s really hard to take time off when you’re in charge of the menu for every meal, seven days a week. If an order from a supplier comes in and something was substituted, I have to come up with a fix for whatever we needed that ingredient for.” She waved her hand. “I won’t bore you guys with all the details, but this is partly on me. I wanted everything to be just right, so I chose to come in even on my days off to make sure things were running smoothly, and then I’d end up staying, and it turned into never taking a day off.”
Grady shook his head. “You should still be able to when you want to, sis. Without Caden calling you every hour to bitch about the things he could figure out himself.”
Shea glared at her brother. “Thanks for screwing with my phone, by the way. That upped the tension between me and Caden by a lot.”
I looked at Grady. “What did you do?”