Chapter Sixteen
TJ returned to his office, called up the new Garner Adventure website, and stared at the retail page. Though he hated to admit it, Deb might be right. Jillian’s online store was creative, appealing, clear, concise, and easy to use, but it lacked Garner Adventure’s kick-assness.
Or did it? TJ was finding it difficult to be objective where Deb was concerned. All he could think about was the kiss she’d called no big deal. Hell yes, it was a big deal. But if she wanted to pretend it wasn’t, fine by him. What did she know about his kisses anyway? Or about websites, for that matter. Jillian had built a successful business creating company’s online stores. She presumably knew what she was doing.
He continued to scroll through the site, trying to remain neutral while examining it closely. Delaney’s adventure wear—many of the pieces named after the Garner brothers, like the Win Windbreaker, the Colt Cargo pants, the Josh Jams, and the TJ Gives Me a Rash Guard (Colt’s idea)—was displayed in pencil sketches. They also had a couple of pages dedicated to their guides’ favorite accessories, including a headlamp for cave tours, a water bottle with holder, and a snake bite survival kit. Each had a quirky anecdote about why the item was useful. They had hats and mountain-climbing socks and bouldering gear. Each described with a bit of humor.
So what if it was more refined than GA’s rough-and-tumble image? Everyone, except Deb, had thought it was great.
He clicked off the page, threw on his jacket, and left the building in pursuit of fresh air and coffee. The day had gone from sweet to sour thanks to a certain brunette siren.
“We were both coming down from the adrenaline rush of Colt’s accident and kissed. No big deal.” Her words stung. Deep down inside, that kiss had given him a scintilla of hope that perhaps she could feel something for him.
She’d dashed that dream with two sentences.
It was for the best. They could be normal at work without any messy complications.
On his way to Tart Me Up, he stopped off at Glorious Gifts. Hannah was stocking one of the shelves with Valentine’s Day cards. He assumed they were for the last-minute rush, because Valentine’s Day was on Wednesday.
“You missed the unveiling of the new website,” he said.
She straightened from trying to lift a box and he got it for her. “Where do you want it?”
“Over there.” She pointed to the counter. “Thanks. I wanted to come over, but I’m the only one in the store today.”
She continued to take cards out of the carton and line them neatly next to each other on the rack. He thumbed through a few, reading the inscriptions inside. Stupid holiday but good for Hannah’s profits, he supposed.
“Did everyone love it?” Hannah asked.
Everyone but Deb. “It was a big hit. Check it out when you get a chance.”
He walked around the store, browsing. In recent years, his sister-in-law had slowly changed the inventory from kitschy tourist items to upscale home furnishings, clothes, and accessories. Her aunt had founded Glorious Gifts when downtown Glory Junction was just beginning to see the spill off from the ski resorts. Then the real estate market boomed and the store took off. Unfortunately, Sabine got cancer and died, leaving everything to Hannah.
“Deb called. She’s crazy about what we did in her office,” Hannah said. “I’m so glad we got it done in time. Even though her birthday isn’t until Thursday, I wanted her to start the week off with it decorated.”
“Good timing.” TJ took a smartphone cover with a cartoon map of Glory Junction off a display table and placed it on the counter. “You got any idea of what I should get her?”
“A birthday present? Ah, that’s thoughtful of you, TJ. She had her eye on an angora scarf that I sold on Sunday. I think I can get another one in time. You want that?”
What did he know about angora scarfs? “She really likes it?”
“She was crazy about it. But I’ll warn you, it’s pricey, even with the friends-and-family discount.”
“Go ahead and put it on my card. I’m taking the phone case, too.”
She went to the back of the store, grabbed some wooly thing, and scanned the price. “This isn’t it, but it cost the same.”
“Will you wrap it for me when it comes in?”
“Of course.” She rang up the phone case. “I’ll put a card in there from you and bring it to the party, unless you want to give it to her before, instead of with everyone else.”
“The party’s fine.” He needed to keep things normal between them, not single her out for special attention.
“You planning to bring Karen?”
What was this fixation everyone had with his love life? “Nope, riding solo. Who’s going?”
Hannah ticked off a bunch of names. In Glory Junction, you couldn’t invite one person and leave another out for fear of offending someone. In a small town, word of a party spread.
“Is Karen invited?” He’d never gotten around to returning her text, so seeing her at the party could be awkward. “What about Mandy Forsyth?”
“Karen is; not Mandy, though.” Her lips tipped up as she gave him a look. “You’ve become sort of slutty, haven’t you?”
He laughed. “Nope, that’s Win’s bag. I’m the boring, corporate guy, remember?”
“No Garner has ever been accused of being boring.” She leaned over the counter and kissed his cheek.
Deb had. His kisses . . . no big deal . . . give me a break.
“I guess we’ll be meeting this Britney woman at Deb’s party on Saturday,” she continued.
“Yep.” He started for the door with his package. “Thanks for taking care of the gift for me.”
“Hey,” Hannah called. “This is going to sound crazy, but what about you and Deb?”
When he didn’t say anything, she waved her hand in the air. “I know, nuts. Never mind.”
Outside, he crossed the road to the sunny side of the street and walked to the bakery. Rita Tucker passed him in her beat-up Chevrolet pickup, slammed on her brakes, and backed up.
“Want a ride?”
“Nah; it’s a nice day to walk,” TJ said.
“I wanted to talk to you about next year’s calendar.”
The last thing he wanted to do right now was talk to Rita about her cheesy calendar. Everyone put up with it because it raised a lot of cash for the volunteer fire department, but it was pervy as hell. Last year, she’d wanted him to pose as Mr. July, oiled up in a Speedo. But he drew the line at anything that showed the outline of his balls.
“Uh, I’m pressed for time, Rita. Let’s do it another day.”
“All right.” She had a smoker’s voice that sounded like truck tires on a gravel road. “Let’s put our heads together and come up with a date. I have a bunch of new locations I want to try out.”
She took the pictures and did the “styling” herself. The photos were always slightly out of focus and epically inappropriate. They’d all hoped that once she became mayor, she’d turn the calendar over to someone else, someone with taste. But no such luck.
“Sure.” An Audi pulled up behind her and the driver tooted his horn. Five to ten years ago, honking your horn at another motorist in Glory Junction would’ve been a hanging offense. But with all the new part-time residents up from the city, the town had thrown civility to the wind. “See you later.”
She drove off in the direction of city hall and TJ continued to the bakery. The breakfast rush was over and he didn’t have to wait long for his number to be called. He got a large coffee and a box of Danish to bring back to the office. Rachel came up front from the kitchen to say hello.
“How’s Colt? Heard he got caught in a sluff.”
“He got out of the hospital this morning and is doing well. A few days of home rest and he’ll be right as rain.”
“Good to hear,” she said and took the pastry box from the kid working behind the counter, opened it, and threw in a few more pastries. “Tell everyone hi for me at GA.”
“Will do and thanks, Rachel.” TJ had always thought she and her business were great additions to Glory Junction.
He took the Danish back to the office and everyone descended on the box like scavengers. A few guides had come in to collect their paychecks and stood around the lobby, chowing and telling stories about their recent expeditions. TJ listened for a while before getting back to work. He grabbed an apple turnover and brought it back to Deb.
“Knock, knock.”
“Come in.”
He found her sitting in front of the computer, tapping keys.
“Food.” He set the napkin with the turnover down next to her. “What are you doing?”
“Filling orders.”
“Yeah?” He stepped closer to look over her shoulder. It took all his willpower not to spout off about Jillian being right. “How many we get?”
“Three: one for a Colt and Delaney bouldering shirt, another for a fleece, and a third for a pair of Garner Adventure hiking sticks. They came in over the weekend.”
Before the new site launched, which took the wind out of his sails.
“How many did we get today?” They’d announced the new online store in GA’s monthly newsletter, offering everything from free shipping to deep discounts. A number of adventure blogs had plugged them as well. Business should be thriving.
“Let me check.” She refreshed the page, but there was nothing.
TJ pulled up a chair. “Huh; maybe it’s not working.” He called up the website on his phone, went straight to the retail store, and ordered a pair of cargo shorts. “Refresh it again.”
She clicked her mouse on the reload icon and there was his order. He checked his watch. “It’s still early. By the end of the day, we should be getting plenty of action.”
“I hope so.”
“You feeling okay?” Her eyes were puffy.
“About Win? There hasn’t been anything between us for a long time, and frankly, what we had was more like puppy love than the real thing.” She turned to face him, her eyes holding his. “I’m looking for the real thing.”
“Aren’t we all?” he said and leaned in.
She smiled. Just a small one, but it filled him to brimming, making his heart hammer in his chest. She put the pastry down and briefly touched his hand. And without thinking, he wiped away a smudge of pastry with his free thumb and ever so lightly touched her lips. If she didn’t realize then what he felt for her, she either had cataracts or was comatose.
There were footsteps in the hallway and he quickly turned his head. Darcy stood in the open doorway, blushing. She must’ve assumed she’d be walking in on an intimate moment between him and Deb. Karen brushed by her.
“Hey,” she said in a singsong voice that sounded overly cheery. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
He was CEO of the company; why wouldn’t he be here? “What brings you to GA?” He rose and shook her hand.
She laughed off his awkward reception and pecked him on the cheek. “I’m here to meet with Deb. Delaney is home, taking care of your brother. What about you?”
“We launched our new website today, including the retail store,” Deb said. “TJ and I were going over the orders.”
“How’s that going?” She tilted her head to get a look at Deb’s monitor.
“Not too—”
“Great,” TJ cut Deb off. “We’ve got some friendly competition with an adventure company out of Colorado, but it’s all good. I’ll leave you two to your meeting.”
Deb nodded and he watched her for a few heartbeats, wondering if something significant had happened between them before they were interrupted.
“Cute space,” Karen said, taking quick stock of the room.
TJ went back to his office, irritated by Karen’s timing, and pulled a Win by lying longways on his couch. There were a dozen reports on his desk that needed attention, but the thought of burying himself in paperwork made him want to run for the hills. In all the time he’d been running GA, that had never happened.
He heard a scraping noise and spied Darcy loitering by his door. What now? “You need to talk to me, Darcy?”
She shuffled in. “Sorry for interrupting you and Deb.”
“You weren’t interrupting anything.” He wished she would stop apologizing all the time.
“Uh, you were obviously having a moment.”
He swung up into a sitting position and leaned over to close the door. “We were not having a moment.”
She took the spot next to him on the couch. “If you say so.” Shy Darcy had become too bold for her own good. “Anyone with half a brain can see there’s something between you two.”
And she’d become too perceptive. “There’s nothing between us.”
“Except that you’re crazy about each other. I noticed it at the meeting the other day, the way you kept following each other with your eyes across the room.”
“She’s crazy about someone else,” TJ said and blew out a breath.
“She might think she is, but she’s not. In any event, we have a bit of an emergency.”
He straightened, trying to put Deb out of his mind. “What is it now?”
“Roger Cooley canceled on us.”
That wasn’t good. “He was leading the ice surfing group, right?”
“Uh-huh. It’s supposed to start in”—she glanced at the clock on his wall—“thirty-six minutes.”
TJ would certainly call that an emergency and racked his brain for someone they could get on short notice. “What about Win?”
“He’s AWOL,” she said.
“I just remembered I gave him the day off.”
He thought about who else might be available. Not Colt, obviously, and Josh already had a tour. Most of their part-timers weren’t up to it. Ice surfing was for pure adrenaline junkies, allowing for speeds of up to seventy miles per hour. It was for extreme thrill seekers . . . like him.
“I’ll do it,” he said and jumped up from the sofa.
“You never leave the office in the middle of the day.”
No, he didn’t. He also didn’t leave piles of paperwork that needed tending on his desk, unfinished. “Times are changing.”
“But who’ll run the place while you’re gone?”
“Go for it,” he said, and went in search of his board.