January 22. Sunday Night.

Hi Journey.

I think I am predestined for complete computer meltdown one of these days. We've sailed through something like two months without a single hiccup and wham! Friday morning my monitor blinks at me twice and then goes dark. Damage: minimal. Frustration: maximal.

Brady was over before morning's end. For the first time ever I sensed a slight possibility that he and Joni might be more than just friends. It wasn't much, just the littlest way their eyes caught each other. But, come to think of it now I remember something else I'd completely spaced off from last month.

Joni delivered his check in person. I know it sounds crazy, but there's no way she would have done that for efficiency's sake even if his shop was right next door. We burn through the price of a stamp in five minutes of her labor.

On Friday the server was glitched-up too, but I noticed Joni also claimed to have something wrong with her version of QuickBooks. It seemed weird, because I was on the machine over the weekend looking at a couple of invoices (yes, I know it odd, J, but I do know a bit about accounting) and I didn't see anything at all wrong with the program.

And come to think of it, the reason I was in there looking at those invoices was because Joni had spaced-off routing them to me earlier in the week.

Slow down, Crystal . Downshift your thinking before you have the two of them married off to each other before spring arrives. Brady is at least five years her junior, and a complete computer geek. He wears more pockets than anybody I know. Cargo pockets pants, dual breast pockets on his denim work shirts—the guy totes CDs and screwdrivers and little pliers all about his person. He's a walking toolbox.

OK, a cute toolbox, I will admit. He's built like a wrestler, little and wiry; the kind of guy that is used to working his way out of unusual positions.

Worked all weekend, except Sunday morning. Feeling more confident with being gone for a week; I am now completely caught up on all my Tea Time thank-you notes. I always try and stick in a personal touch on every note I write, otherwise the effort comes off as obligatory. Tea Time is our most important marketing push of the year, even though it isn't our most glaring. I'll secure more future biz and more referrals out of these January efforts than six months of trolling for new customers.

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