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  “What was the last event you worked?” Mr. Crofton asked her. “I noticed you put down you were freelancing, so has it been a while?”

  She blanched a bit. It wasn’t a surprise that this had come up, but she wished she had a better answer. “It’s been more on the sporadic side lately, but my last event was two weeks ago. I was the coordinator for a retirement party.”

  He nodded his head thoughtfully. He struck her as a mental notes type of guy. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sporadic,” he said. “Roles around here can be a bit sporadic as well. We need someone who can wear many hats, because we’re a cooperative group. At least, that’s my goal. We’ve had a rocky go of it so far, but that’s why I’m trying to bring in some new people.”

  Paige wondered why it had been rocky, and how long they’d been running the ranch as an events space instead of as originally intended. “Is this your family’s ranch?” she asked him. “It’s beautiful.”

  He seemed pleased to hear her say so. “Thank you. Yes, it is. My dad started this ranch as a cattle ranch, but when I took over after he passed away, I decided it could be popular in a different capacity. I reckon lots of folks would want to come and get married here in San Antonio, or host their parties here. It’s a heck of a town, isn’t it?”

  Paige smiled back at him and nodded her head. “Yes it is. Well, I think I can handle wearing many hats here, if I’m hired. I’m a flexible person with a lot of different experiences which lend themselves well to this position you’re describing.”

  “Well, tell you what,” Doug said to her. “I’ve got a few more people to interview this week but I’ll let you know by the beginning of next week. Does that sound good?”

  Her smile turned into a full-on beam. “Yes, sounds good to me. Thank you, Mr. Crofton.”

  “It’s been a pleasure to meet you,” he said as they stood and shook hands again. “And please call me Doug. Mister Crofton makes me sound old.”

  He winked at her and she felt her face turn warm again. Keep it together, Paige, for god’s sake. “Thank you, Doug,” she corrected. “I look forward to hearing from you.”

  She walked out of the ranch feeling like she’d done the best job she could have done during the interview. She felt more confident about it now that it was over, but she wondered if it was mostly because she was relieved to not have to worry about what she said anymore. She had something new to worry about, of course. She had to worry if she’d been hired or not.

  The next few days weren’t entirely agonizing for her, but they were difficult. Paige felt like she was waiting on tenterhooks to find out whether or not she’d been as successful in the interview as she’d thought at the time. Doug Crofton seemed like a laid-back guy who just wanted to do well by his family and its storied history on the ranch. She firmly believed he wasn’t likely to find someone else with as much experience or passion as she had for the job. The evidence was in all of the events she’d stepped in to help with because no one else could or wanted to handle the role. As an admin assistant, she was unsure of herself, but she knew she came alive when she was organizing and planning events. It sounded to her like Doug and his family could really use someone like her and Paige was anxious to get started even before he called to let her know either way.

  When he did call, it was all she could do not to dance around her parents’ living room and scare them out of bed. “Thank you so much!” she shouted cheerfully into her phone. “I need to give my current employer two weeks’ notice, of course, but I can’t wait to get started!”

  “We can’t wait to have you here with us,” Doug said brightly back. “I’ll see you again soon.”

  He was so friendly and welcoming. Paige couldn’t help but be a bit swoony about him, especially since he’d actually offered her the job of her dreams! She told her parents about it because they had indeed been stirred from their sleep, and then she went off to GeNome Labs so she could let Tessa know she would be leaving in two weeks. She made sure not to seem too happy about it, which was also difficult. The lab hadn’t been a bad place as a jumping off point, but she was so ready to move on to bigger and better things in her career.

  Paige arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to Stony Creek Ranch on her first day of work there as an events coordinator. She went inside the house and Doug made sure to introduce her around to the others who worked there, including his mother and his aunt. The two older women in the Crofton family didn’t seem too pleased to meet her, though they smiled and shook her hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” she said to the both of them. “This has been my dream job for a long time now, so I can’t wait to help out with all of your events here.”

  She noticed, aside from the slight sneer his mother gave her, Mrs. Crofton also walked with a cane. I wonder if this is why they need extra help now, she thought. It seems to me they might retire soon but they need to pick the right people to take over… Paige, of course, didn’t wish to overstep when she was new to the ranch, and she hoped the women would realize this in time as they got to know her.

  “Paige, as you’re mainly going to be working in event planning, you’ll be working most closely with my mother,” Doug explained to her. “You’ll likely be needed to step in and be there during events that my mother has helped plan.”

  Paige nodded her head. “Right, of course,” she said with a smile mainly for his mother. “I look forward to working with you, Mrs. Crofton.”

  Something odd seemed to flash in his mother’s eyes. “Call me Helen,” she corrected. This wasn’t said in the same friendly tone her son had employed when telling Paige to call him Doug. There was a slightly menacing quality to Helen’s voice, as if one mistake might cost her the position.

  “Yes.” Paige nodded quickly to let her know she understood. “It will be my pleasure to work with you, Helen.”

  Helen looked her up and down and then cast a curious glance at her son. “I hope you’re a quick learner,” she said to Paige, gesturing with a tilt of her head for the younger woman to follow her into the area of the house she’d staked out as her planning room. It looked quite a bit like another living room or perhaps a den. There were post-it notes all over one wall, and legal pads cluttering nearly every surface. An easel stood in one corner of the room, void of any sort of paper or board, though Paige knew that was the reason it was there.

  “I pride myself on being a quick learner,” she replied with a smile as she carefully took a seat on the sofa as she scanned over a legal pad on the nearby coffee table. “Three weddings in three weeks,” she said with a whistle. “Sounds fun.”

  “I doubt very much it will be… fun,” Helen replied to her with no shortage of disdain. She glanced at her, her horn-rimmed glasses inching towards the end of her nose. “But you can help me pick out some of the swatches if you think you can handle it.”

  Paige could tell the older woman didn’t like her, though she had no idea why. Had she said something amiss in her excitement to get started? Did she smile too much or at inappropriate times? She began judging herself for every little thing she’d done that day. She couldn’t think of anything she’d done wrong, but it was impossible to know how she appeared or seemed to someone who wasn’t herself. A stranger like Helen might think certain things about her. Paige had hoped to make a good first impression, but now she was doubting herself.

  “Yes, I can handle the swatches,” she said as confidently as she could muster. “Thank you.”

  I wonder if thanking her is weird, she thought. But I really am grateful for the opportunity…

  She’d imagined her first day much differently. For one thing, she’d hoped to work with Doug and get to know him better instead of having to work mostly one-on-one with his grumpy mother.

  Helen took a seat on the couch and worked on the various things on the legal pads there. It wasn’t clear what all of the plans were, or what had been set into motion already, but Paige was determined to learn. She was likely going to have to learn
by paying attention to the hastily scribbled notes on the pages and pages of paper instead of via Helen. The older woman did not seem fond of talking while she was working.

  Fortunately, after a few hours of organizing and selecting and jotting down notes in the margins, Paige looked up and saw Doug peek his head into the doorway of the room. He grinned at her and she grinned back at him, glad to see him and very happy to be relieved from the silent work at least for a few moments.

  “How’s it going in here?” he asked jovially, looking from her to his mother. “Getting along okay?”

  Apparently he knew she’d be icy, Paige thought. She wished she could talk to him about it, but now was certainly not the time. I don’t know if there will ever be a good time to talk to him about it. I mean, she’s his mother.

  “It’s going well,” Paige said in as chipper a voice as he’d employed. “I’ve been working on selecting swatches and matching them for different themes.”

  Helen gave her another scrutinizing look, but she didn’t argue with her. She looked at Doug, eyebrows raised. “I’ve set up an order sheet for you,” she said, handing it over at once for him to take. “I’m sticking to their budget, obviously, but it’s going to be tight. The wealthier the client, the crazier the expenses.”

  “Well, at least if they’re wealthy, they can take care of any extra—oh wow,” he said as he suddenly saw the total amount she’d both circled and underlined on the sheet. “Call them and let them know. I’ll see what I can do.”

  Paige regarded this conversation with a slight smirk to herself. The one part of wedding planning she didn’t particularly enjoy was the budgetary aspects. She wasn’t great at math, for one thing. And she hated having to tell people no, for the other thing. I have a feeling this will eventually be my task here, though, she thought as she noticed the way Helen was staring at her now. Thoughtfully. Expectantly.

  “Okay, we’ll take care of it,” Helen told her son.

  Just what I was afraid of, Paige thought. She says ‘we’ which means I will surely have to be the one to call them and let them know their budget isn’t high enough.

  Sometimes, when she was having a good day with enough time to daydream about silly things, she thought about what it might be like for her if she was rich. She wouldn’t have to live with her parents, for one thing. Not that she hated living with them, but she was old enough now to want to move out and spread her wings. With any luck, this job would give her the opportunity, but it didn’t mean she was going to be rich or anything. If she was rich, she thought she might want to live in a big, lavish house like this one… Except she’d be so lonely.

  Maybe my friends and I could turn it into a commune or something, she thought. Eccentric rich people do things like that.

  Suddenly, Paige realized Doug was gone from the doorway and Helen was sitting there, staring at her as if waiting for her to respond.

  She was waiting for her to respond.

  “I can call them,” Paige blurted out.

  Helen laughed a short, stilted laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. You just got here. No one knows who you are. I’ll call them. You, meanwhile, crunch these numbers as much as you can.”

  She handed over another sheet of paper which contained the same budget calculations she’d handed to Doug. Paige looked at the numbers on the page, going a bit pale.

  The interview had been relatively easy, but this was the real job test, she knew. His mother was testing her. And she was terrified she was going to fail.

  She swallowed hard. “May I borrow a calculator?”

  Helen raised her dark ruby eyebrows at her and then she laughed. It wasn’t the sort of scoff laugh she’d done earlier, but it was just as full of venom, Paige knew. “You may use your phone,” the older woman said. “I know you’ve got one. Everyone does these days.”

  Oh yes, of course, Paige thought.

  Her worst fear had come true already. She’d said something stupid.

  She definitely wasn’t making the best first impression.

  Chapter Seven

  Doug thought it was great to have Paige working on the ranch now. The extra help was surely going to make his mother’s life easier as well, though she was loath to admit it. He didn’t spend much time working with Paige because training her wasn’t really his arena; his mom better understood the sorts of things their new hire would have to take on and learn how to do. He made sure to check in on things and see how she was doing, and she always seemed to be a positive, cheerful woman. If she was at all overwhelmed, she was doing a great job of hiding it. I know my mom can be intense, he thought. Maybe in a way it’s good Paige didn’t arrive until after the health scare, because Mom has mellowed ever so slightly.

  Still, if he wanted to keep her around, he was going to have to make sure his mother went easy on her. He didn’t want to scare her off because she was good at her job; he’d seen it already. And also, he thought she was awfully cute. He knew it didn’t really matter for the job, but he wanted to keep seeing her around. She brought some much needed positivity to the ranch.

  “You’ve taken to all of this much quicker than I would have,” he told her one day while he was checking in on her work. “I think my mom prefers I work in my office and leave the events to her, but you know what you’re doing.” He smiled at her.

  “Thanks,” Paige replied, smiling back at him. She was standing in the yard, busily wrapping sheer, robin’s egg blue scarves around a white metallic wedding arch. “Though sometimes I wonder if your mom would agree with you.”

  Doug frowned slightly. He was afraid she might say something like this. His mom just never knew when to play nice, especially now that she was a bit older and set in her ways. “I’m sorry if she’s been giving you grief,” he sincerely said to her. “I guess she’s not what you’d call a team player; which is really why I’ve been keeping tabs on how you’ve been doing. I trust you to do well, but she’s another story.”

  Paige looked at him and he could sense the slight fear within her. She was already attached to this job and she didn’t want it to be taken away from her. He got that. “All I’ve ever wanted was to have an events planner job and to help people have a great time,” she told him. “I want to be able to prove myself to her, but I don’t know how. And I’m not trying to complain to you. I love working here. I’m just… I’m worried that she doesn’t like me and she’ll never like me.”

  Emotion made her voice wobble a bit and Doug’s heart went out to her. He couldn’t let this sweet, enthusiastic woman be squelched by his mom just because she couldn’t handle sharing the workload. “I hear you and I understand,” he told her. “I’ll talk with my mom about this. You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve been great so far. I’m so glad you’re here with us.”

  Paige’s eyes got a bit teary, which made him feel even worse about the whole situation. “Thank you. I know it will be alright. I just want to know if I'm on solid footing here.”

  Doug nodded at her, completely understanding her frustration and concern. He felt the same way about things at his ranch, which was why he was trying to put an end to his mother’s ‘reign of terror.’ I’m not even asking for her to step down and retire. That’s what I don’t get. I’m only asking for her to share some of the workload and take it easy. It’s as if she thinks relaxing is poison.

  He knew his aunt was no better, too. He’d hired some other new workers, some of whom were now in the kitchen working under Aunt Bea, and they were fearful as rabbits as well. It was a wonder they had any staff at all. He didn’t doubt his aunt thought she’d be fine just cooking everything herself, but then she’d likely suffer an illness just like his mom.

  Doug didn’t wish to lecture his mom and aunt while the work day was going on, especially while Paige was there within earshot, but he knew he shouldn’t put it off. It’s not fair to her to be treated this way, he thought. I’d hoped my mother would be more appreciative, especially in her weakened condition. The trouble was, Helen likely didn’t se
e herself as weakened at all. She probably felt fully prepared to hop right back up on the horse, even though the doctors told her otherwise.

  As soon as Paige was done creating the baby blue wedding arch and table decorations with the sheer fabric, she came back into the house. Doug wanted to go to her and talk about things, but his mother approached her instead and he didn’t want to get in their way. At least she is working with her instead of ignoring her or something.

  The problem was Paige went away from the brief chat with Helen with a frown on her face, seemingly harried. She walked off into the makeshift planning room on some errand Doug was unable to decipher. His mother turned, a strange sort of smirk on her face, and when she saw him there, the smirk only grew. “It is nice to have someone to handle all of the little tasks I don’t like to do. The dirty work, you know,” she said. “And she doesn’t argue with me like Beatrice, because she knows her job here isn’t certain.”

  He blinked at his mom. “Wait a minute,” he said. “What’s that supposed to mean? Her job here is certain. I hired her.”

  “Really?” she asked, feigning ignorance on the subject. “I thought this was a trial to see if I liked her.”

  Doug took a deep breath. “No, mother. I’m not giving you so much control of it. We need new people to come in and help. I told you this already.”

  “I thought you meant I’d have a temporary assistant,” she replied. “And so why shouldn’t I have a say in whom you chose?”

  He was frustrated with the way she was acting, but he couldn’t say he was surprised exactly. She’d been controlling in just about every other aspect of the ranch lately. And she knew as well as he did – he wasn’t going to fire his mother.

  “She’s not a temporary assistant,” Doug said, somehow keeping his voice calm and level. “She’s a full-time coordinator. She’s going to be taking over for you so you can take a more comfortable backseat role.”

  His mom glared at him. “Oh, I’m not okay with this. I thought you were hiring someone to help me, not replace me here.”