guy in the world. Damn. He had a date with Jenna Rathburne. Finally. He knew he was grinning like a fool and quite frankly, he didn’t care. “Yes, it sure is.”
Merrilee tapped her pencil against her desk blotter. “Dating can be something of a challenge in Good Riddance. You’re sort of limited.” That was an understatement. “You have to be resourceful. And creative.”
He was so out of luck. “I’m a numbers kind of guy. Asking you for advice is the extent of my resourcefulness and creativity. But I want to make it really special. I sort of screwed something up—no, not sort of, I did screw up in a big way—and I’d like to make it up to her by doing something special.”
Merrilee laughed. “Let’s see. Karaoke isn’t until tomorrow night. Skye Shanahan’s teaching a CPR certification course over at the community center tonight but I don’t think that’s what you’d want to do on a date.”
“Not particularly.”
Merrilee brightened, snapping her fingers. “I’ve got it. You could always go on a picnic.”
Obviously it took a different breed of person to live out in the Alaskan bush. He didn’t want to come across as a wuss but… “I think I’m missing something. It’s not going to get above freezing today, much less tonight.”
“Innovation, Logan, innovation. I’ve got a basket tucked away somewhere. We’ll set you up with a blanket, a few candles and dinner from Gus’s. You and Jenna can have a picnic right there in her cabin.”
“That sounds good, but it will be obvious I didn’t come up with the idea on my own.”
“She won’t care whether you came up with it yourself. Not when you show up on her doorstep packing a romantic candlelight picnic. Trust me on this. I’m a woman.”
Merrilee knew Jenna and if she said that’s what he should do, then that’s what he intended to do. “I take it I can get the candles at the dry goods store?”
“Absolutely. While you’re there, you can nose around and see if there’s anything else that might strike your fancy. Teddy’ll help you pull together the food.”
There was still one thing that wasn’t making any sense. “Why would the two of you go to all of that trouble?”
“Why did you come here, Logan?”
“Well, as I explained yesterday—”
She waved her hand. “I know your company wants to buy us out. I’ve been waiting for someone to show up ever since your man scouted us out in July. But why you? This isn’t in your normal job description. For goodness sake, you’re the CFO. I checked out the company website. Why are you here instead of Mr. Fishcher?”
“I was due a vacation and I’ve always wanted some time in Alaska—”
“Logan, you’ve got the money to come up here any time you wanted to. Why didn’t you come in the summer when the days are long and there are a lot more interesting things to do?”
“This way, I was killing two birds with one stone. My company wants to make a deal and I wanted to look Jenna up.”
Merrilee’s gaze was shrewd. “She was sitting in your backyard for eleven years. Have you ever stopped to wonder why you waited until there was another country between the two of you?”
Damn. He hadn’t thought about it at all but the way she put it made him sound less than logical. “No. I…well…”
“It’s okay. You’ll figure it out.” The phone rang. “Excuse me.” She answered. “Uh-huh. Today? We were just there this morning. It’s not scheduled until tomorrow. What? They want today? Right.” Her smile couldn’t possibly get any bigger. “Fine. We’ll be there today, right after lunch. Yep, the going rate for a round-trip flight. Okay. Got it covered.” She hung up. “That’s a class act.”
“Was that the florist?”
“Uh-huh. You know that’s a pretty steep delivery fee you’re paying there. You could have saved yourself a ton of money waiting a day.”
“No, it’s already been too long.”
“Good enough then. We’ll get the flowers you
Merrilee tapped her pencil against her desk blotter. “Dating can be something of a challenge in Good Riddance. You’re sort of limited.” That was an understatement. “You have to be resourceful. And creative.”
He was so out of luck. “I’m a numbers kind of guy. Asking you for advice is the extent of my resourcefulness and creativity. But I want to make it really special. I sort of screwed something up—no, not sort of, I did screw up in a big way—and I’d like to make it up to her by doing something special.”
Merrilee laughed. “Let’s see. Karaoke isn’t until tomorrow night. Skye Shanahan’s teaching a CPR certification course over at the community center tonight but I don’t think that’s what you’d want to do on a date.”
“Not particularly.”
Merrilee brightened, snapping her fingers. “I’ve got it. You could always go on a picnic.”
Obviously it took a different breed of person to live out in the Alaskan bush. He didn’t want to come across as a wuss but… “I think I’m missing something. It’s not going to get above freezing today, much less tonight.”
“Innovation, Logan, innovation. I’ve got a basket tucked away somewhere. We’ll set you up with a blanket, a few candles and dinner from Gus’s. You and Jenna can have a picnic right there in her cabin.”
“That sounds good, but it will be obvious I didn’t come up with the idea on my own.”
“She won’t care whether you came up with it yourself. Not when you show up on her doorstep packing a romantic candlelight picnic. Trust me on this. I’m a woman.”
Merrilee knew Jenna and if she said that’s what he should do, then that’s what he intended to do. “I take it I can get the candles at the dry goods store?”
“Absolutely. While you’re there, you can nose around and see if there’s anything else that might strike your fancy. Teddy’ll help you pull together the food.”
There was still one thing that wasn’t making any sense. “Why would the two of you go to all of that trouble?”
“Why did you come here, Logan?”
“Well, as I explained yesterday—”
She waved her hand. “I know your company wants to buy us out. I’ve been waiting for someone to show up ever since your man scouted us out in July. But why you? This isn’t in your normal job description. For goodness sake, you’re the CFO. I checked out the company website. Why are you here instead of Mr. Fishcher?”
“I was due a vacation and I’ve always wanted some time in Alaska—”
“Logan, you’ve got the money to come up here any time you wanted to. Why didn’t you come in the summer when the days are long and there are a lot more interesting things to do?”
“This way, I was killing two birds with one stone. My company wants to make a deal and I wanted to look Jenna up.”
Merrilee’s gaze was shrewd. “She was sitting in your backyard for eleven years. Have you ever stopped to wonder why you waited until there was another country between the two of you?”
Damn. He hadn’t thought about it at all but the way she put it made him sound less than logical. “No. I…well…”
“It’s okay. You’ll figure it out.” The phone rang. “Excuse me.” She answered. “Uh-huh. Today? We were just there this morning. It’s not scheduled until tomorrow. What? They want today? Right.” Her smile couldn’t possibly get any bigger. “Fine. We’ll be there today, right after lunch. Yep, the going rate for a round-trip flight. Okay. Got it covered.” She hung up. “That’s a class act.”
“Was that the florist?”
“Uh-huh. You know that’s a pretty steep delivery fee you’re paying there. You could have saved yourself a ton of money waiting a day.”
“No, it’s already been too long.”
“Good enough then. We’ll get the flowers you
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