Page 8 of Make Me Swoon

I hear Stan leave, probably headed back to his office, and I kiss Bandit on the head before I stand and smile at Sutton.

“Congratulations on getting Stan to agree that maybe,just maybe, you might be right,” I say with a laugh and she rolls her eyes as she smiles and heads over to join me.

“I know. I guess maybe miracles do happen.”

I laugh, leaning on the counter by the register. She leans on it from the other side, looking around the gift shop.

“Did you finish the inventory yesterday?” she asks and I nod.

“Yeah, we only had that one tour group, so I got it all done. I gave Stan the forms.”

“Did he order the rest of those pastel shirts that we sold out of last week?”

“I’m not sure. He didn’t say if he did or not.”

“I’ll go check,” she says, petting Bandit before she heads down the hallway to talk to her uncle.

If today is anything like yesterday, then we won’t be that busy. I take a seat on the stool and open up a new browser on the computer. It’s an older model and I head into the kitchen, letting the computer boot as I grab myself a cup of coffee and head back to Google a career assessment test.

I remember taking one of these in high school. I had thought that they were a joke then and I still think that, but I’m getting desperate to find some kind of direction to go in with my life.

I click on the first link and take a sip of my coffee as the first few questions start to load. I can’t really remember the tests that I had to take in high school. I think one said that I should be a lawyer and the other one a teacher.

Neither option interested me. I don’t want to argue for a living and I’m not patient enough to deal with kids all day long.

Maybe I’ll get a different answer now. I know myself better than I did as a teenager, and I’m more focused on it than I was when I was fourteen years old.

The website finishes loading and I take another drink before I start answering the questions.

Would you rather work in an office or outside? Both isn’t an option and I bite my lip, trying to decide which I like more. This already feels like I’m off to a bad start.

I click ‘inside’ and start on the second.

Do you like to help people?Sure, who doesn’t.

Question three is do you like building furniture?Does anyone enjoy building furniture? Like Ikea furniture?I hit the circle for no on that one.

The list of questions goes on and on and by the time I’ve gotten to the end, I’ve skipped probably half and I don’t feel that confident about another quarter of my answers. I’m starting to remember why I hated doing these in school.

I go back, doing my best to fill in the missing questions. I hit submit and groan when it asks me for my credit card information.

I close out of the browser, finishing off my coffee and looking out the window. There are still no guests pulling in so I head to grab another cup of coffee from the kitchen. Stan must have beat me to it, so I grab the coffee and a filter from the cabinet and get to work on making another pot.

I lean against the counter as the coffee starts to drip into the pot and that’s when I remember the note that I took from Hudson this morning and I reach into my pocket and pull it out, opening it up to read it.

Lyla,would you rather find true love today or win the lottery next year?

Have dinner with me and we can discuss…

x. H

The wouldyou rather question reminds me of the career assessment that I just took and I bite my lip, giving his question some real thought.

Unlike the career assessment questions, I don’t have to think long to answer Hudson’s.

Love, I’d rather have true love. I’ve seen my mom marry for money and she still seems miserable. I never understood why she married my stepfather or put up with his kids. No amount of money seemed worth that.

I know that money doesn’t cure everything. Having true love, someone who supports you and wants to be with you no matter what, that’s priceless. That’s what I want from my life.

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