Goody Goody Gunshots Read Online Free PDF

the past few months, and we never seemed to get anywhere with it. “I thought we’d agreed to wait.”
    “ You agreed to wait,” Karen said, locking eyes with me and gearing up for a fight. “I’ve never been convinced we should.”
    “Aren’t you missing something?” I asked. “If we hire somebody because I’m gone, we aren’t ahead. We’re just paying more money for the same amount of work.”
    “It doesn’t have to be that way,” Karen said stubbornly. “If you focus on making the candy and let me hire somebody to help me with the sales floor, you could get everything done that you need to and still have time to spend with the boys.”
    “That sounds good in theory,” I said grudgingly, “but there are just too many factors to consider.”
    Color crept into Karen’s cheeks, more proof that she was becoming agitated. “Just how many chances do you think you’re going to get with your family, Abby?”
    “ Excuse me?”
    She stalked back to the supply cupboard, opened it, and slammed it shut without taking anything out. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you lived away from here for most of those kids’ lives. They hardly know you. Right now, all four of them want you to be part of their lives, but you can’t keep turning your back on them or they won’t want you anymore.”
    The air left my lungs in a whoosh , and resentment coiled up my spine. I desperately wanted to find some moral high ground, a place where I could look down on her and ask how she dared to say something so hurtful. Trouble was, I knew she was right. I didn’t want to know it, but I did.
    I’d left Paradise for college, met and married my husband while I was away, and spent the next twenty years living a life that had very little to do with the Hanks and the Shaws of Paradise, Colorado—and absolutely nothing to do with Divinity. I’d been as shocked as anyone when the lawyers read Aunt Grace’s will, but I was determined to show the world she hadn’t been wrong to put her faith in me.
    I picked up a piece of cake and tried to get it into its box, but I ended up jamming my thumb into it instead. Frustrated, I tossed it into the trash can. “Fine,” I snarled. “Have it your way. I suppose you still feel the same way about who we should hire?”
    To give her credit, Karen tried not to gloat about my change of heart. “I know some of the cousins have been a pain in your side since you came back, but I think hiring one of them makes the most sense. They’re familiar with the business, and hiring outside the family will just make a lot of people angry.”
    I might have been ready to capitulate on the subject of my nephews, but the cousins were another matter entirely. I’d had nothing but trouble from my cousin Bea since I came back to Paradise, and there were others just waiting for me to screw up and prove that Aunt Grace should never have left Divinity to me.
    I packed away the last slice of cake and carried the boxes to the end of the counter. “No matter what I do, I make the cousins angry. I’m not going to make business decisions based on their moods.”
    “Divinity is a family business.”
    “Divinity is my business,” I reminded her. “Aunt Grace didn’t leave it to all the cousins. She didn’t set up some committee to run the show and make the decisions. And every time I let one of them in, it’s trouble for me.”
    “The only two you’ve let in are Bea and me,” Karen retorted. “You have a fifty percent success rate.”
    “And if I do hire one of the cousins, and it doesn’t work out? How easy will it be for me to let her go? You think that won’t cause bad feelings in the family?”
    “Then what about Dana and Danielle? They’re probably wanting to pick up some extra cash, and they’d be cheap labor.”
    I shook my head firmly. “They’re both tied up with too many extracurricular activities. Wyatt and Elizabeth want them to spend whatever free time they have studying. No, if I’m going to