“Yeah.” My mind is racing, darting off in a million different directions. But I keep my face totally neutral, not wanting to reveal how much I like the space. How much I could actually envision this as some kind of real possibility.
How absolutely perfect it would be.
Jack studies me for a second. “What do you think?”
I shrug, shoving my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, turning to head inside. “It’s all right.”
He purses his lips, following me without a word.
“What did you think of the outdoor space?” Kristen looks up from typing on her phone when we come back into the main room.
“It’s big.”
She nods, her eyes scanning me from head to toe as she sizes me up. “Jack mentioned you’re a florist. There’s a lot of ways you could utilize the room.”
“Yeah. I’m just not sure I’m ready to make that kind of commitment.” Ignoring the steady burn of Jack’s eyes on me, I reach out my hand to shake Kristen’s even as I head for the door. “Thank you so much for your time.”
“Please let me know if anyone else expresses interest,” Jack mutters to her as I push my way outside.
He doesn’t take my hand as we resume our walk to dinner. I expect a barrage of questions, a litany of reasons why I should lease the space, why I should push myself and go for it. But he stays quiet, letting me burrow deep into my own thoughts.
It’s exactly what I need.
We grab a table at the small pizza restaurant, ordering wine and a pie to share and not saying anything to each other until we each have a full glass of red sitting in front of us.
“How much?” I finally relent, letting the question burst from me, knowing I won’t be able to focus on anything else until I can fully write off even the remote possibility of this happening.
Jack sits back in his chair. “It’s not cheap, but it could be worse.”
“How much?” I hold up my hand and gulp down half of my wine. “Okay, now tell me.”
“You’d need at least a hundred to secure the lease for a year. Plus whatever else you’d need to spend to get the space set up how you want it.” He watches me over the rim of his glass as he takes a much smaller sip of his own wine.
A genuine smile spreads across my face. “I’m actually kind of relieved.”
His brow furrows. “You are?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s not an unexpected number, but it’s definitely high enough that I don’t even need to think about it any further. I can’t afford anything close to that, so we can just put the whole thing to bed.” If I let myself think on it, I could start to get really pissed that he made me see the space even though I told him it was too much. Because now I know how awesome it could be. Now I’ll spend the next few weeks thinking about what kind of shelves I’d buy and how I’d create the window display.
I’ll be thinking about how gorgeous Jack’s paintings would look hanging on that stupid brick wall.
I never should’ve gone in there. But at the same time, it somehow feels like I was meant to see it.
Jack crosses his arms, leaning on the tiny table, putting his face a foot away from mine. “You do realize that number is a pittance to many investors, right? You could get that in a heartbeat, Sade.”
I purse my lips so I don’t take him to task for referring to over a hundred thousand dollars as a pittance. “I don’t want an investor, Jack. I don’t want to be beholden to anyone but myself.”
“If you won’t take my money, what about asking Nick?” He leans back as the server arrives with our pizza, setting it in the middle of the table and handing each of us a plate.
Pulling a slice from the pie, I slide it onto my plate quickly before the crust has a chance to burn my fingers. “Mixing friendship and business is almost as bad as mixing sex and business.”
Jack pauses in the middle of freeing his own slice. “I really hope you aren’t suggesting this is just sex, sweet pea.”
Rolling my eyes and huffing out a breath at the same time doesn’t hide the small smile tugging on my lips at his declaration. “It’s obviously more than sex, Jack of Hearts.”
“You’ve really run out of new nickname options, huh?”
“I happen to like Jack of Hearts, and it fits in the moment, thank you very much.” Blowing on the still-hot pizza, I take a large bite.
