The Tea Shop on Lavender Lane (Life in Icicle Falls) by Sheila Roberts

sorry,” she said stiffly. “Of course, I’ll pay for what I broke.”
    “No, just forget it.”
    “No, really. I want to.”
    Tina waved away Bailey’s offer. “I’ll write it off.”
    If she was going to write it off... “Couldn’t you give me one more day?” Bailey asked in a small voice.
    Tina looked at her in horror. “I can’t afford to write off that much.”
    There wasn’t anything Bailey could say, other than, “I’ll get my purse.”
    “I’m sorry,” Tina said when Bailey returned from the back room. “I hope you find something that’s a better fit.”
    “I’m sure I will,” Bailey said. There were all kinds of things she could do. She just had to figure out what they were. She slung her purse onto her shoulder and overturned a pile of lace tablecloths. “Uh, I’ll get going.”
    Tina frowned. “That would be a good idea.”
    And so Bailey got going...right over to her mother’s cottage.
    “Hi, sweetie. How was your first day on your new job?”
    “I got fired,” Bailey said and burst into tears.
    Her mother hugged her, then led her to the dining table and seated her with a box of tissues and a cup of chocolate mint tea. “Now, tell me what happened.”
    It was a short story. Bailey’s klutz gene had kicked in, and that had been that.
    “Well, I must say, she didn’t give you much of a chance,” her mother observed.
    “I guess I wasn’t meant to sell lace,” Bailey said. “But I wish she’d given me one more day. I mean, I’m not totally accident prone.”
    Her mother made no comment, instead saying, “Maybe God has something else in mind for you. Everything happens for a reason—you know that.”
    Bailey frowned. “I’d sure like to know the reason I got turned into the party poisoner.”
    “Maybe it was to bring you home to Icicle Falls.”
    But she’d come back in disgrace. How was that a good thing?
    “I think you were meant to come home, and I think something wonderful is waiting for you here,” her mother continued. “You just have to discover it.”
    “I want to, but I have no idea what to do next,” Bailey confessed.
    “What about working for Olivia?”
    Brandon Wallace’s mom? “Oh, I don’t know,” Bailey said. She wasn’t sure she wanted to work at the Icicle Creek Lodge, where she could hear firsthand how happy Brandon was with his new girlfriend.
    “Olivia was just telling me yesterday that she’d like to hire someone personable to run the front desk.”
    On the other hand, Bailey liked Olivia Wallace. She and Bailey’s mother had been friends since they were girls, and Olivia had been like an adopted aunt to Bailey and her sisters when they were growing up. Bailey had enjoyed many a birthday tea party at Olivia’s, and it had been Olivia who’d encouraged her to go after her dream of becoming a caterer.
    Working for Olivia would feel more like being with family than clocking in to a job. It might even be fun.
    “Let’s call her,” Mama urged.
    Bailey agreed, and a moment later they had Olivia on speakerphone.
    “Bailey, I’m glad you’re back,” Olivia said. “Are you home to stay?”
    “I think so.” And if her mother was right, she was home for a purpose. What that purpose was, she couldn’t imagine.
    “She needs a job,” Mama put in. “I told her you were looking for someone over at the lodge.”
    “Oh, Bailey, you’d be perfect!”
    “You think so?” Bailey asked hopefully. It would certainly be nice to be perfect for something.
    “Absolutely. Come on over and let’s talk,” Olivia said.
    So Bailey left her mother’s place and went to the Icicle Creek Lodge.
    The lodge was one of the town’s most popular B and Bs. Snugged in by fir and cedar trees, it looked like a Bavarian hunting lodge, all stone and timber, with a big front porch and a sweeping lawn. Inside, it was impressive. Its large, elegant reception area had high ceilings and a stone fireplace flanked by big easy chairs. There was also a baby grand piano,