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“You’re a friend, and I want to help you. I have so many ideas for other people’s businesses. Sometimes it’s hard to keep them to myself. Not everyone is receptive to someone else’s advice. Would you be willing to listen to my ideas and keep an open mind?”
I nodded, excitement pouring through my body. “I can do that.”
Marley clapped her hands together as if she were a small child, her excitement palpable. “I love a good project.”
I shook my head at her, but I couldn’t stop the twitch of my lips. Marley’s energy was infectious. She’d mentioned once that she felt alone after her grandmother died, and spending time with the Monroes on their farm healed something deep inside her.
I wondered if Talon and his family could do the same for me. Lately, I’d been wondering what it would be like to be in a relationship with Talon again, to dream about the future of a family. I’d decided that one wasn’t in the cards for me because my father never stuck around and I lost our baby.
I figured it had to be my fault or some sick twist of fate. But now I was starting to wonder if I couldn’t create whatever I wanted with whoever I wanted. That there were no rules. It gave me hope.
“With your permission, I’m going to do some research and make some calls—inquiries about the process, if you will. I don’t know much about getting your work into these places, but I’m going to figure it out.”
A thought struck me then. “Marley, I don’t have money to pay you.”
Marley’s expression sobered. “I wasn’t asking you for money. I want to help you because you’re a friend.”
I realized then that if I refused her help, it would hurt her. That was the last thing I wanted, and I was genuinely excited about the possibility of a prestigious place selling my work. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
Marley held my hand in between hers. “You can be my friend. There’s nothing more valuable than that.”
I felt the genuineness of her words. She hadn’t had a lot of friends, and I’d pushed the ones I had away. I was tired of keeping everything bottled up. If Marley could help my business, then I needed to heed her advice. She knew what she was doing, and it felt good that she thought my little business was worth investing her time and effort in. Maybe I needed to start thinking of it as a real career and not a nice way to spend my time.
We finished stocking the trees and the baskets with my ornaments, and then Marley grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hallway to the craft room. I’d spent some time in here when we planned the bachelorette auction. But I’d never been present for the family business meetings like she had. She was part of the family in a way I’d never been.
“Now tell me, how long does it take you to create these ornaments? I’m talking about when you already have your design, and you’re just replicating ones you’ve made before.”
“It can take an hour or so once I have the design perfected to do each one. Depending on the complexity of it, it can take less or more time. It just depends.”
“How often do you come up with new ideas?”
“I seem to come up with the best ideas when I’m walking through the tree fields on the farm.”
“Then you must do more of that. That’s the most important thing you can do.”
I blinked at her in confusion. “I would have thought you’d say it was making the ornaments so we have more to sell.”
Marley tapped my forehead. “It’s your creative brain that’s the most valuable. You never know when you’re going to come up with an idea, and that ornament ends up on a tree at the White House.”
I sucked in a breath at that thought. “Are you being serious?”
Marley beamed. “Wouldn’t that be the ultimate success?”
“I mean, I’ve never considered the possibility.” I’d seen the programs that show them decorating the trees, but I never thought about how they chose them.
“I’ll ask around.”
“Marley—”
She shook her head and smiled at me. “It’s my job to dream big. Yours is to keep coming up with your amazing ideas. You never know which one will catch the eye of someone who could change your life.”
“That’s what happened to Talon.”
“And that’s possible with every artist or creator. The thing is, they don’t think big enough. You have to keep your mind open to the possibilities. Why don’t you spend some time listing all the places you’d like to see your ornaments. Think bigger than you ever have before.”
“I mean, the White House would be amazing, the gift shops at the Smithsonian museums, Longwood, Winterthur—”
“All your dreams are possible.”
