by R A Wallace
“Hiring more employees?” Caitlyn watched Rhonda nod. “That’s always good to hear.”
Rhonda put one hand on Caitlyn’s arm. “Don’t let me talk your ear off about that. You know I could easily do it.”
“You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished with your business,” Caitlyn said. “You and your husband have created something that supports a lot of Teaberry residents with jobs. Between farming and the frozen meal products you sell in multiple states, Waters Food is a large operation.”
“Grady is the farmer. I just incorporated what he grew into food that I enjoyed eating,” Rhonda said. “Luckily for me, others seem to enjoy eating it too.”
“In addition to the production of your frozen meals, there’s shipping,” Leah added. “We’re talking a lot of jobs.”
“It’s been a long road to get where we are, but I’m definitely not complaining.” Rhonda waved a hand to change the subject. “But we aren’t the only business in town. How about you? One of my suppliers mentioned she hired you to do her daughter’s wedding. It sounds like it’s going to be huge. Did she say she’s having actual swans?”
Caitlyn grinned. “Happily, I wasn’t expected to supply the live swans. I am expected to feature them in the floral arrangements, however. I understand Lauren will be working them onto the cake as well.”
“Have you two considered marketing yourself as a team for wedding?” Leah asked. “You and Lauren seem to end up doing a lot of the same jobs.”
Rhonda grinned. “What’s the old saying? Two birds with one stone?”
Caitlyn groaned. “Oh, that was bad.”
“I know.” Rhonda chuckled her agreement then her face grew more serious. “Though now that I think of it, sometimes those old sayings really are the wisest. Getting rid of two birds with one stone sounds temptingly efficient.” She gave a finger wave. “On that note, I should get back to work.”
Caitlyn was still shaking her head as she remembered what Megan said. “Hey, how often do you come across the old toys that were made in Teaberry?”
Leah began walking toward the exit. “We see them in estate sales every now and again. It took us a bit to figure out the provenance.” She made a face at Caitlyn indicating it shouldn’t have been so difficult. “Once we did, it made total sense.”
Caitlyn slowed. “What do you mean?”
Leah held her hands up as though holding one of the alphabet blocks. “They have a stamp on each one of their toys. A brand mark, so to speak. Even on each individual block. You can see the mark and know that Elementary in Teaberry was the company that made the toy. They used the teaberry symbol. No surprise there, I guess. But just having that tiny stamp of teaberry leaves and berries would remind anyone who had the toy where they got it from. Like permanent advertising to an audience you already have.”
“Interesting,” Caitlyn murmured as she followed Leah from the meeting room.
They heard the shouting in the hallway as soon as they stepped through the door. They stopped next to Rhonda.
“What’s going on?” Caitlyn asked loud enough to be heard over the shouting.
Rhonda motioned toward the two men blocking the exit from the building. “From what I can tell, Kirk is upset that his bids are being undercut on a regular basis. I was afraid to get in the middle of it.”
They listened as the two men continued arguing.
Rhonda checked the time on her phone. “I need to get back to my office.
Caitlyn was thinking the same thing. She turned to say something to Leah but saw her flinch when the argument between the men appeared to escalate.
“Okay, that’s it.” Caitlyn moved forward quickly and didn’t stop until she was standing between the two men. The men continued to glare at each other over her head. She looked up at Kirk first. “You need to take a step back.”
Kirk looked confused for a moment to see her there, then pointed at the other man. “He’s stealing all of my business.”
Caitlyn turned toward Gregg Eastman. The other electrician looked just as mad as Kirk. “I’m sorry that you two aren’t getting along at the moment, but you’re scaring people.” She turned back to Kirk. “Both of you. Other members of the community shouldn’t be made to feel unsafe.”
The two electricians shot guilty looks at Rhonda and Leah. The women had remained at the far end of the hall.
Caitlyn lifted her brows at the electricians. “If you want to continue this conversation, I can’t stop you. But you will do it outside and away from the building.”
She followed them as far as the exit then turned to wait for Rhonda and Leah to join her.
“Gee, why didn’t I think of that?” Rhonda gave a wry smile. “I could have been out of here several minutes ago.”
Caitlyn pushed the door open and stepped out. Both electricians were driving away in their trucks. They were headed in different directions. “Looks like it’s safe.”
Leah walked with Caitlyn toward their vehicles. “We have another estate sale coming up.”
Caitlyn forgot about the electricians. “Could you keep an eye out for me for any more toys from Elementary in Teaberry? I don’t care what kind of toys. Just anything made by that company.”
Leah rubbed her hands together. “Are you kidding? I love finding things for people. It’s one of my favorite things to do.”
Caitlyn thought about the toys on the short ride back to the florist shop. Her mom was ending a call on the phone when she stepped into Anderson Florist.
“Just took another order for you.” Susan finished entering the order into the computer. “How did the meeting go?”
Caitlyn crossed through the front room. “Mostly good. One part of it was awesome. Another part was bizarre.”
Susan waited until Caitlyn reappeared from the back room. “What was the awesome part?”
Caitlyn’s face lit up as she uncapped a bottle of water. “You know how I was mentioning Elementary in Teaberry?”
“The toy company that used to own this shop space? Yeah.” Susan leaned against the front counter.
“Leah told me that each one of their toys is branded with their logo. No matter how big or how small the toy, you can always tell who made it because of a simple little mark.” Caitlyn took a swig of water.
Susan tilted her head to one side. “That’s not really unusual. Most companies have logos or something that they use to identify their product.”
Caitlyn used her bottle of water to point at her mother. “Exactly. But the town of Teaberry doesn’t have that. That’s what we need. Something that uniquely identifies the town…”
“So every business can use it on their ads to promote Teaberry. Gotcha.” Susan crossed her arms. “Okay, that is kind of awesome. You figured out what your new advertising idea needs for everyone to easily get on board.”
“Yes!” Some of Caitlyn’s giddiness dimmed. “Now I just need to figure out what the unique identifier is.”
Susan made a face. “It needs to readily identify Teaberry. Can’t you just use a sprig of Teaberry?”
“I don’t know. That’s what Elementary in Teaberry used. I mean, I haven’t seen their mark yet but that’s what it sounded like.” Caitlyn took her phone out and frowned at it. “I wonder who would be able to figure it out?”
Susan pushed away from the counter and gave her daughter a knowing look. “Sounds like something a lawyer would handle.”
Caitlyn’s lips curled into a smile. “What luck? I just happen to know one.”
“Who is married to your husband’s business partner,” Susan said as she positioned the strap of her cross-body purse. “Wait, I forgot. What was the bizarre part?”
Caitlyn put the cap back on her water bottle. “Gregg Eastman was really tearing into Kirk Moody.”
Susan stopped moving toward the front door and turned back to Caitlyn. “What do you mean? In the middle of the meeting?”
“No, afterward. It was out in the hall. But it was so bad, they scared Rhonda Wat
ers. She was afraid to walk past them to leave the building.”
Susan took a step closer to Caitlyn. “That must have been bad. Rhonda is a tough cookie. She had to be to build a company that size from nothing.”
“She and her husband Grady are definitely role models for others in Teaberry,” Caitlyn agreed. “Leah was just as scared. Luckily, the men came to their senses long enough to leave without incident.”
“If it happens again, don’t take any chances. Just call the police.” Susan waited until Caitlyn nodded her agreement. “Okay, I’m off then. Hey, I have good news too. Sharon said she’d help me with my wedding.”
Caitlyn smiled. “That is good news. Megan’s mom always loved to throw a party.”
Chapter Five
“This should do the trick.” Dan passed the jug over to his customer. “Those dandelions won’t know what hit them.”
Mrs. Cheung set the jug into her cart. “I hope so. They’re worse this year than they’ve ever been.”
Dan smiled at another customer as he rounded the endcap of an aisle. “Need help?”
“Just looking,” the woman said with a vague wave toward everything around her. “You never know what you might need.”
His favorite kind of customer. Dan grinned as he continued on his way. He finally found his father-in-law outside. Eric was rearranging some of the planter trays in a display to fill in holes made from purchases. “You think you can handle propane tank refills?”
“For gas grills?” Eric straightened from what he was doing. “Yeah. I haven’t done any since last year but I’m pretty sure I remember how.”
“Okay, you’re it then in between whatever else you need to do. Everyone else is swamped.” Dan reached for his sunglasses and slipped them on before scanning the area behind the store.
Everywhere he looked, there were people walking the rows checking out trees with potted or balled roots, bushes in containers, decorative stones for patios, and everything in between. In the distance, he saw two couples looking at porch swings. Just as he began to move in their direction, he saw Brianna stop to speak with them.
“It’s pretty crazy considering it isn’t a weekend yet.” Eric was also looking around. “Must be the good weather.”
“I don’t know what it is but I’m going to double check my roster for the weekend. We might need more people working,” Dan muttered as he stepped around the corner of the building to look at the front. When he stepped back, he pointed. “Someone is carrying another tank over to the refill station.”
“I’m on it, boss.” Eric moved away quickly.
Dan could hear a voice over the loudspeaker system as one of the cashiers called for help with bagged mulch. He walked to the side entrance of the building and stepped inside.
“Hey, Dan. Looks like you’re swamped.” Ward Beecham waved a bottle of glue.
Dan paused. “Working on another project for the scale model of Teaberry?”
“Happily, it’s a never-ending task,” Ward agreed. “But I also have a cart full of some new flowering bushes already picked out.”
“Don’t even remind me.” The man that appeared at the end of the aisle was smiling. It caused the lines fanning out from his eyes and bracketing his mouth to deepen. “My wife has big plans for updating some of our landscaping this year.”
“Hey, Grady.” Ward reached for another bottle of glue. “How are things at Waters Food?”
“We’ve added some new associates.” Grady stopped at the end of the aisle. “A few more farmers in the area will be providing some of our organic produce for a new line of products.”
“That’s good news for the economy of Teaberry. Are you looking for something in particular today?” Dan began moving toward Grady.
Grady grimaced and pointed behind him. “Looks like one of my trucks is leaking oil. I don’t have time to get it to your brother to check out today.”
“You’re sure it’s oil?” Dan led the way past a few aisles.
Grady chuckled. “Not really. I just know that something is leaking underneath. Gabe handles our fleet of delivery trucks.”
Dan was happy to hear it. Given the number of trucks Waters Food had, that was a great business contract for Gabe’s Garage. He stopped when he reached the shelves of oil. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Grady was already reaching for a bottle. “I’ll have to call Gabe later and see if he can check on it. Hopefully, adding a little oil will help for now.”
Dan began moving again. Grady followed him out of the aisle. As Grady headed for the cash register, Dan checked the store for others who might need help. When he reached the section for electrical supplies, he stopped again.
“Hey, Gregg. Working on a job?” Dan watched the electrician reach for a contractor’s supply of electrical tape.
Gregg held up the package in his hand. “This should do it.”
Dan nodded and kept moving. The lines at the front were getting long. He checked for employees he could shift to help. After looking in the stock room in the back and the lumber and fencing area on the side, he turned to head back into the store. Everyone else was busy. That meant he needed to start working a register.
“You’re stealing my customers!” The voice was loud enough to be heard for several aisles.
“You can’t blame me because you don’t know how to run a business.”
“That’s a lie!” The voice was even louder now.
Dan saw several people turn their head toward the argument. One woman lifted a small child into her arms then reached for her cart and quickly moved away from the area. He squared his shoulders as he headed for the angry voices.
“Guys.” Dan lifted both hands, palms out. “This is not the place.”
Gregg Eastman’s face was contorted in anger. He appeared oblivious to Dan as he pointed a finger at Kirk Moody. “You’re lying. You need to stay away from me.”
Dan took a step closer. “Guys!” He moved between the two electricians. “Take it outside.”
Gregg lifted his hands in the air then turned on his heel.
Dan looked at Kirk. The fifty-something man was shaking his head. When he shifted his eyes to Dan, he shrugged.
“I’m sorry if you two are having a problem, but you need to leave it at the door,” Dan said.
Kirk’s face folded into a scowl just before he turned away. “He started it.”
It came out as a mumble but Dan heard it as Kirk moved away. Dan began moving toward the cash registers again. Luckily, no one there seemed to be aware of the altercation on the other side of the store. As Dan logged into a register so he could open another checkout, he glanced through the open doors of the side entrance. He saw his father-in-law pushing a cart filled with containers of flowering bushes for someone and reminded himself that he needed to check the work roster for the weekend. If today was any indication, it was going to be crazy.
***
She could hear him mumbling before he appeared in her work kitchen. Lauren slid a tray of cookies into the oven and turned to face her husband. He was carrying Grace. The toddler made it clear she wanted down.
Justin held Grace with his arms straight out. “You just said you wanted me to pick you up.”
Grace pointed toward the floor and howled again.
“Okay, okay.” Justin set her on the floor.
Grace immediately held her arms up again.
“I think someone is ready for a nap,” Lauren said as she returned to her work island.
“Yeah Daddy.” Justin gave a lopsided grin.
Lauren began rolling more cookie dough into small balls. “I thought you had a meeting before your shift today.”
“Don’t remind me.” Justin’s eyes went to the clock. “My mom said she’ll try to stop by to help you with Grace but she couldn’t promise anything. She and Vince had plans.”
“As well she should.” Lauren continued to roll dough balls. “She and Vince are married now. They’re making plans like a married couple and doing
more things together. That’s the way it should be.”
Justin eyed his daughter as she managed to open a cupboard. “I thought we had latches on all of these.”
“She figured out how to defeat them.” Lauren added sugar to a bowl.
“My daughter. The escape artist.” Justin crossed over to Grace and tried to distract her with something else. It didn’t work.
Lauren tilted her head toward the refrigerator behind her as she added cinnamon to the sugar in the bowl. “I have a sippy cup in there for her.”
“It’s worth a try.” Justin passed her work island on his way to the fridge. “Are those snickerdoodles?”
She laughed at his child-like enthusiasm. “One of your favorites.”
Justin took the sippy cup from the fridge and held it out to tempt Grace. “How are you going to manage with her when I leave?”
Grace began moving in his direction.
“As soon as I’m done with this batch of cookies, we need to run to the store anyway. With any luck, it will tire her out enough and she’ll take a nap when we get home.” She rolled the balls of dough in the sugar and cinnamon mix.
Justin stopped next to Lauren and leaned in for a kiss. “I wish you luck.”
His eyes went to Grace. She was focused on her sippy cup. Lauren nodded her agreement with his plan. Justin silently crept from the room. Lauren heard his car pull out of the driveway a few minutes later. She had the kitchen cleaned up by the time the cookies were done. It took her several more minutes to get Grace cleaned up and ready to go.
“Mommy is going to make a quick stop at Tea & Thyme first. I need some more tea.” Lauren checked the rearview mirror. As usual, Grace was mesmerized by the video playing on the screen behind Lauren’s seat. Lauren found a parking space around the corner from Tea & Thyme. She freed a reluctant Grace from the van and made her way into the shop.
Chapter Six
“I promise you can watch more of your video in a minute.” Lauren nuzzled Grace’s neck to get her to laugh.
“Wow, someone is happy.” Rhonda Waters turned from a display of tea. “Hey, Lauren. How is it going?”
