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“We are. I’m not sure how far it’s going to go but we’re working on it,” Jessica confessed. She didn’t want to tell Beth everything yet. If she were honest, it all seemed too good to be true and she wanted some time to see how it all worked out.
Jessica and Brian exchanged stories of how they’d been called in at different times to save the day. The story that Jessica liked the best was the relationship Butler had with a chain called Grandma’s B&B. It seemed as though the woman who owned the chair was very superstitious and believed that everything was a sign. So, after three months of trying to wine and dine the woman, they weren’t able to close the deal. That was when they called in the accounting group to see if money could help her over the finish line.
Brian created the proposal and sent it to her, only to have her say that the terms didn’t look right. Brian immediately took offense and decided that he needed to meet this woman face to face. When he arrived on site, he saw the woman and she immediately opened up her arms and pulled him into a loving hug. Brian was completely confused, and the woman just kept looking at him as if she had seen a ghost.
It turned out that Brian had an uncanny resemblance to her grandson. They didn't even have to review the financials, she said yes just because of that. From that point on some of his other colleagues joked that he could get a deal based on his looks alone.
It was then that Clay brought up the fact that he needed to meet with that chain to see how they felt about him being the interim or new CFO. Grandma’s B&B was a big contributor to the company. Jessica saw Brian look up at her as Clay mentioned that he needed to go to some meetings in order to secure the CFO position. At some other time, Jessica may have become defensive and thought it was time to protect her position trying to get to the same job, but now that everything was open between her and Brian, she didn't feel that way.
As they were driving back to Peace, Jessica was thinking that now that the Shell was almost completely renovated, that it might be time to ask Pilar to look at it. Jessica wanted to have something to present to Ms. Prince and the board.
That night as they lay in the room, Beth spoke.
“So, how many more proofs do you need that this is the real thing?” Beth asked.
Jessica was lying in her bed, thinking about Brian and then sighed. “I don’t know. I feel like if I take this by the horns, that I’ll get speared.”
“I know you’re scared but that’s a good sign. It’s good to know your rationale mind is still in play.”
“What does that even mean?” Jessica laughed.
“It means that when you get asked questions, you aren’t like those old cartoons where only hearts are in your eyes.”
Jessica wanted to reply… not yet.
“I hear you.”
“So, you going to marry him and do right by him?” Beth giggled.
“We haven’t said we love each other. We just said that we care for each other.”
“Wow! He must really love you to let you get away with that,” Beth exclaimed.
Jessica stammered. She wanted to believe but she felt something coming that would make it all go away, because that was just how her luck was.
* * *
The next two days were bliss. Brian would come to the Shell and make breakfast. Then they would walk over to Lars and have lively discussions on how feasible the murder mysteries were. After that they would finish the last touches needed at the Shell. On the third day all of it was done and the Shell was ready.
“We've put so much work into it, I don't think it's fair that we reopen it and call it the Shell,” Jessica announced. “In fact, I've been thinking about this for quite some time. I think a better name for this would be something that's suiting to all of Peace. I mean we’ve already expensed the renovations due to the storm. It’s not an active commercial place, let’s give it a fresh start. I’ll file the paperwork on the name later. How about calling it After Hours?”
“Ooh, I like it.” Jessica looked at Brian trying to gauge what his thought was on the issue. He turned to her with a wide smile and gave her a nod.
“Good work, brainy.”
Jessica waved him off. “I knew we were going to be finished today and so I got us all a surprise.” Jessica went into the small refrigerator downstairs and pulled out snow cones that she had bought just for this occasion.
Brian had to go and visit one of the board members. He gave Jessica a big hug and a kiss on her cheek before he left and promised to come back later. After he was gone, Jessica turned and looked at Beth only to see her with a wide grin across her face.
“So, I guess the little squeaker isn't so bad after all?”
Jessica felt the blush creep up her face and hoped she wasn't as red as she felt.
“No, he isn’t so bad after all.”
“But you two are still in competition, right?” Beth asked.
“It is and he’s totally okay with it. You know one of the reasons I was hurrying up was because Pilar said she would come check out the place after the office was up and running.”
