Candy Crush by Tami Lund

you called to have
them dump it yet?” he asked when he returned.
    “No.”
    “Call today. They probably can’t come till
Monday now, and I guarantee it will be full by then, with everyone
here helping on Saturday.”
    She expected they would head back to the
house to retrieve one of their vehicles, but Brandon turned right
and began walking north on Main Street. Two blocks later, he
stopped in front of the Holly Bank and Trust.
    “Probably the bank wouldn’t be thrilled
about having a dog inside. I’ll wait out here with her, if you
want.”
    “That’s awfully nice.”
    Brandon grinned. “I can be a lot nicer…” He
let the sentence trail off, and just as he intended, he could tell
that Gabriella’s mind instantly dove into the gutter. She shook her
head and scowled at him.
    He put his hands up, palms out. “Hey, I
didn’t say anything that could be construed as making a move. I
can’t help it you have a dirty mind.”
    “Very funny,” Gabriella snapped. She handed
him the dog’s leash.
    “Ask for Patrick Sarantos. Tell him I sent
you.” He grinned again and she turned and walked up the steps
toward the double glass doors.
    He openly admired the view and a bizarre
thought drifted through his head.
    I’m glad she didn’t wear jeans in her
former life. She looks too damn good in them. Miguel Martinez might
not have let her go .
    Brandon discovered he was really glad she
escaped from her former life, and it wasn’t only because she was
probably happier and safer. It was because she was now part of his
life.
    Twenty minutes later, Gabriella trotted back
down the bank steps and bent over to greet her overly ecstatic dog.
She straightened and Brandon had an urge to lean over and kiss her.
He figured it was because the first two kisses had been so
damn…awesome.
    “Patrick says hello. He’s working up the
paperwork and will call me when it’s ready. He said I should be
able to start ordering supplies by tomorrow morning. And I now have
a personal account at the Holly Bank and Trust, as well.”
    “It’s starting to come together,” Brandon
remarked as they walked back to the candy store.
    “It is. And no jinxes so far.”
    “Ah, but now you’ve ruined it by pointing
that out.”
    But the rest of the day went smoothly and
was jinx-free. Gabriella finished cleaning the bathroom and
storeroom, except for the large pile of overstock that still took
up half the storeroom. Some of the boxes were so heavy, she decided
one of the men in Brandon’s family could move them to the dumpster
on Saturday. She also re-dusted and cleaned the entire store and
swept and mopped the floors. Now it simply looked like an empty
store.
    But that was worlds better than what it
looked like two days ago, and was good enough to remove the butcher
paper. She liked the idea of natural light streaming into the store
all day, and it wouldn’t hurt for passers by to see what was going
on, as she decorated and stocked the store in the next couple of
weeks.
    If Brandon’s family was truly as good as he
said, and if she could get enough stock delivered next week, she
could spend the following week stocking, organizing and decorating
the store. That would put her at possibly opening during the first
week of October. Maybe she would have a soft opening then, and have
a large grand opening, the weekend before Halloween. Start on
Friday evening and go through Sunday. She should check with Brandon
and Constance and see if there were any special events planned in
town, so that she could coincide her grand opening, in order to get
the best bang for her buck.
    When she finished mopping, she frowned.
Aside from a trip to the local warehouse store for supplies such as
cash register tape and paper towels and the such, the only thing
left that she could tackle without the help of Brandon’s family was
the apartment upstairs.
    She hadn’t stepped foot up there since she
arrived on Tuesday evening. She realized now that she had been
avoiding