Lucie grabs my arm. “I know it’s hard to picture without seeing the space, but this could be the perfect solution.”
“I volunteer if you need any wall murals,” Emma mumbles as she eats her cinnamon roll. “Beck, these are really good.”
“Thanks, I let the oven do the majority of the work.” He laughs, then looks at me. “Sounds like a good idea, Jen. Could be a pretty cool set up.”
I press my lips in a thin line. I could see it, well, the best I can see is the vision behind it. Having both the plant-floral storefront could pull a different crowd, along with tattoos… The niches seem so different, but in a way, could be a match made in heaven.
“Okay,” I say cautiously. “I’m following the trend of this idea a bit, but it’s a huge undertaking.”
Callie nods as she finishes her bite of her pastry. “Will’s already offered to help Reagan with the rent cost. What you and Reagan pay for, that won’t kick in until business is up and running efficiently. And I’ve volunteered to dust off my master’s in finance. I can help lay out a full budget, cost, and expenses plan for when you do start paying.”
The hesitation of taking money from Lucie’s brother must be written all over my face, because Luce squeezes my hand. “Don’t even argue about that. You know my brother, he wants to help, and if it makes you feel better he’d be paying it even if it was just Reagan’s business.”
I guess that part is true. Will does have a history of spoiling his sisters, not that it’s a bad thing, but I’m not one of his sisters,or Callie. I feel like I’ve been taking a lot of handouts lately, and I’m starting to feel a tad guilty about it.
Beck clears his throat. “I know I wasn’t invited to girls’ brunch, but you guys are getting my two cents anyway. I think it could be a really cool concept, but Jensen’s had some crazy days, let her sit on it for a bit.”
Lucie’s smile turns downright cheesy. This brunch is giving her way too much ammunition to push her whole Beck agenda.
I try to reign her back in. “I definitely am interested, but some time to think about it would be appreciated. What about your other form of news that couldn’t wait? What else is going on?”
Callie and Emma perk up for this one. “We’re planning a wedding at the Blues stadium!” Emma beams.
“And I’m taking the pictures!” Callie claps her hands.
“Flowers!” Reagan mumbles, now eating her breakfast since we’ve moved on from shop talk.
Lucie shakes her head. “A small wedding! Between everyone and Miles, I’m afraid this is going to get way too big for what Dex and I want.”
Now this is a topic I want to talk about. “Oh, my gosh, Luce! This is so exciting! When is this happening?”
Lucie sighs. “Well, we really just wanted to go down to City Hall, but Miles would be heartbroken if we didn’t do something. So when Dex went down to talk to Olsson about playing again, he mentioned turning the team’s Thanksgiving dinner into our wedding.”
Beck pulls out his phone. “Hold on, when the hell did this all happen? I must have missed my Best Man text.”
Lucie holds out her hands. “Look, this all popped up really fast. Dex and I wanted to talk to you two about it, but you know…other things were more important. But I swear we didn’t mean to leave you completely out of this.”
I squeeze Lucie’s hand. “Oh, babe, please, don’t worry about us. This is so exciting!”
Beck holds his phone up to his ear. “I have qualms, but not with you, Baby Mama—Dex, what the fuck is this about a wedding?”
Everyone else laughs as Beck walks away from the kitchen yelling at Dex over not immediately sharing this information.
I, however, hang my head as ,yet again, I ask myself,Really, a crush on this guy?
Lucie nudges my shoulder. “How are you two doing?”
Callie leans on the butcher block. “Please spare no details. He seemed all guard dog yesterday when we were moving you out. I swear, it was the first time I was semi-attracted to him.”
“I’m sorry, did you hear him being bossy earlier?” Reagan asks, holding her hands up. “I sat right down, and I rarely do anything a man tells me to do.”
“No, please, not this again. I’m pleading the fifth and guilty tripping you all with reminders of my stressful couple of days. I can’t talk about this.” I can’t talk about how caring he is. I can’t talk about his patience or protectiveness, and definitely zero discussions on his random bossy moments. Yeah, that’s where the crush is coming from.
“Party pooper,” Lucie whispers.
“Come on, Princess Peach, cuss at me if you’re going to insult me.”
Lucie lifts her chin. “Nope, won’t give you the satisfaction.”
