Now Hiring

Whit's End is swamped. With Jules back in school and Renee away, Connie Kendall has been running the ice cream shop nearly alone, so she begs Whit to hire more help. Whit agrees that a new employee is needed, especially since he is about to leave on a weeks-long trip with Morrie and Suzu, but he adds a surprise: the hiring will be done by the shop's new manager, and he wants that manager to be Connie. Before she can even catch her breath, a friendly young woman named Della McKinley comes to the counter, mentions she is starting college soon to study Christian education, and asks whether the shop ever has job openings. Connie steps up and introduces herself as the manager.

Della turns out to be the only applicant, but her application is strong and her references, including Pastor Knox, glow. Just as Connie is ready to hire her, a supremely confident young man named Paxton D. Kleinhauser III strides in. Rattling off his credentials, from three summers as shift supervisor at Taco Taco Taco to a business education and a memoir in progress, he informs Connie that most managers regret hiring too quickly and talks her into holding a real round of interviews.

The interviews are a study in opposites. Della sweetly explains that she loves helping kids, makes homemade ice cream for her family reunion, is the oldest of eight children, and teaches toddler Sunday school. Paxton, on the other hand, spends his interview listing everything wrong with Whit's End, the count climbing past forty, and critiques Connie's questions, insisting a good interviewer asks "the why behind the why." By the end Connie groans that she is pretty sure she bombed the interview, even though she was the one giving it.

Unsure what to do, Connie admits to Jules that she hasn't prayed about the decision, so she asks God for wisdom and a clear sign of the right person. Seconds later the door opens and her good friend Penny Bassett announces she is applying for the job. Penny needs a break from her art gallery because she is feeling uninspired, and her entire case for being hired boils down to one answer she keeps repeating: "Because I'm your friend, and it would be fun to work together." Jules warns Connie about playing favorites, which gives Connie an idea worthy of a manager: give every candidate a one-hour trial shift. Jules worries an hour won't reveal how anyone handles pressure, but Connie quietly arranges for pressure of her own, recruiting Sophie, Leo, and other kids to spring the same staged emergencies on each candidate: a heated argument over lemonade-stand profits, a crashing spill, an impatient sundae order, and a phone call asking the candidate to fill in hosting Connie's radio show, Candid Conversations.

Della sails through her shift. She serves orders cheerfully, answers the lemonade dispute with a proverb about generosity, cleans up the spill without complaint, and hosts a hymn-singing show with what Jules calls perfect pitch. Paxton handles the argument like a business consultant, declaring both kids right and blaming the lemonade stand itself before pitching a latte charging station with better return on investment; he delegates the spill cleanup to the children, then turns the radio show into a motivational hour, coaching a caller named Melody toward her triathlon while confusing it with a marathon the whole time. Penny fares worst: she suggests cutting the lemonade stand in half like Solomon, escapes the spill by taking a break, and hosts a rambling show about her husband Wooton's sixty-eight tubes of coupon toothpaste and his toothpaste art, to which not a single listener calls in.

Afterward Connie is more stuck than ever. Della checks all the boxes, but hiring her means crushing Penny, and Paxton is so exhausting that Jules threatens to quit if he is chosen. Staying late to think, Connie steps into the Imagination Station and watches a scene from her own past: the day Whit hired her after a thirty-second conversation, no research, no tests, no trick questions. Whit, stopping by the shop that night, finds her doubting she is cut out for management at all. He reminds her that Moses didn't feel ready either, but God had already given Moses the training he needed, and more importantly, God was with him. When Connie marvels that Whit always knows the right thing to say, he gently admits he overheard Connie give that very same speech to Olivia the week before. He tells her he hired her because he sensed God was doing something in her, and he believes she will make the right choice with God's help.

The next day Connie announces her decision, and it surprises everyone. Not Penny, because Connie knows art is her friend's true calling and Penny is only fleeing her discouragement. Not even Della, who fits the mold of a perfect employee, because, as Connie puts it, they need someone who doesn't. She hires Paxton. His different gifts and heart for business will help, she explains, but the real reason is what Whit's End can do for him. Connie saw in Paxton the same thing Whit once saw in her: "A need for Jesus." She and Jules can show him who Jesus is, just as Whit did for Connie and Connie did for Jules.

Before his flight, Whit comes to say goodbye, and Connie thanks him for taking a chance on her all those years ago, calling him a boss, a friend, a mentor, and even a father. As Jules fields Paxton's first questions about blender-accident insurance and his idea for a marathon training club, Connie admits one thing is certain: her new hire is going to make things interesting. Whit tells her, "You did good, Connie," and she warmly returns the compliment as he heads off on his trip.