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After the last song that they dared stay outside for before getting back to their friends, a slow dance, neither of them had let go. Before kissing her, Marcus had looked into her eyes with the same nervous expression he wore right now.
He scratched the back of his neck, looking down at the table. “This is hard. Especially to admit to you. I think I made a mistake. I was so excited at the thought of having an ice cream shop and Everett had pumped me up so much, the excitement made me think I could do it. But the reality is, I don’t have a clue how to start a business. It’s even more difficult to admit to you, knowing that you wanted the building.”
She liked seeing Marcus being carefree and happy like he always was. Seeing him vulnerable and unsure of himself was so different from what she was used to seeing. Instead of experiencing negative feelings about not getting the building for her own business, his vulnerability and honesty drew her to him even more.
“I realize you’re probably rolling your eyes at the fact that I’m trying to do something that you’ve spent years learning how to do, especially when I’ve done none of that. And you’re probably thinking how much better off the building would be in your hands. But I’m hoping that feeding you a five-star dish will make you willing to aim me in the direction I should go. I’ve got lots of genuine compliments lined up and ready to go if that will sweeten the deal.”
She wanted to keep her expression unreadable and stare him down for a bit. To make him sweat. It was hard to give up her chance at a business in that building after all. But she only lasted about thirty seconds—seeing the anxiety behind his eyes was more than she could take. Besides, she lived, breathed, and slept business planning. If she was around people who could stand hearing her talk about it nonstop all day long, she probably would do just that.
“Okay,” she said, pulling a fresh notebook out of her bag and opening to the first page, the spreadsheet in her brain already opened to the Creating a Business tab. The one that made her soul sing when she opened it. “Maybe we should just start with an overview so you’ll get an idea of where you need to go, then we can break that down into specifics, or if you just want the first thing broken down, we can do that.”
Marcus nodded. “Sounds good. I like that plan.”
“The first step is always market research.” She wrote it down on the first line of the notebook. “You need to find out if the product you want to sell will have a big enough customer base to support the business. Obviously, you don’t want to open a shop selling something super cool if it isn’t even going to bring in enough sales a month to pay the rent.”
Marcus kept nodding, so she kept going.
“It’ll all depend on your business plan, of course, but I think it’s safe to say that there’s a place for your ice cream shop in Nestled Hollow. There’s nothing like it, and between locals and the number of tourists that come in a year, you’ll have a good customer base. The Fire and Ice Festival was your market research on your product itself.”
She put a big checkmark next to Market Research in the notebook, and she didn’t miss the relief that showed on his face at having one item checked off. It was kind of cute.
Then she started talking about creating business plans and setting goals and figuring out costs. Then, of course, choosing a business structure, deciding on a business name and registering it, determining the needs for a small business loan and applying for it, then getting a business license and permit.
The more she talked about each of the items, the more excitement coursed through her. She knew all this stuff forward and backward and inside out. Many of the individual items she had participated in doing for one company she worked for or another, but it had never all been up to her. She had been dying to do all of them. All for the same company. If this were her company, she would be giddy with excitement right now. She would probably have a hard time stopping working to go to sleep each night. And there was enough to do to fuel that excitement for months.
Somewhere around talking about branding, pricing strategies, and coming up with an accounting system, she noticed the fear, overwhelm, and uncertainty on his face. Her hand was itching to add construction to the interior of the building, signage, look of the outside of the building, ordering the equipment, marketing, advertising, and hiring employees to the list, but she didn’t think he could handle any more steps right now, so she put down her pen so she wouldn’t be tempted to add more things she thought of.
Marcus ran his hands over his face, then glanced back at the kitchen doors. She didn’t know if he had been away from the kitchen too long and needed to get back, or if he was looking for an escape route.
Finally, he turned back and met her eyes. “I need help. More than just a night of getting aimed in the right direction.”
“Marcus,” she said, hesitant, “we already discussed the dangers of becoming business partners. And I’m pretty sure Everett and Kennon would be even less okay with that than they would be with us dating.”
“We don’t have to become business partners. How about I just hire you as a consultant? Do you do that? I’ll pay you to help me get the business up and running. There can’t be any harm in that.”
She put her fist against her lips, looking down at the list.
“Please? You’re brilliant at this stuff, Joselyn. And I’m so lost.”
“Is that one of the compliments you had at the ready in case it was needed?”
He chuckled. Not his normal happy sound— one that was colored by worry. “Remember,” he said, pointing at her, “I said I’d only give ‘genuine’ compliments.” After a few moments, he added in a low voice, “It’s incredible to see how happy this stuff makes you. This business stuff makes me want to tie myself to a buoy during a hurricane, but you—you’re alive with excitement.”
The way he looked at her when he said that brought heat to her cheeks. Usually, they just teased each other a lot— they didn’t give serious compliments like he just had. They’d spent a lot of time in the same house since they broke up in high school, and had both figured out years ago exactly how much distance to give each other to keep things easygoing between them. Saying yes to helping him would break that.
But this project excited her so much. She had quit her second job nearly three weeks ago, and normally she would’ve started a new one long before now— one that would benefit her future business-owning-self in some way. But because she had been so sad at the loss of the business she had thought she was going to have for less than two hours, she hadn’t even gone looking for a new one yet. This could be the new job that would help her future business-owning self. More so than any other second job she could possibly get.
And it would prove that she wasn’t sabotaging herself or backing out because of fear. A little voice said that it wasn’t the same thing— it wasn’t her business, so the risk wasn’t the same, but she silenced that voice. If she said yes to helping Marcus, specifically, itwasa giant risk. Just a different kind of risk.
Plus, seeing how stressed Marcus was had unsettled her. It felt wrong on him. She pictured his normally big, confident, gregarious personality, welcoming everyone around and drawing them in, and she very much wanted to see that version of Marcus in an ice cream shop at the top of Main Street. And she never wanted to see him fail at a business that she knew could be great just because he didn’t have her help.
She glanced at the rest of her meal—she had eaten just over half, and it still looked beautiful on the plate, the memory of it still making her taste buds sing. Marcus might not have any business experience, but the man was skilled. Maybe it was selfish, but she wanted her beloved hometown to have that skill right at home.
She exhaled, looking down at the notebook, then took a deep breath and met Marcus’s searching expression. “This is a colossally bad idea.”
“Definitely,” he said, shaking his head.
“Looks like we agree, then.” She reached her hand across the table and shook his. “I accept the job.”
