Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“I used to hate them, but inheriting the Chronicle was a surprise, and look how well that turned out.”
With a lot of hard work and some new marketing tactics, we’d increased circulation of the Chronicle by fifteen percent since I took over, a number I was thrilled with. The paper was meeting payroll every week and we even had a small rainy-day fund. And given the age of the building and some of our equipment, I had a feeling it would be raining often in the near future. I loved walking into the newsroom every morning, though, and being greeted by Pete’s photos and the smell of fresh newsprint.
I’d moved in with Grady a month ago, which only made sense since I slept there nearly every night anyway. I was renting the apartment to one of the Chronicle’s pressmen, giving him a great deal because I liked having someone I trusted looking out for the building when the paper was closed.
“Okay.” Grady set me on my feet. “Ready?”
“Very ready,” I said, my heart pounding with excitement.
He slid off the blindfold and I gasped as I took in my surroundings. We were on the pristine lawn of The Sleepy Moose, the lake shining behind a setup of tables decorated with fresh flower centerpieces in bright purple, white, and yellow. A banner hanging between two trees read “Happy Birthday Avon” and over fifty people yelled out, “Happy birthday!” in unison.
I looked up at Grady, tears pooling in my eyes. “You did this for me?”
“Happy birthday, baby,” he said, giving me a quick, chaste kiss.
Bess and Harry were there, and Uncle Don, Aunt Laura, and Harper. All the other Chronicle employees were there, too, along with Grady’s parents, Coulter, and some other friends from town. He’d even included Christine, which made my heart swell with gratitude since she was a connection to Pete.
Shea approached us with a platter of food arranged in a way that made it look like it belonged on the cover of a magazine. It smelled incredible too, a mix of savory bacon and something sweet.
“Happy birthday!” she said. “I have an amazing menu planned. We’re starting with roasted, bacon-wrapped dates.”
“Oh, Shea.” I gave her a side hug. “Thank you so much. This is incredible.”
I’d learned in the past three months that she had a deep passion for cooking. When she wasn’t at The Sleepy Moose whipping up meals for guests, she was often at home experimenting with new recipes. Grady and I were always very willing taste testers.
I approached Bess and Harry with hugs next. They’d become surrogate parents to me, fussing over me when I had a cold and making sure I ate enough. Bess had healed remarkably well, and she was out of her sling and back at work full-time. I’d hired a college student to type for her when she had been working part-time, and Bess had brought her to tears on more than one occasion with her griping. That was just part of her charm. She was outwardly prickly, but inside, she was one of the most generous people I knew.
“Avon, happy birthday!” Uncle Don said, hugging me next. “I brought some lutefisk! I know how much you love it.”
I tried to muster some enthusiasm for his culinary nightmare since I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him how abhorrently gross I thought it was.
“Oh, wow. You shouldn’t have, Uncle Don.”
“Nonsense, this is a special occasion.”
Aunt Laura hugged me, whispering a quiet apology in my ear. She and I had become close since I moved to the Beard permanently, meeting for lunch every Wednesday. Harper was dating someone new, so I hadn’t seen as much of her lately.
Heads were turning toward the lodge, and I looked over to see what everyone’s attention was focused on. It was Deke, walking toward us in his Bigfoot costume. I burst out laughing.
“I didn’t have a thirtieth birthday party with Bigfoot as a guest on my bingo card,” I murmured to Grady.
“He’s a good dude.”
“Happy birthday, Avon,” Deke said, giving me a hairy hug.
“Thanks for coming.”
“Hope all your wishes come true.”
I looked at Grady, smiling like a schoolgirl with a massive crush. “They already have.”
“Don’t inflate his ego anymore, Avon,” Coulter said from nearby. “If it gets any bigger, it’s gonna explode and make a huge mess.”
“I’m the humblest guy you know, asshole,” Grady jabbed back.
“No way,” I said.
Coulter howled with laughter and Grady gave me a questioning look.
“No, not that,” I assured him. “I was talking about that cake!”
I’d just gotten my first look at a spectacular, three-layer cake that looked like it was covered in newsprint— specifically, the Sven’s Beard Chronicle. It was sitting in the center of one of the longer tables that held different food dishes.
“How?” I asked, taking it in with wide eyes. “This is unbelievable.”