Page 13 of Chase Our Forever

The moment I’m done eating, I grab my bag and head to the gift shop. Since I woke up early, too nervous for the interview to sleep, I still have about an hour before I’m supposed to meet Dean. Even so, I want to make sure I get a new outfit and am ready well ahead of time so there’s no chance of being late.

Carmen waits for me at the front desk, her body hunched over a book as I make my way to her. When she hears my footsteps, she looks up with a wide smile on her face. “That was quick.”

I return her smile. “Yeah, well, I think that’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had.”

She swats at the air before sliding out of her chair. “You give me too high of praises.”

“They’re deserved. I’m not kidding. That was the best omelet of my life. And don’t even get me started on the bacon.”

She laughs as she leads the way to the gift shop. “You’ll have to tell my husband that. He told me the bacon was overcooked today.”

I gasp. “No, it was perfect.”

Carmen winks over her shoulder as she walks to a rack of clothing. “I know it was. He’s just trying to keep me humble.Men,” she adds, exasperated.

I nod, even though my experience with men in any kind of romantic way is severely lacking. Basically nonexistent at this point. But I pretend like I have any idea of the bickering that comes with having a partner.

Carmen sighs, moving the hangers along the rack as she sorts through the clothing. “Our store is really geared toward the tourists, but I know there’s got to be something in here that’ll work.”

I swallow, my eyes roaming the small corner of the shop that has clothes. She’s right. There are definitely clothes here, but most of them have “Sutten Mountain” stitched across the frontor have outlines of mountains embroidered on them. They might still work better than my thrifted T-shirt and cutoff shorts.

“What about this?” Carmen asks excitedly, pulling a tunic from the rack. It’s a dark green plaid pattern. It buttons up the front, cinching slightly at the waist but not by a lot. There’s a pocket on the front where, if you look close enough, you can see “Sutten Mountain, Colorado” stitched on the front, but it isn’t too noticeable.

“I think this could work perfectly,” I tell her, trying not to eye the price of it. It seems like nice, sturdy fabric. Add in the fact that the words seem hand-stitched to the front, and I’m a little nervous about how much it’ll cost me. However, I don’t have much of an option, so I grab it from her.

“Do you happen to have leggings or tights? Really anything I could wear underneath that’d work for the occasion.”

Carmen purses her lips, deep in thought. Suddenly, her eyes light up. “We do have a pair of black leggings. There’s a bear on the rear, but you’d never notice it with how long the shirt is.”

“That’s perfect,” I say in relief. Somehow, I think I’ll be able to show up in something somewhat professional for this interview.

Carmen points to where the leggings are, and I walk toward the table. I grab my size and hold them up, confirming that they’ll be perfect for the outfit. We head over to the checkout counter as she rings up the two items.

“Is the nanny position for someone here in town?” Carmen asks as I hand her the cash for the clothes. They weren’t as expensive as I thought they’d be, making me let out a small sigh of relief.

“His name is Dean. Dean Livingston,” I add, remembering the name printed on the business card he’d handed me yesterday.

“Oh,” Carmen gets out, seeming a little shocked.

“Is it that bad?” I ask nervously. I shift my weight from one foot to the other, wondering if something’s wrong with him. I feared there might be, with everyone’s mentions of how he seemed to fire nannies so frequently. I had brushed it off since, to me, he seemed pretty normal yesterday. He might’ve been a little quiet and standoffish, but maybe it just takes him time to warm up to people.

Both Pippa and Lexi gave him the green light of approval as a boss, but maybe I missed something.

“No, I’m sorry. Dean is great. He just hasn’t quite been the same since his wife, Selena, passed tragically in a car accident a few years ago.”

My chest constricts at her words. I wondered if Clara’s mother was in the picture or not. But I kind of assumed it was the same situation as my own mother. “Oh my god,” I whisper, feeling sorry for Dean and Clara.

Carmen nods as she puts my clothes in a red paper bag. “It rocked the entire town. We all watched their love story unfold from the time they were teenagers. He kept to himself for the longest time, and it took him a year to really even talk to anyone in town. I can’t imagine what he went through.” She pauses for a moment, as if her mind is going back to years ago. “He had to grieve his wife while taking care of a newborn. He was all alone in the house he and Selena had just finished building together.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I can’t imagine,” I mutter. I know I should probably say goodbye to Carmen and change before meeting Dean, but my feet stay planted because I want to know more.

“So Dean isn’t a bad guy at all. In fact, he used to be the town’s golden boy, but he changed after Selena passed. We all understood. It’s hard to expect anything different. I just want you to know if he’s grumpy or short with you, it isn’t you, my dear. It’s just the way he is now.”

I nod. He wasn’t the friendliest person I’ve ever met, but he didn’t seem as bad as Carmen’s warning is making him out to be. Maybe we just haven’t spent enough time together. Either way, I can deal with a grumpy man. That’s easy. I grew up with far worse. “Thank you for telling me all of this. It really helps me understand the situation more before potentially working for him.”

Carmen smiles. The crinkles at the corner of her eyes get deeper with the movement. “Of course. Please still consider the job. We’ve only spent a short amount of time together, but I really like you, dear. It seems like you might be the perfect fit for Dean and sweet Clara. That baby girl needs someone who will stay.”

I swallow at her words. I hadn’t thought much about if I got offered the nannying job and I accepted it, how long it’d be for. When Pippa first suggested I stay in town for a little while, it didn’t seem like a bad idea. I could nanny for as long as I wanted to stay in Sutten and then leave.

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