Hearing that Nadira had popped up on me without letting me know had immediately made me think that either she was running from something or something was wrong with our parents. I was glad neither of those was the truth and I reminded myself that I didn’t always need to jump to the worst possibility.
I smiled and reached down. I jiggled baby girl’s side till she giggled.
“I’m happy to see y’all,” I said.
“We’re happy to see you too.”
Nadira climbed up and I gave her a one armed hug so I didn’t crush the baby.
“I came here to see you and take you to lunch or something but it seems like I should have come to give you an intervention.”
“What?”
She gestured to my desk and I looked down at all the papers I had thrown across it. I didn’t need to look too close to know whatit was. It was my vendor receipts, invoices I’d gotten and the full finances of the club all laid out in one spot.
I lifted an eyebrow while I regarded her.
“You digging through my stuff now?” I reached for my niece and Nadira handed her over immediately.
“I didn’t dig. It was all out on your desk.”
“And that made you have to lean in and read it?”
“Not necessarily.”
“So you were snooping?”
“Of course I was,” she said matter-of-factly.
I laughed without being able to stop myself. I couldn’t even force myself to be mad for real. Had I wanted to bother Nadira? No. But now that she knew what was up I would love for her to give me some advice.
“And what do you think?” I shifted my niece to the opposite side and she tucked her head in my neck.
“I think that you should have come to me if you needed help.”
“Yeah, well I didn’t and we’re here now so what’s up?”
“I think the club can be saved but it’s going to take some more money to make money.”
“Of course it is.” I scoffed.
“How much do you want to throw into this?”
“I don’t even know,” I admitted.
I wasn’t broke. I still had money stored in savings and a few stocks and shit, but ultimately the budged I’d set out for the club was tapped and I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to pouring more of my cash into a failing business. I was ten grand from selling the building for what I could get and tapping out.
I didn’t consider that me failing or folding. I considered it me being a smart business man and knowing when it was time to let shit go. That was the problem with people that gambled. They didn’t know when to fold and give up.
I wasn’t one of those men.
“What do you recommend?”
“Well better branding would probably help.”
“Right.” I looked over at my sister with her business and marketing degree. “And let me guess, you know someone who can help me out with that for a discounted price?”
“Of course. Me.” She smiled and shimmied in place. “What do you think?”
