Harlan glanced up, his brows knit together in annoyance. “Good. Shows the gear I sell is meant to last a lifetime.”
“So are dentures, but you wouldn’t put those in the front window to draw in customers.” The man was infuriating, though I should know better than to expect anything different. He’d always been that way. “Have you ever heard of merchandising?”
“My customers come in for the real thing. They don’t need to be pulled in by jazzy displays and shit.”
“Jazzy displays?” I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I’m talking about. And since when do you use words like ‘jazzy’ to describe anything?”
He crossed his arms, drawing my attention to his broad chest. Standing there in a checkered flannel shirt rolled up to the elbows, wearing a pair of jeans that sat low on his hips, with a bushy beard and a jaw carved out of granite, he looked every bit the grumpy, stubborn mountain man.
“I don’t need your help.” His words came out more like a multi-syllable grunt than English.
“You might not want it, but if your goal is to stay in business, you sure as hell need it. What are you going to do if Wild Wilderness sets up shop? They’ll run you out of business faster than you can chase off someone who parks too close to your precious motorcycle.” I crossed my arms and copied his stance, expecting him to double down.
“And you think you’ve got what it takes to come up with a plan?” He put his hands on the counter and leaned forward.
Sensing a crack in his armor, I took my shot. “I’m not saying I have all the answers, but I’m the best chance you’ve got. Give me a month. If your sales don’t increase by fifty percent, you don’t even have to pay me.”
“Fifty percent?” One of his dark eyebrows shot up. “That’s a mighty high goal for a little girl who’s fresh out of college with no real experience.”
If he wanted to get me even more riled up, calling me a little girl was a good way to do it. But I also didn’t want him to know he was getting to me. That’s how it had always been with Harlan. He’d push my buttons, and I’d push right back.
“In case you haven’t noticed,”—I cocked a hip and clamped a hand down on my waist—“I’m not so little anymore. And unless you’ve ventured outside of Hard Timber in the last twenty years, I’ve also had a whole lot more exposure to what’s happening in the real world.”
His pupils flared, exactly the kind of reaction I was going for. He opened his mouth to fire back, but immediately shut it. Then he clasped his hands together behind his neck and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. I followed his gaze, noting someone really needed to dust the beams that stretched above us before a customer got attacked by a falling cloud of cobwebs.
“Fine.” His voice came out so soft and low, I was sure I’d imagined it. He didn’t look at me, just kept his gaze trained on a discolored spot above him. Probably a leak that no one had looked at in years.
“What?”
“I said ‘fine.’ If you want to spend the last month of summer toiling away for no pay, I won’t stop you.”
Wait… no pay? “I didn’t say I’d work for free. I said if your sales don’t increase by fifty percent, then you don’t have to pay me.”
“Right.” He let his arms fall to his sides and gave me a smug smile. “So I may as well not even start paying you since there’s no way you’ll be able to do that. I sure am going to enjoy watching you try, though.”
Fueled by a desperate desire to make him finally see me as more than his best friends’ annoying little sister, I thrust out my hand. “You’ve got a deal. I’ll work for free for a solid month if you agree to do whatever I think needs to be done. But after I increase your sales and run off the big bad retailer who’s threatening you, I’m going to want full back pay, plus ten percent of the profits.”
“Okay,” he said as he slowly reached out to take my hand in his. “That’s some pretty big talk for such a little girl.”
“Stop calling me that,” I said, my jaw clenched tight. As his huge man paw wrapped around my fingers, the tension between us crackled.
“I could call you Firecracker, instead,” he offered.
I jerked my hand out of his grasp. He knew I hated that nickname. “If that’s what you want to do. Fair’s fair, though. You start calling me Firecracker, and I’ll have to start calling you Boulder again.”
His smile faded. “Just stay out of my way and everything will be good. One month starts today.”
I glanced at the calendar on the wall behind him, the one featuring a picture of a guy in waders standing in the middle of a wide river with a fishing pole in his hand. The days and dates didn’t match up. Then I looked at the date and realized it was from two years ago. That was just like Harlan. He might be able to move through the forest without making a sound, but the man had no awareness of what it would take to bring his store into the current decade.
“I’ve got my work cut out for me. May as well get started.” I moved behind the counter and set down my bag.
Harlan stepped back like he was afraid I’d infect him with positive vibes if I got too close. Proving him wrong was going to be so rewarding.
With step one of my plan set in motion, it was time to get started on step two. I’d come up with the idea last night, right after I’d finally accepted the fact that working with Harlan was the best way to add experience to my pathetic resume. He wasn’t going to go for it right away, but it was a key piece to re-establishing Big Package Outfitters as the place to go for anything and everything related to the great outdoors.
“Before I revamp the displays and figure out which new products to bring in, I need to talk to you about something.” I grabbed my water bottle and took a long sip while Harlan finished putting change in the register.
“You want to quit already?” He sounded hopeful.
