Page 30 of Shelter from the Storm

While Brenda had been a nice boss, her work style involved a lot of micromanaging, which meant she told Gretchen what to do and Gretchen did it. Between that and Briggs dictating how things should run at home, she was absolutely thrilled by the chance to express her own ideas and delighted by how many of her recommendations Nora and Theo had taken and made part of their processes.

“Okay. Hang on a second, Remi.” Theo looked at her. “Gretchen, can you share some links of the beer donkey sites you saw, with me, Remi, and Nora?”

Gretchen nodded, adding that note to the growing to-do list on her legal pad.

Then Theo turned to Nora. “Remi’s going to look into what it would take to stable a donkey with her horses, and research which donkeys are best suited for this type of thing and where we could buy one.”

Gretchen was shocked by how quickly Remi was ready to roll with the idea. She’d met Theo’s youngest and—according to him—wildest cousin her first day on the job. Remi, who had more energy than an entire stadium full of toddlers, had stopped by every day without fail to see how she was doing and to chat for a few minutes.

“Gretchen’s going to send you some links, Remi. Let’s make plans for the four of us to sit down middle of next week to pool information and see if this is feasible.” Theo said a quick goodbye and hung up.

“Let me guess,” Nora said sarcastically. “She loved the idea.”

Theo laughed. “I proposed we buy another four-legged creature for the farm. What do you think?”

On every single one of her daily drop-in visits, Remi had tried to convince Gretchen to go on a horseback ride with her along the countless mountain trails that were part of the farm. Gretchen had put her off so far, because she’d seen the horses in the stables during her first-day tour, and they were big creatures. She wasn’t sure she could control such a large beast.

After Theo hired her, Gretchen had spent countless hours—when Briggs was on night duty—reading every article she could find online regarding what an event coordinator did, praying she’d be able to learn on the job quickly enough that Theo and Nora would keep her on. With each passing day, while her fear of being fired hadn’t vanished, it was growing less.

Now that the barn was officially ready for business, they were anxious to begin scheduling events, certain the space would be ideal for weddings, family and class reunions, as well as other local celebrations.

Until those reservations started rolling in, she would take over the task of planning special events at the winery and brewery and hiring local talent to perform. Fall was peak season, and Theo and Nora had begun planning Stormy Weather Farm’s annual Octoberfest—an ongoing celebration held on weekends from mid-September to mid-November. Now, however, they were anxious for Gretchen to begin running the special programs—like grape stomping, special tastings and food pairings, as well as face painting for the kids. They’d also encouraged her to come up with her own ideas of things that might entice people to enjoy the fall foliage with a glass of wine or pint of beer.

“I love the idea of a beer donkey,” Nora said. “It’ll be an awesome way to offer a fun vibe to receptions and parties, if that’s what the customer wants. I can think of at least a dozen people in Gracemont who would jump at the chance to hire a beer donkey for their special occasions.”

“I’ll add donkey to our list with a question mark for now, and then we can wait to see what Remi comes up with.” Gretchen turned to her computer and typed “beer donkey” into their itemized list.

“And that gives us seventeen,” Nora said with a smile.

Gretchen didn’t have a clue why Nora was happy about that. “Were we aiming for seventeen?”

Theo chuckled. “Nope. Just for an odd number. That was going to keep you up at night, wasn’t it?” he said to his cousin.

Nora lifted one eyebrow. “Nope. I was always going to sleep like a baby tonight, because you’re crazy if you think I was letting either of you leave here until we either added an item or took one away.”

“I have no idea what we’re talking about,” Gretchen said softly.

Nora flashed Gretchen a self-deprecating grin. “I hate even numbers. Prefer to live my life surrounded by nice round odd ones. It’s a small, funky part of my OCD and what makes me the coolest Storm.”

“Cool, huh?” Theo teased. “That’s the word you’re using to describe the fact you have to eat all your meals in a very specific order? And that your closet is organized by color and season and article of clothing.”

Nora laughed, then looked at Gretchen. “Vegetable, carb, then protein, in case you were wondering. As for the closet, I follow the color wheel—beginning with red—summer is my first season, and then it’s blouses, sweaters, skirts, and pants…in that order.

“Wow. I don’t think I have enough clothes to do more than the color breakdown,” Gretchen murmured.

“A lack of clothing is not Nora’s problem,” Theo joked. “Or Remi’s. Or Mila’s.”

“Retail therapy is real and it’s successful. Stop by the farmhouse anytime, Gretchen,” Nora offered. “I’ll give you a closet tour.”

Theo had mentioned Nora’s compulsions a few times since Gretchen began working here, but it was the first time Nora had talked about it herself. Given her grin, it was clear Nora didn’t give a shit about her OCD and got a kick out of talking about it.

Nora smirked. “You probably think, like my family, that I’m crazy, but?—”

“Not at all,” Gretchen hastened to reassure her. “To be honest, I have my own little quirks.”

“Oh yeah?” Nora said, leaning back. “Like what?”

“Whenever I eat colorful candy, like M&Ms or Skittles, I sort them by color and eat all the same colors together. Because they wouldn’t like being separated.” Gretchen bit her lower lip, surprised by her willingness to share something so silly. But Nora’s question hadn’t been laced with a bit of judgment, so she’d jumped right in.

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