I’ve cried so much in the past week, I’m surprised there are still tears left.
A warm hand strokes up and down my arm.
“Not now, Katie,” Kaz says.
A beat of silence hangs in the air.
Thank God we’re in a corner booth.
“Do I pack everything to go, boss?”
“That would be great,” Kaz says. “Can you give us a minute? I’ll give you the heads up when we’re ready to leave.”
“Not a problem. I hope it’s not something I said…”
This poor woman thinks she’s the cause of my emotional breakdown.
I lift my head up. “I’m having a bad day.”More like a bad year, but I wouldn’t want to burden you with my baggage.
She offers a sad smile. “We’ve all been there.”
We each have our crosses to bear. Mine is really heavy.
I nod.
With that, Katie is off.
“Let’s talk about that,” Kaz says.
“About what?”
“Your bad day… I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but I must say, I was surprised to see you at Grazie Mille. A lot has happened in my life in the last year, so maybe I got things confused, but I thought you were going into business with a friend of yours and her husband?”
I sigh.
“Getting a business off the ground is demanding, so maybe you were working at the restaurant as you were ramping things up?—”
“That woman and her husband stole my life savings.”
Kaz’s eyebrows shoot to his forehead. “How the hell did that happen?”
“I fell for the glossy exterior package. The polished designer suits, her collection of Hermes handbags, her bling, his smooth talking, and pricey vintage sports car. It all lured me into a false sense of security. They were successful. I wanted that success to rub off on me. It was all smoke and mirrors. The two people I thought had the same vision as me were nothing more than common criminals.”
“Lawyers were involved in the business setup?”
“Yes. I hired my own legal representation.”
“Where did it all go wrong?”
That question still haunts me today. “Everything was going smoothly. The hours were brutal, but I was flying high. We had secured tons of restaurants and boutique hotels who wanted to lower their costs by flipping to monthly delivery of silk flowers instead of weekly delivery of fresh flowers. We even secured a few potential franchisees we connected with at industry events. I was already rubbing my hands together at the prospect of all that money floodingmy bank account.”
“You didn’t get the outcome you expected?”
“I didn’t.”
“What happened?”
“Ellen Pfeffer Zhang and Qin Zhang—my business partners at Silk Blooms Flowers—went on a shopping spree in Hong Kong. Qin grew up in Shanghai and speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, so his language skills were a plus. Ellen wouldn’t have been able to negotiate deals without her husband.”
