I looked from my beer to Jake in confusion. “How is getting small loans from many people different than what we’re talking about?”
“I mean, what if they aren’t loans? What if we have a few people we’re close with invest in this part of the business? We don’t look at it as loan we have to pay back, but just a few people we split the profits with. I mean, if we wanted to buy them out in the future, we could, but maybe we wouldn’t need to…” Jake’s thoughts trailed off.
Investors in the canning side of the business. That wasn’t an idea I’d thought of, but I didn’t hate it. “I need to think more about that. Do you have anyone in mind?”
Jake cleared his throat. “Not really. It just came to me today when I was talking to my brother.”
“How’s Drew doing?”
“Exhausted. The dry conditions in the West aren’t helping matters.”
“Nowhere he’d rather be though, right?” I asked. Drew was a firefighter out in the Rockies. Wildfires were on the rise, and drought conditions were helping no one. I’d met him when he’d come to visit Jake during college and visited Jake here a few times, but mostly he’d stayed out West. He’d been to The Homestead, but since he’d finished college and joined the US Forestry Department’s hotshot firefighter team, Jake didn’t see him often. I knew Jake worried about him, but from all accounts, Drew loved it.
“It’s hard to watch the news about those crazy fires in California and not wish he had a different job though.”
I nodded. The thought of my sister being in danger on a regular basis was a punch to the gut. I didn’t know how Jake dealt with it. Pulling me out of those thoughts, a hand crashed onto my shoulder in the form of one Maxwell Harp.
“Can I crash this cozy date?”
“What dragged you in here, Harp?” Jake said, smiling at our friend.
Max pulled up a stool and nodded over to the bar where Daryl was getting ready for lunch crowd. “Was up early working on the farm, and Emma left to go hang with Maggie. Figured I’d come up here and see you two.”
I nodded, “And you wanted to try our new beer…”
“And I wanted to try your new beer.”
I looked over to Daryl. “Evolution,” I said, tipping my head to Max.
Daryl took care of the beer, and Max scanned my laptop screen. Glancing from Jake to me, he asked, “You finally going ahead with the canning side? You’d make my life a fucking lot better if I could have just gone to my fridge to get a beer today instead of hauling my ass to town.”
“But then you would have missed spending time with the two of us.” I shook my head at him.
Jake let out a laugh, then said to Max, “I’m trying to convince this stubborn ass to go ahead with the investment. I just suggested we look to getting a few investors to help with the start-up costs. We can split the profits with them and not take the entire burden on by ourselves.” Jake tipped his head at me, then turned his attention back to Max. “He’s thinking about it, which is better than shooting me down immediately.”
“I’d be interested,” Max said quickly.
“Really?” I looked at Max in surprise. “You don’t need to do that.” I hated this feeling of asking for charity.
Max gave me a skeptical look. “Nope. Wipe that look off your face, man. You know how much I like your beer. This would be an investment and a damn good one at that. But I’d need to run it by Emma first—”
Jake interrupted. “Congrats on the engagement, man. Don’t think I’ve seen you since I heard.”
“Yep. Best decision I’ve ever made.” The look of contentment on Max’s face was not one I’d seen on him before.
I sat there, mulling over the thought of investors, the possibility of moving ahead with the canning. “Jake, I think investors could be a good way to go. Let me think some more about it tonight, and I’ll get back to you.”
“Planning on talking to Maggie about it?” Max grinned at me.
I glanced at Max, then Jake, who both were giving me knowing looks. “Yeah, assholes, I do think I’ll talk to Maggie.”
Max and Jake both laughed before Max spoke. “Good choice, man. Women like communication, you know.”
“Now you’re a relationship expert?”
“Just saying we all know Maggie. And I know all about how pissed she was a few weeks back when she overheard you talking to me about pausing this investment. So maybe if you get your head out of your ass and stop shutting her out of conversations where you’re considering what to do based on her, you’ll get closer to where you need to be.”
Fuck, Max was right. I was debating what to do next based on Maggie and the baby without even talking to Maggie about it. That smacked of some misguided old-school values and not just a little sexism. Not okay.
