Fairy Tales and Cappuccinos (Everyday Love #1) - Taylor Rylan Page 0,12

at my best friend and joined him at the table, sliding in across from him.

“Hey. I have news,” I said as I unzipped my coat and shrugged out of it.

“Yeah? What’s up? I just talked to you a little under an hour ago.”

“I know. But guess what? I found a job.”

The smile falling from Chris’s face wasn’t what I expected.

“That’s great. When do you leave?”

It made sense. Chris thought I was going to bail on him again.

“That’s the thing. I’m not. I’m going to be working at Fairy Tales here in Pleasant Grove.”

“Fairy Tales. You mean you’re working for Hudson?”

I nodded. “You know him?”

“Not really. I know his cousin slightly better, but not by much. So you’re going to what? Work for a couple of weeks?”

I shrugged. I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but I knew that it was time for a change. “I guess now I go looking for an apartment,” I said. Chris just stared at me, blinking. I’d figure it out. The pay wasn’t going to be nearly what I had been making, but living expenses were bound to be lower here, so that helped, and my savings would go so much further here than it would in Breckenridge. I didn’t see how it was a bad thing at all.

I smiled at the server when she came over to fill Chris’s coffee mug. I hadn’t turned mine over, sadly I had to limit my coffee, and when she asked what I wanted to drink, I gave her my choice and turned back to my friend.

“You’re moving here?”

“It seems like it, yeah. Is that an issue?”

I hadn’t thought about that. What if Chris didn’t want me here?

“I have a spare room. No apartment needed.”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to impose, and although it would be great to see Chris regularly, I didn’t want to take up his spare room.

“We’ll discuss this more later. For now though, tell me how it is that you landed a job the first day you were out and about in Pleasant Grove.”

4

Hudson

Sawyer was…adorable for starters. I never knew I had a thing for redheads, but his strawberry blond hair worked and drew me like a siren’s song.

I was probably crazy hiring a man who one, was way out of my price range, two, was used to making probably more than I cleared in a year, and three, tempted me unlike anyone had in way too long.

He was certainly unexpected, and although I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep him for long, I was more than desperate enough to take advantage of him being here. I knew there were several areas that needed updating when it came to the store, but there were only so many hours in the day that I could work. I’d woken up slumped over the desk in my tiny office more than once, and I learned that I simply had to draw the line and leave the shop by nine at the latest.

Sawyer, although a temporary solution, perhaps would be around long enough for me to get everything accomplished that I needed to. And he was right; tourist season was ramping up—had actually already started—and I wanted to do everything I could to draw as many to the store as possible.

Sawyer’s references checked out, and just as he’d said, his former manager wasn’t exactly happy about the fact that he’d quit. I had to go through the company and call the HR department to get a performance report. It was glowing, and the fact that his former manager was upset with his departure made more sense. There was something bugging me about it though, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I’d have to ask him about his former manager, Richard.

Sawyer, though, after reading over a performance evaluation, I discovered the man was a natural at what he did, and I had no doubt that he’d find a new position somewhere in the area. Why he would even consider working for me was beyond comprehension, but I wasn’t going to turn away the help.

A knock on the front door drew my attention, and I saw strawberry blond hair that I knew belonged to my new employee. And I needed to remember that last part. New employee. Which meant he was off-limits because he worked for me. Even if I found him attractive and I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through his hair and see what it felt like. While we were