Early Bird Special Read Online Free Page A

couldn't top his news. According to my dad, I was this successful career woman. What could I be thankful for besides my job? I loved how I reached my goals, and my success came so easily to me. Every year we did this, I almost verbatim stated my thankfulness for my family and my career. Blah, blah, blah. My career was a big part of my life, and that was great, but what about the rest of me? The part of me that craved someone to share my life with? I locked that part away when I became so focused on a fulfilling career. I pushed my love life aside for the paycheck. Being part of a couple didn't take away my success. I could share my success with someone.
    "Francie!" My mom tried to get my attention.
    My mind wandered back to the store and Shane. What if my mom and Teddy were right? Maybe this guy did want to go out on a date. Perhaps the time came for me to forget about my last crappy date and go out on another one. But, what if I read him wrong? What if he wasn't hitting on me? He worked there - it was his job to be nice to the customers. But, I couldn't help but wonder if behind Shane's jokes and weird behavior, a nice, decent guy stood, and I would be the crazy one to bypass the chance? I wasn't thinking marriage here - just a date.
    "Francie, honey, come on now." My dad urged me.
    This hear, I needed a new answer, and I had the perfect one. "I ... I'm thankful for my family pointing out I'm too focused on my career, and reminding me I want someone to make sandwiches for the rest of my life."
    I probably confused them, but I didn't care. I excused myself, put on my jacket, and headed for the store.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    Now that I stood in front of the entrance to the store, I doubted my decision to come. What was I even doing here? I didn't construct a plan, and I had no idea what to say. "Hi, I'm Francie, I haven't been on a real date in years, care to take me out?" I'm sure Shane wouldn't say yes to a bumbling idiot like me. I was Francie A. Spiller, dammit. I ran entire parties, and coordinated events for hundreds of people. There shouldn't be any reason for me not to be able to do this. Really, I couldn't even ask this guy a simple question? Why did my confidence fly out the window the moment my love life got involved?
    Okay, the short plan consisted of me going in, finding him, and just feeling him out. Considering it was one of the biggest shopping days of the year, chances were he couldn't even talk to me. As assistant manager, he probably ran around all day putting out fires - angry customers, knocked-over displays, and employees who didn't know how to handle the chaotic day. Actually, now that I thought about it, his day closely mirrored the craziness of my work days. I inhaled the frigid air, a cloud of fog forming in front of my face. You can do this, Francie .
    Once the automatic door opened, I stepped through, breathed through my nose, and let out a huge sigh. I couldn't believe I actually was doing this.
    What a difference a few hours makes. Not too long ago, I could barely walk through the main area - of course, I caused most of the hold up - and now the area widened, free of the hustle and bustle of customers. All carts still vacant from their designated area, though, and the checkout lines boasted at least ten to fifteen customers deep each.
    The store appeared less chaotic than earlier. I supposed most headed home by now to eat their turkey dinners. Glancing around, I scoped out the best place to start searching for Shane. I squinted my eyes to see through the spaces in the groups of people, not picking him out from the crowd. Any possibility of finding him required me to choose a starting point, so I headed toward the back corner of the store and figured I would work my way back to the front.
    The corner of the store housed all the Christmas decorations, from trees and ornaments, to over-sized stockings and those huge Mickey Mouse snow globes people put in their front yards. Christmas decor