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Brooke’s gaze narrowed on me. “Why couldn’t it be? You could write a book or be a journalist.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve heard it’s difficult to get published, and isn’t print a dying career?”
“You could write articles online,” Brooke said.
“I don’t think I’d want to be a journalist. I have all these ideas for different worlds in my head. I probably just have an overactive imagination. I doubt I could turn any of my crazy ideas into a book.”
“But how do you know if you don’t try?” Brooke asked.
I shrugged, polishing off the last of the croissant. “Isn’t that admitting the shop won’t be my future?”
“You have no idea what’s going to happen in the future, and you should be doing something you’re passionate about,” Brooke said reasonably.
I set the plate aside and leaned back on the couch. “You’ve always known you wanted to open a business.”
Brooke smiled. “Yep, ever since I ran my first lemonade stand, and a neighborhood mom told me I was charging too much.”
I laughed, loving this story every time she told it.
“I told her I was running a business, and I needed to be competitive with Bentley’s stand. Who opens a lemonade stand in the next driveway when you could clearly see I’d opened one first?” She tried to say it seriously, but when her gaze met mine, we both broke out in laughter.
When we’d recovered, Brooke continued, “Bentley was just as pretentious as his name. Debate team. Student Council. Mock Court.”
“Weren’t those the same things you did?” They’d both gone to a private school, not the public schools like I had.
She rolled her eyes. “He acted like we should be thankful he deigned to be on our student council and debate team.”
Sometimes I thought the issue was that she and Bentley were too much alike. They were both smart and competitive. Brooke hated losing. It’s why none of us wanted to play board games with her.
“I think I heard he goes by Ben now, likethatchanges anything. I’m sure he’s just as irritating as when he was a kid.”
“I wish I could have seen you with your competing lemonade stands. I bet it was adorable.”
Brooke glared at me. “It was not cute.”
“What does Ben look like? I need a visual.” I was so glad Brooke came over because I felt a billion times better teasing her.
“Blond hair, I’m-always-right blue eyes, skinny.” Her lip curled into a sneer.
“I’m glad you don’t hold a grudge.”
“We were tied for valedictorian, and he kept telling me he was the real winner, but they felt bad for me, and decided to let us share.”
I tried not to smile at that because I knew she wouldn’t appreciate it. “You know he was just teasing you, right?”
She bit her lip, then her gaze slid away. “There was a part of me that believed him. Being valedictorian was too good to be true.”
His barbs got to her. “It’s a good thing he moved out of town. You don’t ever have to see him again.”
She sighed. “I heard a rumor that there’s a second coffee shop opening up across from Remi’s Juice Shop.
My stomach dipped. “Are you sure it’s a coffee shop?”
Her brow furrowed. “That’s what I’ve been able to get out of the construction guys working on it.”
“Are you giving them a hard time?” I asked, knowing she was. When Brooke wanted something, she got it.
She shrugged, her expression sheepish. “I just wanted to know if I’m going to have competition.”
