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“The agreement states that I stay on as a consultant for up to three years. This means I’ll have a salary for the next three years while I slowly scale back to part-time hours. In the meantime, we have to decide what to do about franchising.”
“I really don’t think I want to do that anymore, Vander.” I murmured. “I don’t want to be busier than I already am while you’re becoming freer. I’d rather leave things the way they are.”
He took a deep breath, his eyes watching me closely.
“What if I bought into the business and we expanded instead of franchising? One of the locations that came up as ideal was Bayview Village. Also, expanding into school catering may be a lucrative offshoot. If we expand, you can get out from behind the counter most days. There will be times when we’ll both have to work behind the counter, but we can schedule it that we work together most of the time. It’ll be fun.”
My thoughts bounced around erratically in my head. Giving over half of Spuds meant giving up my independence. If something happened between us, I could lose it. I didn’t think anything would happen, but I’d been wrong before. Spuds gave me financial security and provided for Jace. Spuds had been mine and mine alone for so long, I’d never even considered sharing it, not since Amber said she was happy to let it go.
“Can I think about it?”
He turned on his side, pushed me forward, and tucked his long legs behind mine. His chest warming my back, our heartbeats aligned. He reached around me and interlocked his fingers with mine before kissing the side of my face and bowing his face into my neck.
“For as long as you need to.”
Monday morning, we turned up the music. When Rubylove came on, Vander serenaded me with his terrible voice while he chased me around the produce table in the back. This is what Yiayia and Pappou had.
This was joy.
This was family.
This was everything.
Just before the lunch rush, Vander slipped out to pick up his papers. The time passed quickly and being busy left me no time to worry.
When the influx of customers trickled to a stop, I considered Vander’s idea for Spuds.
Expanding with Vander meant I would get out from behind the counter, and have something new with someone I trusted to guide the process. I had never considered partnering with anyone else with my business, but I could share Spuds with Vander.
With business issues, I trusted him implicitly. I still harboured the tiniest of doubts over how I would cope if we ever fell apart, but with Spuds, I knew he could take us to the next level.
As a father, I also knew that he would not let Jace down.
Partnering with him with Spuds would not be a huge change, not much different than what I planned to do with franchising. Expanding Spuds with Vander’s help, while a change, did not feel like a scary one.
We still needed to decide what to do about the house. With Yiayia moved in with Amber and Gus, there were enough bedrooms for our family. Staying in Yiayia’s house would keep Jace in his same school and in his same home. That was important.
And I didn’t want to leave.
Tuesday morning, I went to work by myself with Vander on standby if needed.
He wasn’t needed.
Wednesday evening, I broached the subject of him selling his house, and us renovating Yiayia’s house instead. He’d been staying there with Jace and me, and I loved it. Anyways, it would be much easier for him to move his few things here than for Jace and I to move to his house. He was practically living here already.
At first, he hesitated, but when I told him how much it meant to me, he agreed.
“If that’s what it’ll take to make you happy, I’ll do it. I’m not crazy about bringing George into Jace’s space, but if that’s what you need, we’ll renovate the house, make it new, and make it work.”
Thursday after work I went to visit Yiayia and pick Jace up from Gus’s house. Yiayia sat on the couch, Jace and Alex on either side of her, the iPad on her lap. Every few seconds they burst into highly contagious, raucous laughter.
I chortled. “What are you guys laughing at?”
Jace looked up, his eyes alight. Alex answered, his mouth stretched wide in a grin. “We’re showing Yiayia funny videos and seeing her reaction!”
I sat down with them and immediately saw the joke. Yiayia’s reactions ranged from shock to disapproval to glee, and sometimes all three within one video.
“Okay, agoria, you go do homework or something before I put you to work in the kitchen. I teach your Mommas how to cook and I teach you, too!”
