She went to the back, leaving Jamison and me alone again. Unfortunately, one of the customers chose the same moment to approach. Jamison stepped aside so the man could place his selections on the counter. I quickly rang him up, and he left.
Jamison opened his mouth to speak, but Blossom emerged from the back with the containers of food. "I'm going back tothe library," she announced, pulling my last kombucha from the small refrigerator. She paused, eyes sweeping over the two of us. "You know, Manuel also mentioned you've been in a really good mood lately. Whistling at work, that kind of thing. I guess getting enough sleep has really helped, hasn't it?"
"Certainly has," Jamison confirmed.
"I told you my mom was good," Blossom said.
"She certainly knows her stuff." Blossom had no idea, but he was speaking with double entendre, which made my cheeks burn.
"See you later, Mom." Blossom waved as she headed toward the door.
"Bye, my love."
The door shut quietly behind her.
"Do you think she knows?" Jamison asked in a lowered voice.
"No. She suspects I was with someone on Saturday night, but she has no idea it was you. She's too preoccupied with job hunting, wedding plans, and Manuel. Keeping what happened to ourselves was the right decision, at least for now."
"Agreed." He fell quiet for a moment. "When I walked in, you were frowning. Is everything all right?"
Knowing he recognized my distress made warmth unfurl in my chest. "Nothing I can't handle."
"Tallulah," he chided.
"No, really. It's a business-related issue I'm working on," I said dismissively.
"What kind of business issue?" Concern filled his voice.
I hesitated, unsure if I wanted to burden him with my problem. "In a couple of days, I and two other business owners in the building will have a meeting with the new landlord to discuss our concerns. We were elected by the other tenants to be the points of contact."
"What concerns do you have?" Jamison asked.
"We're worried about getting pushed out, the way the company pushed out tenants when they bought other buildings. I wanted to have a strong showing, with the names of all the tenants on the letter we're going to present to the landlord, but half of the business owners didn't sign the darn thing. They're worried about backlash, which is extremely frustrating."
"Can you reschedule to try to get more signatures?"
I shook my head. "I don't know if a delay will do any good. Besides, the landlord gave us one date and made sure we understood he was doing us a favor. He has a very packed schedule, et cetera, et cetera. He's flying out of town this weekend and will be gone until Wednesday of next week, so we couldn't even push the meeting forward a few days if we wanted to." I leaned against the counter, the weight of the meeting settling between my shoulder blades like a muscle ache. "I hope he listens to us. If they drastically increase the rent, most of us won't be able to stay."
"I had no idea you were dealing with this."
"Yeah. Wish us luck," I said, laughing without humor.
His expression turned thoughtful, the line appearing between his eyebrows, which meant he was processing and thinking deeply about what I had told him.
"Do you feel prepared for the meeting? What's his name, by the way?"
"Freedom Capital Real Estate is the company, and Jason Ochoa is the landlord and the person we've been talking to. I'm as prepared as I can be. We have an organized, visually attractive presentation, and I'll be leading the meeting."
"I'm sure you'll do an excellent job," Jamison said. "Take your time, present your case, and show Mr. Ochoa why it's beneficial to have all of you stay. He's not going to be concerned about you. You have to show him how half the businesses leavingwill hurt him, even if it's what the company has done in the past. Turnover is costly."
"I'll be sure to convey the message. You were about to say something before Blossom came in...?"
He tapped the counter. "I forgot what I was about to say, so it wasn't very important."
His answer disappointed me. I didn't believe he had forgotten.
"You have more pressing issues to deal with," Jamison continued. "If you need help with your presentation, let me know."
