Page 8 of Flirting With Forever
After the last employee deleted the computerized version and screwed up the system so badly, he’d never been able to get things to sync properly to his phone. That meant stopping in at the end of each day and seeing what had been changed or added, or pulling over somewhere to call for an update Cole was too cranky to give. That was the thing about being in business with his family. It meant a lot of time together to get on each other’s nerves.
He frowned when he moved behind the counter and caught the hint of vanilla and raspberry. Maybe Ana had been in to visit today? Cole’s wife didn’t stop in often, but it was known to happen. Still the perfume lingering in the air didn’t match Ana’s fancy boutique-store style and left him curious.
“Hey, glad I caught you,” Cole said as he entered the side door from the convenience store.
Gage swung round to face his brother. “What are you still doing here?”
“I had a limo booking—and I wanted to check in with Brooks and see how the new girl’s repair went.”
Gage froze with his hand in midair. “What new girl? You already hired someone?”
“I told you we weren’t messing around.” Cole gave him a pointed glare. “So, yeah, I did. She started training this morning and worked all day.”
Gage looked around the counter and the business area of things, his gaze searching.
“What are you looking for?”
“Did she break anything? Screw up the computer? Tell someone off on the phone? Disappear at lunch and not come back?” There had to be something. There always was. The ineptness of today’s hires shocked him sometimes. His brothers said he was being too picky, but—he wasn’t. He really wasn’t.
Cole crossed his bulging arms over his chest and shook his head.
“She’s attentive and picked up on stuff really fast. First day went extremely well until she tried to go home, and her car wouldn’t start from a dead battery.”
Gage raked his fingers through his hair, his gaze lowering onto a colorful sheet of paper he’d missed during his first perusal. “What’s this?”
“Your schedule for tomorrow. She’s working on getting the calendars to sync like before, but that last guy really screwed something up with the system. She made an appointment to talk with the tech company to get it fixed tomorrow.”
“I already tried that.”
“You got pissed off and hung up on him. She’s going to try again.”
He stared down at the paper with a frown.
“She printed that off because I told her you come in every night to check the calendar.”
“And it’s all here?” Gage asked, highly suspect that something wasn’t missing. That was another thing with the guy he’d hired last. For everything on the list, three had been accidentally left off out of carelessness or disorganization.
“Said all you needed was the sheet.”
Whoever she was, she’d highlighted and color coded the items. Blue was maintenance. Red meant calls that needed to be returned ASAP. Orange tagged bookings for loading and unloading bags and crap for tourists who overpacked and knew they couldn’t carry it all inside their rented vacation homes. Gray marked the black car service, listing the client, destination and estimated time frame so he’d always know where Cole would be. There were several more colors, but the time frames were generous enough and didn’t overlap. “She did all of this? Without the computer?”
His normal schedule was chaotic and overbooked, but that was his own fault. Still, thanks to the different colors, a quick glance told him what he needed for each job and where he was supposed to be.
“Yeah, so don’t be a jerk and give her a chance. She seems nice. Ana’s waiting, so I gotta go. See you tomorrow,” Cole said on his way back out the door.
Gage was still looking over the schedule and lifted a hand in goodbye. When he didn’t see anything unusual, his brain finally kicked back in. “Wait, what’s her name?”
But Cole was already gone.
Chapter Three
There was nothing like a creeper pecking at your window while you were trying to sleep.
Sloane knew better than to uncover her head because, as yet, the guy hadn’t seen her face. She could be a man hiding beneath the blanket for all he knew. But it was stifling under the blanket, and if he didn’t go away soon, she was going to have to climb over the seat and find a new spot to park.
Thankfully, her new boss had barely blinked at the fact her car wouldn’t start, and since yet another brother ran a towing service out of the convenience store, getting a jump had been easy. But the icing on the cake?
Cole had paid her the day’s wages in cash, so she’d been able to keep her savings and still get gas as well as dinner, which she ate inside the Laundromat while washing her clothes. It felt good to have that done. And to have her stomach full, even if it wasn’t the healthiest of food.
