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“Oh, damn. I’m sorry.” And then he hugged her.
O-kay…two for two.
He stepped back and also gave her a sympathetic smile. “Is Billie getting you anything? Coffee? A brownie? A croissant?”
“Wait…there are croissants?” she asked. “When did you start making croissants?”
Billie stepped up to the counter and put the coffee and brownie down. “Today’s actually my first time putting them out there. I experimented with a couple of recipes last week and we all voted on this one. Would you like to try one instead of the brownie?”
“Um…excuse me? Instead of? Why can’t I have both? I just lost my job and I’m sad. I totally deserve both.”
“Fine. But don’t blame me tomorrow when your skinny jeans are suddenly squeezy jeans,” her sister huffed before walking away to put a croissant on a plate.
“Consider me warned,” she said back. “So…”
“Hey, Ash!” Jade said as she walked out and joined them. “Are you here for the coffee run for the salon?”
“I was fired! I lost my job! I gave Hazel blue hair and yelled at Becky, and now I’m unemployed! My life is in complete shambles and all I want is a croissant and a brownie without everyone asking me a thousand questions!” she cried out and then was mortified to see three pairs of wide eyes staring back at her. “So, um…sorry. It was just…all three of you asked the same thing and it’s been like…ten minutes since I left the salon and…”
Jade hugged her. “I get it. Believe me. You snapped and it’s okay.” She grabbed both plates as Ashlynn reached for the coffee. “Come on. Let’s all go sit and you can tell us what’s going on or you can tell us to mind our own business. Whatever you need, we’re here for you.”
They were heading for a table in the corner and Ashlynn got in step with her brother and whispered, “I really like her. Good choice.”
“I heard that, and thank you,” Jade said with a grin.
Once they were all seated, everyone was staring at her as if waiting for some big, dramatic confession or meltdown.
“Look, we all knew the last few months have been tense for me with Becky. I think she was just looking for an excuse to fire me.” She took a sip of her coffee. “And maybe I was looking to force her hand so I’d have an excuse to leave.”
“You know, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” her brother began. “Almost six months ago, I was in your shoes. I got fired and had no idea what I was going to do.” He shrugged. “Actually, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do, but that didn’t happen. So I guess my advice to you is to keep an open mind when you go home and start looking for a job.”
Billie walked over and joined them. “I’m sure there are plenty of salons that would love to hire you. You’re great at what you do and your clients love you.”
“I guess. I just hate the thought of starting over and having to prove myself. I’ll get the crappy booth and be the low man on the totem pole again.” She groaned. “It sucks.”
When she glanced over at Jade, Ashlynn noticed she was frowning.
“Okay, you have to tell me what you’re thinking right now,” Ashlynn prompted.
“Well…I guess I’m thinking…why do you have to start over? When you came in here a few months ago threatening to quit, I asked you if you had ever considered opening your own salon. I guess my question still stands. With all the revamping Sweetbriar is getting—and with your brother working with everyone involved—I think now would be the perfect time to look into that.”
It would be a total lie if she said she hadn’t been thinking about that almost nonstop since Jade mentioned it to her that one time. It was a daunting thought and there were a million thoughts racing through her head telling her she couldn’t do it—that she wasn’t good enough and she’d be a disappointment.
That was a whole lot of childhood trauma trying to keep her down, but maybe it was time to silence those thoughts and try something new.
“Look around this table, Ash,” Jade went on. “We’ve all done what you could do. I started this business and it was terrifying. My folks helped, but I did a ton of research and put a lot of sweat equity into this place and now look at it. We’re doing really well!”
Levi nodded. “Six months ago, I thought I had my dream job and in a flash, it was taken away from me with no warning. Now I’m heading up all the ads and promo for the town and all the new businesses coming in. I never thought I’d be heading up my own firm at this point in my life, but I’m loving it.”
Beside her, Billie sighed. “Well, I’m not exactly on par with these two, but I walked away from a wildly successful career in finance because I wasn’t happy. The stress was killing me and one day I just looked at myself in the mirror and knew I deserved more. So I quit and chased my passion, which is baking. Now I’m here with Jade and I’ve never felt better in my life.” She reached over and squeezed Ashlynn’s hand. “You deserve to be happy, Ash. Chase after your dream!”
After letting out a long breath, she looked at the three of them. “You make it sound so easy, but…I don’t know if I can afford to open my own salon. It would cost a lot of money and…I’m just not sure I’d be able to do it.”
“Come for dinner tonight,” her sister told her. “You forget what a financial whiz I am. I’ll bet we can crunch some numbers and then maybe talk to Patrick and Marissa—well, mostly Marissa—and see what kind of incentives they can offer to someone willing to open a business here in Sweetbriar.”
“Isn’t that kind of…I don’t know…a morally gray area? Patrick’s our cousin; Marissa is his wife. They’re family. I don’t think it would look good for them to be granting me any favors.”
“That’s just one of the questions we’ll have to ask them then,” she reasoned. “So what do you say? Dinner tonight? I’ve got a batch of corn chowder cooking in the crock pot as we speak.”
