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“Has to be this neighborhood. Your rep has already soared, so let’s face it, not being in this vicinity would just be stupid.”
“True. But it limits us. It’s not like there’s a nice storefront around here that we don’t know about.”
She harrumphed. “We could think outside the box.”
“We could?” I cocked a brow at her. “I’m all ears.”
While she fell silent, I turned back to stare at the little cafe that had been the culmination of years of my mother’s hopes and dreams. I felt so sad that it was coming to an end. Like a final chapter of a book I wasn’t ready to put down, and yet, the tea room wasn’tmydream.
I hated being nice to people.
Seriously.
I know it made me sound like a bitch, but I didn’t want to be sociable, I wanted to bake. I wanted to try new pie recipes, make my name Insta-famous. I wanted to start the newest trends and have people coming from all over the States to find my treats.
That was my dream.
I refused to think that, in his own way, Finn had set me free. By paying above the market value, I had more than enough to buy the things I needed. And most of the equipment was paid off. Thanks to my father.
After that first initial meeting those many years ago, I’d had a call from the bank telling me that my student loans, as well as all the debt under my name, was cleared.
Yeah, talk about a big old birthday gift.
At first, I’d thought it was like a ‘keep quiet’ payment, but when he’d sent me a burner phone that was only for him to use, I’d realized it was to take the pressure off me.
I was lucky, I guess. Or maybe the fact that I hadn’t demanded anything from him had made it easier for him to want to get to know me?
I didn’t know, probably never would. Still, I was in a good position because of him and Finn. Especially when Dad had helped me after Mom’s death. It meant that I could probably afford better premises than I even knew.
“What about that old hair salon on Seventh?”
I curled my nose. “The stench of old peroxide is stained into the floor.”
She snorted then raised her hand and began to tick off on her fingers, “It’s big. It has an outdoor space where we could put a few tables for people wanting to just sit down rather than run off on the go. It would probably be easy to customize the place to how you need it, and also, it’s been empty for ages. The owner would probably snatch your fingers if he thought you were interested in renting that place.”
I gnawed on my bottom lip. “That is very true.”
“I think we should go get a coffee,” she told me softly, and I realized I’d been staring at the building, while she’d been staring at me for only God knew how long.
“Yeah, sure,” I replied, but my answer was lackluster.
She tipped her head to the side. “He screwed you, didn’t he?”
“Screwed me?” I squeaked, my eyes flaring wide.
Jenny smirked. “Thought as much. Also thought you were walking a bit stiffly this morning.” She let out a low moan that had my cheeks flushing crimson. “He looks like the type of guy who knows what to do with his body. Was he good? Was he big?” She groaned, like she was turning herself on with thoughts ofmyman.
That phrasing, even though it was inwardly spoken, had me freezing internally.
Finn wasn’t ‘my’ anything.
I needed to come to terms with that very, very quickly.
“Eef,” she whined. “Please. I need the details. I need to live vicariously through you.”
I had to laugh at her melodramatics. “That’s a change. Normally I’m living through you.”
She pouted. “I know. Gah, you’re lucky I love you like a sister, or I’d be jealous as hell. As it stands, I’m just relieved you got laid, and he popped your damn cherry. Now, just promise he did it well, so I won’t go and knee him in the balls.”
