Second Chance at the Orchard Inn, page 36
“How is he?” Zoe practically bounced to her feet as Han and Lian returned to the waiting room after getting to go in and see Uncle Arthur in person.
“He’s good,” Han assured her.
“If already getting annoyed at Mom.” Lian rolled her eyes.
Zoe could only imagine. She’d spent enough sick days at home with her mom—and her delightful bedside manner—to empathize.
“Can we…?” Devin asked, standing and gesturing toward the door. Zoe’s mom had wrestled her way back to sit with Uncle Arthur the second he got out of recovery, but outside of her, they were only letting folks in one or two people at a time.
Han nodded. He reached for his jacket. “I should go check on the restaurant.”
Thank goodness they had employees who could open the place.
“Call if you need anything,” Devin told him.
“Will do.” Han looked to Lian. “You want to stay or go?”
“I’ll stay awhile.” She tipped her head toward the door before sinking into one of the seats near where Zoe and Devin had been sitting. “Go on.”
As he pulled out his keys, Han paused for a moment. “Hey, Zo?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.” His gaze met hers, and it wasn’t as if it was the first time he’d made eye contact with her since he’d found out about her and Devin, but there was something different about the way he regarded her. Like he was acknowledging her as an equal and not some kid sister he had to protect. “Mom told me how you held things together this afternoon, when I was off picking up Lian.”
Zoe smiled. “No problem.”
Han nodded, new respect in his eyes, and it was too much to hope that he’d start letting the rest of his family help carry some of the responsibility he was always lugging around with him. But a girl could dream, right?
As Han took a backward step toward the elevator, Devin held out his hand. Another little thrill ran through Zoe as she slipped her palm into his.
And hey, the vein in Han’s temple bulged only a little, so that was progress, right?
A nurse was kind enough to show Zoe and Devin to Uncle Arthur’s room, but they didn’t really need the guide. Her mother’s voice rang out as clear as day the moment they rounded the corner. “Jeopardy! gets you too worked up.”
“You get me too worked up.” Her uncle muttered a more colorful rebuke in Mandarin.
Zoe shook her head and sighed. Well, at least it was good to know he was feeling better.
She knocked on the door, eyebrows raised. “You two playing nice in here?”
Her mother and her uncle both looked up and smiled. Zoe didn’t miss the way they were still silently wrestling over the remote, though.
“Zoe,” Uncle Arthur said, swatting at his sister’s hand. “Devin.” Then he seemed to notice the fact that they were holding hands, and his head tilted in question.
“Uh…” Devin rubbed the back of his neck.
Her mother followed his gaze and did a double take, though she recovered quickly. Letting Uncle Arthur have the remote, she stepped back, one brow raised.
With Han finally in the know, Zoe and Devin hadn’t held back on the casual PDA while they’d been hanging out in the waiting room, but they hadn’t made an announcement or anything, either. Her mom was usually uncannily observant, but apparently she’d been too busy pacing a hole in the carpet to notice all the shared glances or the occasional moments when Devin would put a hand on her back or her knee.
Zoe’s face warmed, but she held her head high, meeting her mother’s gaze.
Her mom clicked her tongue behind her teeth and shook her head fondly. “Guess you did know what you were doing after all.”
Zoe huffed out a breath. “Sure did.”
“Good,” her mom said, firm. A sly smile curled her lips, and Zoe’s throat went tight.
It would scarcely count as approval from anybody else’s parent, but for Zoe’s mom? She might as well have thrown her a “Congratulations on Nailing the Hot Guy” party.
Uncle Arthur’s reaction wasn’t nearly as subdued, his pale face eclipsed by a bright grin. “About time.”
“Hey,” Devin protested.
“‘Theoretical,’” Uncle Arthur scoffed, tucking the remote under his leg to make air quotes.
Zoe didn’t know what they were talking about, but that was all right. Letting go of Devin’s hand, she stepped forward to kiss her uncle on the cheek.
He squeezed her palm and winked. Quietly, he murmured, “Good choice.”
“I know.”
She moved aside, and Devin took his turn giving Arthur a careful hug.
Her mom slung her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll give you two a minute.”
“Really?”
She patted Zoe’s hand. “Just a minute. I’m starving. Did you know vending machines here charge two dollars for a Kit Kat bar?”
Okay, yeah, her mom running to the car to grab a free snack from the stash she kept there made a lot more sense than her actually giving them privacy. “Outrageous.”
Her mom made a disapproving sound in the back of her throat, calling out Zoe’s sarcasm, but with a quick pat to Zoe’s shoulder, she kept walking.
Zoe turned her attention back to Devin and Uncle Arthur, who were engaged in a little sidebar of their own. She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to threaten Devin if he hurts me. Han’s already got that covered.”
“You?” Uncle Arthur huffed out a breath and waved a hand dismissively. “You can fend for yourself. I was telling Devin that if you hurt him, you’d have to deal with me.”
Devin looked kind of embarrassed about it, if secretly pleased.
Good. He deserved someone looking out for him.
Zoe dropped into the chair her mother had set up on the other side of Arthur’s bed. As she did, Arthur struggled to sit up. She shook her head at him. “Relax.”
“Your mother wouldn’t let me have my phone.”
“Nor should she have.”
“I have to call Sherry.” He scrubbed a hand across his forehead. “Ten people had appointments at Harvest Home today. Supper service—”
Zoe grabbed his hand and held on tight. “Is handled.”
“The key—”
“Sherry already came by to pick up mine.”
“Deliveries—”
“Have been postponed until tomorrow. All today’s pickups, too.”
“But—”
“Uncle Arthur.” She gripped his hand in both of hers. “I’ve got it.”
She sucked in a deep breath. Instinctively, she glanced up at Devin, but he just stood there, silently supportive. Because he was the awesomest dude in the world, and she was so freaking glad to have him at her side.
“Zoe…” Uncle Arthur started.
“Trust me.” That’s what she’d been asking everyone in her life to do since she graduated.
She could make her own decisions about who she wanted to date.
And about what she wanted to do with her life.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” She stopped her uncle before he could interrupt again. “Not just today, but for the past few months. About my future.”
That finally got him to let her speak. His mouth drew down into a frown, but she had his attention.
“You’ve been doing too much.”
He shook his head, but she looked pointedly at the hospital bed he was all but strapped into.
“You do too much,” she insisted again, “because you care too much. You take care of everyone all the time. Well, it’s time we all took care of you.” She cleared her throat. “It’s time I did.”
“Zhaohui?”
“I’m taking over Harvest Home.” She kept going, putting it all out there before he could try to contradict her. “You’ll still be in charge, obviously. It’s your baby. But from now on, the day-to-day operations are on me.”
“But your job—”
“Will be fine.” She’d already talked to Clay about adjusting her schedule. It wouldn’t be a problem. And she had some other ideas she was going to run past him, too.
Arthur started again. “Your job search. You had all those leads in Atlanta, Charlotte—”
Zoe shook her head. “My job search is over.”
“But—”
“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.”
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.”
“Twenty percent!” Clay balked.
Zoe’s pulse ticked up, but she had full confidence in her value to him. She arched a brow. “You think you can find a new server who’s as good as me and who can start doing your books for you?”
“She’s got a point, man,” Han agreed.
“This is a setup.” Clay looked around at everyone with suspicion in his gaze. There wasn’t any malice, though. The guy had been to war and ended up with a knee full of shrapnel and so many trust issues he might as well have gotten a subscription, but he knew he was among friends here.
“Of course it’s a setup,” Zoe’s mom agreed. She gazed at Zoe with a knowing curl to her lips. “But you’re not the one she’s setting up.”
Zoe’s heart pounded harder as she met her mother’s gaze.
Oblivious, Clay continued, gesturing at the screen. “She just gave herself a twenty percent raise.”
“That I’m going to earn,” she promised, still looking at her mom.
“You sure about this, Zhaohui?” her mother asked.
Clay sat back in his chair, arms crossed. “I’m not sure about it.”
“Yes, you are,” Zoe and her mom both said as one.
“I guess that settles that,” Clay said.
June stepped forward to put her hands on his shoulders. She pressed her lips to his temple. “Accept when you’re beaten, dear.”
“Fine, fine.”
As they spoke, Zoe and her mom continued their silent staring contest. Zoe could hear all her mother’s doubts, and she expressed her confidence back to her, even as neither of them said anything at all.
This plan was going to work. She’d draw a low but respectable salary managing the day-to-day operations of Harvest Home. She’d augment it by continuing to work at the Junebug and taking over Clay’s accounting. She liked both jobs. Her work at Harvest Home fulfilled her, while waitressing at the bar was both lucrative and fun. Doing a little bookkeeping would maintain her skills and her résumé in case she ever changed her mind. Uncle Arthur would be less stressed, and if he ever decided to retire, she’d be ready to step up and slide right into his place. It was a win-win-win-win.
Finally, Zoe’s mother raised a brow. “Princess astronaut veterinarian ballerina?”
“Princess astronaut veterinarian ballerina.” Zoe let out a rough breath as lightness filled her chest.
“Well, then.” Her mother smiled. “I suppose I can’t argue with that.”
“Hey—James!”
At the sound of his last name, Devin looked up. Joe stood outside the trailer, waving him over.
“Got a sec before you head out?”
“Sure.” He finished the last couple of joins he’d been working on before nodding to the crew. It was a few minutes early, but they’d made good progress today.
He helped with cleanup, but once it was all in hand, he patted his buddy Terrell on the back and gestured at Joe’s office.
Terrell nodded. “See you in the morning, boss.”
Devin took off, a spring in his step.
It still amazed him how peaceful the entire site felt now that Bryce was gone. The guy had talked a big game about getting his father to retaliate, but it had been precisely that: talk. Sure, the mayor’s office had made a few overtures, hoping to get management to reverse his dismissal, but Joe had stood behind Devin’s decision. In the end, Bryce had been more of a liability than he’d been worth. Last Devin had heard, the guy was heading back to community college. Devin hoped he learned some things while he was there, but as long as he didn’t show up on Devin’s job site again, he honestly didn’t care.
Inside the trailer, Joe was perched behind his computer, same as always. He smiled when Devin knocked and let himself in, gesturing for him to have a seat.
Joe folded his big hands on top of the desk. “Just wanted to ask how things are going.”
“Good.” Devin pointed his thumb toward the door behind him. “We’re on schedule out there, maybe even a little ahead.”
“I know that. I meant with you.”
“Me?” Uh…“I’m good.”
Great, actually. He couldn’t stop the little smile that curled his lips.
Work was less stressful. The bump in his pay from the promotion had finally started showing up in his bank account. Arthur’s recovery was going well.
And then there was the conversation he and Arthur had had the other night.
His leg bobbed up and down in anticipation.
He couldn’t wait to tell Zoe about it. He was leaving after his shift to go pick her up, and he was going to do just that.
It had only been a month since he and Zoe had gone public, but it had been the best month of his entire life. It was like the thing with Bryce; Devin hadn’t grasped how much strain all the secrecy and sneaking around was putting on them both.
But that was behind them now. They were happy and in love. Han was still his best friend—even if he did look at him kind of funny now and then.
Well, he’d get used to it. Devin was in this for the long haul.
And after what he planned to show Zoe this evening, hopefully by the end of the night he’d know she was in it for the long haul, too.
“All right, all right.” Joe shook his head. “I get it—you’re a private guy. Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’re real pleased with how you’ve taken over as shift leader. Your crew’s doing good work. Word on the street is you’ve really turned things around.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
Joe’s raised brows were pointed. “Wasn’t an easy situation you inherited with Horton on your crew. But you handled it like a pro.” With that, Joe pulled open the top drawer of his desk and fished out an envelope. He passed it over. Nodding at it, he said, “Little token of our appreciation.”
Devin blinked in surprise. He glanced at Joe, who motioned for him to go ahead and open it. The check inside stared back at him, and his jaw dropped. “I—I mean—”
People got bonuses pretty regularly around here when things were going well, but this was generous, to say the least. He sputtered for another few seconds before Joe took mercy.
“‘Thank you’ is the phrase you’re looking for, I think.”
