Page 3 of Shelter from the Storm

“I asked for her input earlier and told her to give some thought to other duties she’d like to move over to Gretchen.”

Nora had the same job as Theo, only she managed the winery, so the two of them typically met a couple times a week to compare notes, share ideas, and pool employees as needed. Most of their servers had been trained to work in both the winery and the brewery, in case one business or the other was short-staffed due to illness or vacations, or if they were running special events that required more workers at one location over the other.

When the family unanimously voted to build the event barn, it became instantly apparent the expectation was that he and Nora would run it. That was when the two of them had cried uncle and expressed the need to hire someone else to serve as event coordinator.

Mercifully, the family agreed they needed the new position, so Theo and Nora decided what parts of their jobs to reassign to a new employee. In the past, the two of them had worked together planning special events at the brewery and winery, but because their lists of job duties were already quite large, they were never pleased with the end results of their party planning, certain every event could have been better if only they’d had time to do more.

So, between handing those duties as well as the running of the event barn over to someone else, the new position was created.

Theo was thrilled to leave the event coordination to someone else, because while he loved a good party, he preferred to be the one attending, not the one planning. He’d volunteered to serve as the direct supervisor for the new coordinator, primarily because the brewery was positioned closer to the event barn on the farm, so now Gretchen’s shiny new office was located right next to his.

“Still feeling good about your choice for the job?” Sam asked. “Nora mentioned Gretchen’s lack of experience.”

“Yeah. Nora had some concerns, and she was definitely gunning for another candidate.” Clicking onto a different file, Theo pulled up Gretchen’s resume. “I hope I made the right choice. Problem is, most of the interviews Nora and I conducted were through video conference calls. I prefer interviewing people face-to-face. It’s too hard to get a good feel for someone over the computer. But, since the list of qualified candidates in Gracemont was pitifully small, we had to widen the search. Hence the online interviews.”

“You’ve got good instincts when it comes to people, so you probably hired the right person.”

“Well, I’ll know soon enough because Monday is only a few days away. Crazy thing is, Gretchen didn’t even make the initial cut when Nora and I went through the resumes.”

“So why did you interview her?” Sam leaned against his desk, arms folded over his chest.

Theo grinned. “Because we’d narrowed it down to four candidates.”

Sam shook his head, grinning as well. “Gotcha. You added Gretchen to keep Nora from twitching.”

He and his brother laughed. Nora’s OCD was well-known in the family, and a source of humor—even to Nora—who owned her special brand of crazy with pride. Theo realized as soon as they’d narrowed down their list, he’d either have to add one more name or take one away…because Nora hated even numbers. All even numbers. Interviewing four people would have kept her up at night.

So Theo had reached into the pile of remaining resumes and pulled one out at random. It had been Gretchen’s.

“It must have been one hell of an interview for you to choose her, considering she wasn’t even in the running originally,” Sam mused.

Theo wasn’t sure why he’d chosen Gretchen over all the other, more experienced applicants, or why he’d defended that decision so strongly to his cousin. Nora had been sitting in on the interviews, and she’d read the same resumes and listened to the responses of the candidates, so she knew—just as Theo did—that Gretchen was by far the least qualified.

“It was,” Theo lied. Her interview had been a good one, but she hadn’t exactly blown everyone else out of the water.

Sam’s eyes twinkled with humor. “Nora also mentioned Gretchen is pretty.”

“Nora’s got a big mouth,” he joked.

Sam barked out a loud laugh. “Got a picture of her?”

“No, I don’t,” Theo grumbled. “I didn’t hire her for her looks.” He didn’t dare admit he’d found Gretchen very attractive.

Sam chuckled. “Suuuure you didn’t.”

Theo rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as Nora.”

It had been difficult for Theo to explain to Nora why he’d moved Gretchen to the top spot on his list. Because it wasn’t what Gretchen had said in the interview, so much as her demeanor. He’d tried for weeks after that Zoom conversation to figure out why he was so sure she was the one.

In the end, all he knew was that Gretchen had a determination and a quiet strength that had called to him in a way he’d never experienced before.

Nora ultimately capitulated to his choice because, as she pointed out numerous times, he was going to be Gretchen’s boss. And, because Nora was a minx—like all his girl cousins—she’d winked and wished him luck if it all went to hell.

Then she had added that she looked forward to saying “I told you so” for the rest of their lives.

Theo had flipped Nora the bird, then fired off an email, offering Gretchen the position before his cousin could change her mind about supporting his decision or he could second-guess himself.

It wasn’t until he’d received Gretchen’s immediate acceptance that he realized it wasn’t her determination that had prompted him to hire her.

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