Page 10 of A Chance for Candace

Chapter 5

The sheriff walked with the two of them to the storefront and followed them inside. “This store was always a lot bigger than some of the other buildings in Last Chance,” he told the two. “I think there will be plenty of room to work side-by-side.”

“I don’t plan to work side-by-side, Sheriff. Mr. Logan needs to keep his distance.”

Logan nodded. “I agree. We might be in the same building, but we don’t have to get in each other’s way. I’ll even let you choose what shelf you’d like for the first week in business on the window display.”

“That’s kind of you,” she told him, not believing for a moment he was doing it to be kind.

The sheriff walked around, making suggestions and coming up with rules the two were told they have to follow.

“This is indeed quite odd,” she told the sheriff. “Why can’t we make up our own rules?”

Jessie looked at her, nodding. “This whole ordeal is odd.”

The sheriff grinned. “While I agree that this is one unusual ordeal, Last Chance has a way of dealing with things in their own way and time. We have to put an end date on this contest, so I’ve decided that on August 30th the contest will come to an end. That will give you both roughly ten weeks to show this town your goods. The voting will take place at three in the afternoon. I’ll ask Katherine Payne, our local librarian, to count the votes and announce the winner.”

“You’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about our lives, Sheriff.”

The sheriff agreed. “I sure have. During our walk here, I decided we may as well have some fun with Flynn’s great idea. Look, the water finder is here drilling wells for those who have no other hope. We are getting people to open businesses and start over right here in Last Chance. I honestly didn’t think we’d ever see the day water was going to be found to save this town. It’s here and this contest will give people a chance to have some fun.”

“At our expense,” remarked Candace.

The sheriff frowned. “You can look at it that way, or think of it another way. Why not be part of helping this town grow? It doesn’t hurt to be on the positive side.”

Candace felt ashamed. “You’re right, Sheriff. I’m sorry for thinking only of myself.”

The sheriff tipped the brim of his hat. “I’m off to speak to Flynn about having some flyers made to post everywhere. How much time do you need to get this shop open? A week? Two weeks?”

“How about coming back tomorrow after we’ve done an assessment to find out?”

Candace had to agree. “I have to agree with Mr. Logan. We won’t know anything until we can see what’s here and find out if the General Store has the ingredients we need to get started.”

“Well, then, I’ll stop by tomorrow afternoon. Good day, folks.”

Candace was happy to see the sheriff leave. She was determined to get the place cleaned up and fill it with the scent of cocoa. She glanced at Mr. Logan who pulled a small book from his pocket. A pencil followed. She waited for him to speak, but he ignored her as he wondered about the store making notes in the book. “Mr. Logan, may I ask what you are doing?”

He slapped the book closed. “Making a list, Miss Sweigart. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“We have to establish our space and I can’t do that with your nose in a notebook!” It dawned on her at that very moment that he wanted to make the whole process difficult for her. He wanted her to lose and what better way than to be difficult from the start. “Now, if you’ll follow me, we’ll do this together,” she ordered, not taking no for an answer.

Candace walked across the room, determined to rise above his nonsense. When she gazed at Mr. Logan, he was grinning. “You sure are feisty, Miss Sweigart.”

“You may call me Candace. We surely don’t have to be so proper if we are working together every day.”

“Very well, Candace it is. You can call me Mr. Logan,” he told her in what she assumed was a teasing tone.

Candace burst into laughter. She shook her head and pointed to a pile of shelves on the floor. “We can use these for displays. Do you know how to build shelving, Mr. Logan?”

“I was kidding about calling myself Mr. Logan. It’s Jessie.”

She turned, almost brushing up against him in the process. It made her take a step back, surprised at the warm feeling that went through her. “If you plan to make things hard for me just remember one thing, sir. Theodore was my mentor. He taught me all about running a business as well as how to deal with unruly customers. I don’t scare easily.”

Jamie grinned. “Again, you are quite feisty, aren’t you, Candace? I believe Theo chose the right person to carry on his legacy.”

Was he being nice now to get her receipts or did he truly believe that she was genuine? What if he was sent here by his father to steal the receipts back and hand them over to Margaret? The woman had been desperate. Did Candace truly trust a man whose father had been her mentor’s rival for all those years? Does she dare to trust or even like him? Time would tell. She was going to be very watchful.

Two and a half hours later, Candace had a general idea of how she wanted to present her goods to the public. The left side of the store would be for Candace to display her products while the right side would be for Jessie’s cakes. Since the counter was the length of the store except in the middle where it was split in order to get to the back room and kitchen area. They agreed to split everything in half.

---