“You did that thing you do with your eyes when you’re lying,” Ella said. “Did you see it, Charl?”
“I did, so spill it, Hannah, and don’t leave anything out.”
“Ugh, I hate having sisters,” Hannah said.
“You love us,” Ella said. “Now tell us what you know, because I’d hate to have to beat it out of you.”
“As if you could,” Hannah said disdainfully.
“Um, do I need to remind you of all the times we beat you up back in the day?” Charley asked.
“You did not beat me up.”
“Uh, El, want to help me out here?”
“We absolutely did beat you up every time Mom put you in charge of us.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “I let you.”
“Whatever!” Charley howled with laughter. “Now tell us what you know about Landon right now.”
Hannah gave a tentative glance in Amanda’s direction.
“Speak freely,” Amanda said. “I’m dying to know, too.”
“I’ll only say that I happen to know, for a fact, he’s not messing around with you. He really likes you.”
“I already knew that,” Amanda said, smiling. “What else have you got?”
“That’s it.”
“So you guys are, like, together?” Megan asked.
“We’re taking it a day at a time for now and not putting labels on it.”
“He came by the diner and asked if Hunter would give you piano lessons.”
That news surprised Amanda and touched her deeply. “He did? He didn’t tell me that.”
“He said you’re all about trying new things now that you’ve got a second chance at life, and you’ve always wanted to learn to play the piano.”
Amanda was moved nearly to tears by his sweetness “That’s true. I did say that. It’s very nice of him to arrange that for me.”
“Come to our house for dinner one night this week. You can sit with Hunter for a bit.”
“Thank you, but Landon is working the next few nights.”
“I’ll drive you. No worries. Let me talk to Hunter, and I’ll let you guys know what night works.”
“Thank you.”
“What other new things are you looking to do besides learn the piano, Amanda?” Cameron asked.
“I’d like to learn to ski, drive a stick, zip-line, travel to Europe and figure out a real career for myself, among other things.”
“You don’t have a real career now?” Lucy asked.
“It’s more of a job than an actual career. I dropped out of college after two years of majoring in marketing, and when I couldn’t find a job, my mom offered me a temporary job working on her sales team. Eight years later, I’m still doing that.”
“What do you think you might like to do?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t want to dominate the conversation,” Amanda said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Charley said. “We thrive on fresh meat.”
“I take it I’m the fresh meat?” Amanda asked, amused.
“We’ve all been through it.” Emma affected a comically grave expression. “It’s best to just give the hungry beasts what they want and get it over with.”
The others lost it laughing.
“I’d be offended if she wasn’t absolutely right,” Ella said.
“The Abbotts and Colemans can be a tough crowd, but I’ve found them to be worth the effort,” Megan said.
“Same,” Cameron said.
“Yep,” Lucy said.
“Agreed,” Emma said.
“That’s certainly been my experience so far,” Dani added.
“I don’t really know what I want to do,” Amanda said, “but it might be something to do with writing and telling stories. I’m fascinated by people and what makes them tick. For instance, I could write for days about what’s gone on in this living room since I arrived.” While the others laughed, she continued. “I’ve met so many interesting people through my work, and I always want to know more about them, but there never seems to be enough time to dig into their stories the way I’d like to. That interests me.”
Lucy glanced at Cameron. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I’m thinking exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Can one of you clue in the rest of us?” Hannah asked.
“We’ve been talking about how we might personalize the catalog with more stories about the people who work for the company, like Mildred Olsen and Elmer, to start with,” Cameron said. For Amanda’s benefit, she said, “As you know, Elmer’s parents started the business, and Mildred is in her nineties and is the company’s longest-tenured employee.”
“I’d love to write those stories, but I’ve never really done anything like that before, although I have written catalog copy—tons of it, actually.”
“Tell you what,” Lucy said. “How about you give it a whirl with those two, and if we don’t think they add quality to the catalog,