Epilogue
Presley eased her pale pink cruiser to a stop in front of the General Store. Rather than using the bike rack, she left it resting on the kickstand. She wouldn’t be long. Unless Maureen and Miles had some tea they couldn’t wait to spill. It’d only been a few days since her last visit, and Smile residents hung on to gossip about as well as Presley would a slippery fish. She pulled her phone out, checked her texts first, then pulled open her Notes app, where she’d made a list of what she needed.
“Hey, Presley,” Gramps said, coming out of the store.
She looked up, grateful her wide-brimmed hat (a gift Mel had sent Jilly, Ollie, and Presley when she’d returned home) blocked the brightness of the sun. It didn’t stop the heat, but it helped with seeing who she was talking to.
“Hi, Gramps. I was going to call you later and talk about the website,” she said as he moved down the steps and stopped in front of her bike.
Beckett had been so nervous to give it to her, promising that if she didn’t like it, he’d buy her something else as a, as he called it, thanks-for-moving-to-Smile-loving-me-and-being-the-best-thing-to-ever-happen-to-me gift. After assuring him she loved the thought he’d put into it—it had an adorable little basket for her to carry things, a specialty seat with extra padding, and wide, lifted handles so she didn’t hurt her back—she’d been thrilled to learn it was a lot more comfortable to ride than the tandem.
Gramps transferred his cloth bag full of groceries to the other arm and tugged at the collar of his T-shirt. “It’s hotter than the surface of the sun today.”
Presley laughed. “I’ll take your word for it, but it’s definitely warm.”
“Council voted unanimously,” Gramps said. “Not only are wethrilled you’ll take over the marketing and social media for Smile, we’d like to offer you a position. ‘Director of Tourism’ was floated around, but you can pick the label.”
Excitement made her stomach swirl. In addition to this, she was taking over the social media and marketing for the lodge, as well as for several other businesses in Smile. She would be able to work from home—be it the cabin or the apartment—for now.
“I love that title.”
“The pay isn’t much, but with Smile growing, I think we’ll see more revenue coming in. We can revisit the salary at next year’s general meeting.”
Individually, none of the jobs she’d taken on paid all that much, but when she pushed them all together into the same pot, she was doing just fine. Especially since she no longer paid exorbitant rent, food, Uber, or other city prices. Once she and Beckett got more settled, she was going to set up her own website and offer more marketing and social media services.
Unable to resist, she gave Gramps a side hug. “Thank you. I know you put in a good word for me with the council.”
His chuckle was deep and booming. “You’re pretty easy to say nice words about, Presley. You’re good for our town. For Beckett.”
She liked to think so. The town and Beckett were certainly good to her. “Thank you. Okay, I’ve got to pick up a few things I ordered.”
“I heard Beckett’s bikes are all rented for the rest of the week,” Gramps said with pride in his tone.
She nodded. “A large family is staying over on Tourist Lane. They rented all four houseboats and they wanted access to the bikes the whole time they were here. The insurance is in order even if we don’t have anywhere near the full amount of stock he wants.”
The past three weeks or so had been a blur. Since she still had banked vacation days, she’d used them as part of her two weeks notice. Ms. Twain had accepted her resignation but continued to text frequently with random queries. Rylee had taken over Presley’s lease since she wanted to be closer to work. She’d taken care of selling Presley’sfurniture on Marketplace for her since she and Beckett had wanted to return to Smile as quickly as possible—though not before Rylee grilled him over drinks and dinner. He passed the bestie test so well, Rylee agreed to come visit as soon as she could.
Once they’d returned home, they both made a list of what needed to get done first. Even if Beckett hadn’t finally admitted to himself how much the bike shop meant to him, it was evident in how prepared and ready he was to open it. With Beckett having five bikes, he was able to do a soft launch, which ended up making him busier than he’d expected.
“How’d you know about the rentals?” Then it clicked. “He got his hair trimmed this morning.”
Gramps nodded. “Right after me. Anderson was relieved. They worried he was growing it out to perfect his Hot Mountain Man look.”
Shaking her head, she wondered if Beckett would ever escape that nickname. “No worries there. He’s happy to never be called that again.”
She hurried into the store, saying hello to Maureen as she turned down the aisle that led her to the chalkboard.
“There she is,” Miles said, toothpick between his lips. “Good thing you’re here. You have enough deliveries to open your own store.”
Presley knew he was exaggerating, but he wasn’t entirely wrong. “Beckett and I are doing some renos on his apartment so it feels more like ours. I wanted to add some pops of color.”
Miles started stacking Amazon packages on the counter. “No doubt you do that, Presley.”
Warmth swamped her chest. Picking up the chalk, she wrote her note beside the “community BBQ” and “jet ski for sale” notes.
JOIN US AT GET LOST LODGE FOR A CELEBRATION DINNER
TO WELCOME CHEF SHANE BACK TO WORK. SATURDAY, 4 P.M.
