Chapter 1 #2
“She does. I created a general list when we first posted the job online, searching for applicants,” Theo said. “But it was nowhere near complete. Now that we’ve hired her and she’s arriving in a few days, I figured it was time to get serious about deciding exactly what we need her to do.”
Sam glanced at his computer, his eyes widening. “That’s a hell of a list.”
Theo smirked. “I might have gotten a little carried away, because the truth is, I’m trying to off-load some of my more tedious tasks.”
Sam laughed. “Clever man. If that’s how we’re playing this game, can you add cleaning and sanitizing the barrels? I fucking hate cleaning.”
Theo shook his head and gave him a shit-eating grin. “I’m afraid she’s not going to have time to do your crap jobs because she’ll be too busy doing mine.”
He glanced at his list. Sam was right. It was bordering on too long, but Theo couldn’t help himself because, while he was constantly hiring extra help for Sam and Jace, he’d refused to do the same for himself in the past, always determined to do it all.
Sam walked around his desk, skimming the list. “I think it’s smart to reassign some tasks. God knows you’ve got too much on your plate.”
He appreciated Sam’s support. “When I started my job as brewhouse manager, I didn’t anticipate how many tasks would fall to me.”
“That’s because it was just the brewhouse back then. We hadn’t opened the brewery, hadn’t invited the public in,” Sam added.
“True. It was a hell of a lot easier running just the brewhouse, ordering supplies, paying bills, organizing work schedules, and hiring extra help for you guys during busy season.”
When the family decided to add a brewery, Theo’s job duties expanded to include basically running a restaurant, hiring and training people to work the tasting room and serve food, buying swag with their Rain or Shine Brewery logo, and coordinating special events with Nora.
“You alleviating some of Nora’s duties too?” Sam asked. “Because she’s spread as thin as you these days.”
“I asked for her input earlier and told her to give some thought to other duties she’d like to move over to Gretchen.”
Nora had the same job as Theo, only she managed the winery, so the two of them typically met a couple times a week to compare notes, share ideas, and pool employees as needed.
Most of their servers had been trained to work in both the winery and the brewery, in case one business or the other was short-staffed due to illness or vacations, or if they were running special events that required more workers at one location over the other.
When the family unanimously voted to build the event barn, it became instantly apparent the expectation was that he and Nora would run it. That was when the two of them had cried uncle and expressed the need to hire someone else to serve as event coordinator.
Mercifully, the family agreed they needed the new position, so Theo and Nora decided what parts of their jobs to reassign to a new employee.
In the past, the two of them had worked together planning special events at the brewery and winery, but because their lists of job duties were already quite large, they were never pleased with the end results of their party planning, certain every event could have been better if only they’d had time to do more.
So, between handing those duties as well as the running of the event barn over to someone else, the new position was created.
Theo was thrilled to leave the event coordination to someone else, because while he loved a good party, he preferred to be the one attending , not the one planning.
He’d volunteered to serve as the direct supervisor for the new coordinator, primarily because the brewery was positioned closer to the event barn on the farm, so now Gretchen’s shiny new office was located right next to his.
“Still feeling good about your choice for the job?” Sam asked. “Nora mentioned Gretchen’s lack of experience.”
“Yeah. Nora had some concerns, and she was definitely gunning for another candidate.” Clicking onto a different file, Theo pulled up Gretchen’s resume.
“I hope I made the right choice. Problem is, most of the interviews Nora and I conducted were through video conference calls. I prefer interviewing people face-to-face. It’s too hard to get a good feel for someone over the computer.
But, since the list of qualified candidates in Gracemont was pitifully small, we had to widen the search. Hence the online interviews.”
“You’ve got good instincts when it comes to people, so you probably hired the right person.”
“Well, I’ll know soon enough because Monday is only a few days away. Crazy thing is, Gretchen didn’t even make the initial cut when Nora and I went through the resumes.”
“So why did you interview her?” Sam leaned against his desk, arms folded over his chest.
Theo grinned. “Because we’d narrowed it down to four candidates.”
Sam shook his head, grinning as well. “Gotcha. You added Gretchen to keep Nora from twitching.”
He and his brother laughed. Nora’s OCD was well-known in the family, and a source of humor—even to Nora—who owned her special brand of crazy with pride.
Theo realized as soon as they’d narrowed down their list, he’d either have to add one more name or take one away…
because Nora hated even numbers. All even numbers.
Interviewing four people would have kept her up at night.
So Theo had reached into the pile of remaining resumes and pulled one out at random. It had been Gretchen’s.
“It must have been one hell of an interview for you to choose her, considering she wasn’t even in the running originally,” Sam mused.
Theo wasn’t sure why he’d chosen Gretchen over all the other, more experienced applicants, or why he’d defended that decision so strongly to his cousin.
Nora had been sitting in on the interviews, and she’d read the same resumes and listened to the responses of the candidates, so she knew—just as Theo did—that Gretchen was by far the least qualified.
“It was,” Theo lied. Her interview had been a good one, but she hadn’t exactly blown everyone else out of the water.
Sam’s eyes twinkled with humor. “Nora also mentioned Gretchen is pretty.”
“Nora’s got a big mouth,” he joked.
Sam barked out a loud laugh. “Got a picture of her?”
“No, I don’t,” Theo grumbled. “I didn’t hire her for her looks.” He didn’t dare admit he’d found Gretchen very attractive.
Sam chuckled. “Suuuure you didn’t.”
Theo rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as Nora.”
It had been difficult for Theo to explain to Nora why he’d moved Gretchen to the top spot on his list. Because it wasn’t what Gretchen had said in the interview, so much as her demeanor. He’d tried for weeks after that Zoom conversation to figure out why he was so sure she was the one.
In the end, all he knew was that Gretchen had a determination and a quiet strength that had called to him in a way he’d never experienced before.
Nora ultimately capitulated to his choice because, as she pointed out numerous times, he was going to be Gretchen’s boss. And, because Nora was a minx—like all his girl cousins—she’d winked and wished him luck if it all went to hell.
Then she had added that she looked forward to saying “I told you so” for the rest of their lives.
Theo had flipped Nora the bird, then fired off an email, offering Gretchen the position before his cousin could change her mind about supporting his decision or he could second-guess himself.
It wasn’t until he’d received Gretchen’s immediate acceptance that he realized it wasn’t her determination that had prompted him to hire her.
No.
There was something in her eyes—a vulnerability—that had captured his attention and held on to it.
“So, you got any big plans this weekend?” Sam asked. “Now that the harvest is over, Jace and Maverick are chomping at the bit to go out. Apparently, picking grapes has cut into their,” Sam finger-quoted, “prowling for women time.”
Theo snorted. “I haven’t exactly noticed Mav suffering too much from longer work hours. Didn’t he hook up with Susie Watkins that night we all went to Whiskey Abbey for ladies’ night?”
“He did,” Sam replied. “But as he pointed out, that was all of three weeks ago.”
“Guy better pace himself or he’s going to run out of women available for one-night stands in Gracemont soon,” Theo commented, though a part of him was concerned about Maverick’s horndog, never-gonna-settle-down ways.
Mav was two years younger than Theo, and at thirty-two, his brother was way too young to be so jaded about love and relationships.
“I hear that,” Sam seconded, walking back around Theo’s desk and reclaiming the chair he’d vacated.
While Theo and the rest of his brothers didn’t date much, that didn’t mean they weren’t looking to find a girl and settle down one day. Levi going out with Kasi and making serious plans for the future had lit a place inside Theo that he’d locked in the dark for too long.
He didn’t live like a monk, but he wasn’t out every weekend, hooking up with single women like Maverick, either. Whenever anyone asked, Theo blamed his lack of dates on the fact he worked long hours, saying he preferred hanging out with his brothers, playing video games and chilling after work.
However, that wasn’t the whole truth.
While Theo could list a million things that were awesome about living in a small town, there was one big downside—he’d already met every available woman in his age range. Hell, he’d gone to school with almost all of them, because very few people moved into Gracemont.
As such, he knew the woman he was looking for didn’t live here. Sure, there were plenty of girls he’d dated for a short time, but ultimately, none of them had set his heart racing or had him thinking about rings and kids and white picket fences.
Which meant he needed to widen the search. Something that wasn’t easy because…well, refer to his first excuse. He really did work a lot. Maybe having Gretchen here and taking over some of his tasks would offer him more free time to date.
“Maverick thinks we should bypass Whiskey Abbey and head over to Henley Falls Saturday night. Apparently, some local band he likes is playing in a bar there,” Sam continued.
“You going?”
Sam shook his head. “Hell no. I’ve agreed to attend the fall craft show the ladies auxiliary organized to raise money for the fire station that afternoon. I suspect I’ll be all peopled out after that.”
Theo chuckled. “Too early in your campaign to wear out on people.”
“Which is why I intend to pace myself,” Sam said. “But you should go. When’s the last time you went out on a date?”
“You sure you want to throw that stone?” Theo joked. “Because your entire house is made of glass.”
Sam smirked. He and his brother had discussed the lack of “the one” in Gracemont before, Sam feeling the same way he did. They were both certain their Miss Right didn’t live in town. They also agreed that fact sucked. Big-time.
“I’m just saying,” Sam began, “we need to at least try to put ourselves out there. I mean, I’m sure if we’d asked Levi six months ago if his dream woman was in Gracemont, he would have said no. Yet, Kasi’s been here all along. Hell, she practically grew up on this farm.”
“She did.” Theo had to admit his brother had a point. There was always a chance he’d overlooked someone, though that seemed unlikely.
“And now, here’s Levi, uprooting his whole life for a woman he’s known since she was a kid,” Sam added.
Levi, in addition to moving out, had also given up his current job managing the Stormy Weather Farm’s vineyards and gardens.
A born farmer, he’d spent every single day with his hands in the dirt.
However, his agricultural interests over the years had evolved from working with the grapes, to growing vegetables, to starting a small patch where he could plant hops and barley for the brewery.
Levi was always interested in learning new things—something that had served their businesses well.
With his move to the Mills’ farm, his brother would now have enough land to grow all the barley and hops they required for the brewhouse, as well as other produce that could be incorporated in their beer or served in the B&B their parents ran.
Mom was a huge fan of farm to table, so now they wouldn’t have to outsource their produce anymore.
It was a win-win for Levi—finding true love as well as an exciting new farming direction.
Theo rolled his eyes. “Which is why our too-serious brother is suddenly smiling all the time. And whistling. And walking around with an actual goddamn spring in his step.”
“Because none of that is annoying. At. All,” Sam replied sarcastically, the two of them laughing. They were happy for Levi, but damn if it wasn’t a bit of culture shock, seeing their stoic big brother fawning over a woman who was thirteen years younger than him.
“Regardless,” Sam pressed on. “You should go check out the women in Henley Falls. Who knows. Maybe your girl lives the next town over.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Theo mused. “But I think I’m going to sit this weekend out.
Gretchen starts on Monday, and I’m trying to get my ducks in a row.
I need to finish making a list of job duties then run it by Nora.
Plus, the contractor is coming that day as well to do one final walk-through of the barn. ”
Sam gave him a commiserating look. “I’m glad it’s finally built. Talk about a major pain in the ass. I swear I kept expecting you to lose your shit at some point and take a match to it.”
Theo agreed. “Not going to say there weren’t days when burning the damn thing to the ground wasn’t tempting.”
They had run into one setback after another building the barn, between long delays on the delivery of lumber to their construction foreman, Roy, taking six weeks off after becoming a first-time father.
They were happy for Roy, but his next-in-charge, Bryant, had screwed up more than a few things that had required renovations after Roy returned.
“Alright,” Sam said, rising. “I’ve left Jace alone too long. When the cat’s away… Twenty bucks says he’s kicked back watching TikTok videos and not doing a damn bit of work.”
Theo shook his head. “I’m not taking that bet. I don’t like to lose.”
Sam gave him a playful salute, then walked out.
Theo sank down on his chair and forced himself to get back to work on his list…then he considered Sam’s campaign. It looked like he was going to be burning that two-ended candle a little longer.
Fucking awesome.