Page 21 of The Grump Who Stole Christmas
“What do you drink?” I asked her.
“Hmm. A caramel frappuccino sounds good.”
Right. Because she was all gooey sweetness. I really was going to make an effort to hate her this time.
I ordered a frappuccino for her and a black coffee for me. Before I made it back to the table I took a sip from my cup and thought it wasn’t as good as Paul’s.
Paul made a really good breakfast and really good coffee. I assumed he made really good trees, otherwise Dad wouldn’t have hired him.
What else did he make that was really good?
One thought came to mind and I squashed it.
Jasmine had claimed a small table in a corner of the coffee shop and I joined her, setting her drink down in front of her.
“Let me cut to the chase. I’m looking to put together a major promotional campaign for the inn in…” I looked at my watch to check the date. “Five days.”
She smiled, in that way that suggested I’vesaid something entirely crazy. “Five days?”
“Five days. Put together a plan, show me. If I like it, I’ll hire you and we can discuss budget then, but if I say yes, I need to see immediate results. I want the inn full for Christmas.”
Again I’d said something to startle her. “You mean it’s not?”
I pressed my lips together. I know I moved at light speed compared to everyone else, but she really needed to catch up.
“Jasmine. Would I be interviewing you and expecting to launch a campaign in five days if it were?”
She gulped. “Got it. Okay. Five days…that’s short notice to be sure. I’ll need at least two days to put together the plan. Can you give me a sense of budget so I can scale it?”
Of course. That was fair. She’d flinched at the time constraint, but hadn’t immediately walked away from it, so I was taking that as a good sign.
“Let’s say 10K to start.”
Dad didn’t have it, but Ethan, Matt, and I could manage it. I would need to convince them that salvaging the Christmas season would be worth it, but I knew both of them would ultimately concede. Heck, Matt loved to throw money at Dad’s problems.
“Do you need to see any references? Or I could point you to some past clients...” She trailed off when she saw me shaking my head.
“No time. Put a plan together. I’ll like it or I won’t. But in the meantime I’ve got ten other things I need to be doing. You’ll email me at this address once you have something for me to look at.”
This was embarrassing. I’d taken my business card from Hart’s Insurance and written my private email address on the back of it. I didn’t want it going through the inn’s email address, because I didn’t need Dad knowing what I was doing. And work email was obviously out of the question.
She took the card, acknowledged that she saw the address, and smiled.
“Looking forward to working with you,” she said confidently as she stretched out her hand.
I took it and gave it a firm shake. “You don’t have the job yet. Impress me.”
“That’s the plan.”
That settled, I was tempted to leave, but she was mid-frappuccino and I didn’t want to be rude.
“So, how is the rest of your family?”
She said ever so casually. Maybe a little too casually.
“Well you know about my dad’s leg.”
“I ran into Ethan at the grocery store and he told me,” she said. “I always loved your dad.”
