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Joselyn let out a quick breath, almost in a huff. “You’re doing the same thing he is. You both should be talking through this.”
“Okay,” Joselyn said, turning to face Macie and leaning her hip against the railing, “I’ll talk through it. I haven’t decided on a business. Marcus has. His business idea is a great one, too—I mean you’ve tried his ice cream and you’ve seen how this town reacted to it. All he has to do is sell ice cream like that, and his shop will be an instant hit. He’s leagues ahead of where I’m at. I’m still unsure about everything.”
“I saw you look at that building, though,” Macie said. “You want it.”
“Of course, I do. But it won’t be the last building to open up in Nestled Hollow.”
“The next one might beyearsaway. Could be a decade.”
“Well, maybe by then I’ll have everything figured out and will finally know what I want to do.” Instead of running toward life’s lake, ready to jump in, she was suddenly backing away. Alarmingly fast and far.
“And there’s no chance you’ll partner with Marcus?”
Joselyn let out a single huff of a humorless chuckle. Macie was the only person in the family who knew that she and Marcus had secretly dated while they were in high school. Although Joselyn and Marcus were both worried that Everett and Kennon suspected it, they were pretty sure the twins never found out. “Maybe you don’t remember how awkward things got when we broke up.”
“Oh, I remember. I was fourteen and boy crazy and was watching you like a hawk to learn all I could about dating so I would be a pro by the time I finally got to be sixteen and could date. I hadn’t experienced anything like it myself so I didn’t have the same understanding, but it wasn’t hard to see how miserable you were.”
Joselyn looked back out across the snow. “We only dated for three months, but it hurt. More than any breakup I’ve experienced since.”
Plus, it wasMarcus. That had made it so much more difficult than any old first breakup. And then, after being such a staple in their family’s lives, he had just stepped away for two whole months after the breakup. He never came over to the house and somehow managed to never be in the same place as her at school. That had made everything so much worse.
“And then once he started coming to family things again, seeing him at our house constantly was so hard for both of us, yet neither of us could act like anything was different or Everett and Kennon would know that we broke our promise and dated anyway.”
Macie was quiet for a moment before she said, “Being business partners isn’t the same as dating each other.”
Joselyn shook her head. “You’re right. It isn’t. But what if we found out we couldn’t actually work together? What if it went disastrously? Do you remember Cath Rowley and Flora Erekson? They were in my grade.”
Macie nodded.
“They were inseparable in high school. They had a dream of running a business together, and right after college, they opened a sandwich shop over in Littleton. They had clashing opinions on how to run things, and the business ended up failing. But they didn’t go back to being friends after. Two decades of friendship was lost simply because they went into business together.”
“Just because they didn’t work well together doesn’t mean that you and Marcus wouldn’t.”
It didn’t. She knew that. But Cath and Flora were great friends yet didn’t know they wouldn’t be able to work together. Maybe it was impossible to know unless you tried, and by then it was too late.
Joselyn shook her head. “I’ve been studying how to run my own business for a long time. I know exactly how I want to do things, and I’m pretty sure I’d be headstrong about it. If Marcus didn’t agree, we could end up just like Cath and Flora. Then I don’t think either of us would want to be around each other at family things. And you know how wrong it feels not to have him at family things. I couldn’t be the cause of that.”
“I totally get it.” Macie reached out and placed a hand on the top of Joselyn’s arm and stayed silent for a moment before asking, “You’re sure you’re willing to give up the building?”
The truth was, a sharp pain stabbed at her heart. It felt like the part of her that had lain large and dormant that had zinged to life when she looked at the hardware shop and thought of it beingherbuilding was currently dying off, not that it was just returning to dormancy.
But what was the alternative? She really only had three options. She could partner with Marcus, which had the potential to cause forever damage to her very large family.
The second option was to demand that Marcus step back and let her have the building, especially since she put in the offer to lease it first. But the guilt associated with that might haunt her forever. If whatever business she chose didn’t work out, went through hard times, or wasn’t exactly what the town needed, she would always wonder how well the ice cream shop would’ve done if she had let Marcus have his chance. Could she enjoy her business with that constant wonder hanging over her?
Or she could let Marcus have his chance with the building, lick her wounds, and then regroup and come up with a new plan. And then, when the time was right, move forward with absolute confidence.
Really, out of three less-than-perfect options, giving him the chance at the building was the best one. She nodded. “I’m sure I’m willing. The next time a building becomes available, I’ll be ready for it.”
Macie studied her for several long moments, then nodded.
Joselyn finally turned toward the house and saw that every family member present who was over the age of four sat somewhere in the great room, watching her go through the decision-making process. But her eyes landed on Marcus’s. His face was full of uncertainty and worry and apprehension and he got to his feet, hesitating, as if unsure whether it was now okay to approach her about a solution yet or not.
She could do this. She told herself that karma would have her back, and she went inside to let Marcus know that she would move forward with her dream in a different way and that he should move forward with his as planned.
four
MARCUS
