Ranar laughed, dropping back onto the sofa, letting his tail uncoil and stretch as he accepted a shot. “Well, I’m going to be closing soon. I don’t know whereyouwould put that on your disaster scale, but on mine . . .”
“Comeon, I’m being serious! You can’t catastrophize—“
He struggled to sit up enough to swallow without choking. “Gracie, I’m not catastrophizing and there’s nothing to strategize. I had three orders today.Three. And they were all piddly little thirty-dollar vases; I can’t even justify delivering that. She’s going to put me out of business. That’s not me being fatalistic. That’s what’s going to happen. I’m not sure how quickly, we won’t be able to tell that until after the next few weeks, but itisan inevitability.”
Grace opened her mouth to challenge him, but Ranar was ready.
“Do you remember, back in your hotel days? Did you ever have those big baskets of little ferns? The mixed variety?”
“Of course, all the time. We had a partnership with a local shop. We used to get those every—“
“That used to be a guy. That was a distributor we used for years. He covered the whole tri-state area, so every flower shop you called in all those years as you organized banquets and for weddings and proms and graduations, they all dealt with him. He was everyone’s plant guy, which means, even though you didn’t realize it, he wasyourplant guy too. Last time I talked to him, he was driving a school bus in Bingham. Do you know where all the flower shops get their fern baskets from now?”
She was quiet for a moment, dropping her head back against the single human-accommodating piece of furniture he had in his home, there for her alone. “Bloomerang?”
“Bloomerang. We used to have a different distributor for everything. I had a vase gnome. A basket guy. A company who did the boxes. Where are they all now? “
“Well, I’m assuming they’re out of business, or else you wouldn’t be telling me this particular happy story.”
“They are all out of business. Every one of them. Along with more than a dozen flower shops just in the metro area. Do you know who’s doing better than ever?”
She blew out an aggrieved breath, pushing to her feet to scoop up the bottle and top off his glass. “Let me guess.” Waiting until she had filled her own glass, dropping into her chair once more, Grace rolled her eyes, kicking back her shot. “Bloomerang?”
Ranar raised his shot glass. “Fucking Bloomerang.” He pulled a face at the burn, scowling at her once he had returned the empty glass to the table beside the sofa. “I hate tequila. You couldn’t at least spring for the fancy elvish shit?”
“You’re not going to have the budget for fancy elvish shit soon. I didn’t want you to develop a taste for it.”
Ranar dropped back to the cushion, rubbing a hand down his face as he laughed. He was fucked. There was no way around it. But at least he had good friends.What do you have, Sumi? Other really sparkly eyes and great tits and a beautiful laugh? Hmm? Just a corporation pulling your strings.He shook his head, pushing the thought away.That’s not helping.
“Who’s going to do my weddings if you go out of business? Like, that’sreallygoing to fuck me over. Thanks for nothing.”
Ranar snorted. “That’s the way it works. I rely on you, and you rely on me. We all rely on Xavier and his sister to get us through the week. Xavier ages his beans over at Enoch’s winery, and Enoch relies on Cal to make sure the menu is supplied.”
“And Cal relies on Rourke,” Grace added. “He’s a parts supplier, keeps all the machinery running.”
Ranar raised a hand, emphasizing the point Grace was proving. “And I’m sure he has another small business partner thatherelies on. It used to be easy. This all used to be easy. And then these big companies get involved and they fuck us all.”
Grace poured herself another shot. “Seriously though, are you just gonna throw in the towel? You’ve been talking about selling the building for as long as I’ve known you.” She paused, swirling her glass for a moment. “This is a good opportunity,” she said slowly, at last. “Maybe that’s the way you have to look at it, right? You know you’ll get a ton of money for it, and I would really hold Jack’s head to the fire on that. He owes that to you.AndI would make him manage an investment portfolio for free afterward.”
“I really don’t think I want to trust these fucking werewolves with any other part of my life.”
Grace snorted. “I mean, I get that, but making money is the one thing he’s actually good at. Look at this town. Let him ensure you never need to work again. “
Ranar tipped his empty shot glass back, ensuring that there was not a single drop left.This was a financial decision. Can’t keep propping up failing businesses.
“Anyway,“ she went on dramatically, “this can be a fresh start for you. You could literally do anything you want! And as someone who started over again, I can tell you, it definitely has its perks. We should all get a do-over after we’re thirty. We make all of our major life decisions when we’re too stupid and young to see the long-term. When you start over again, you can be smarter. You have the benefit of experience that you didn’t have as a twenty-four-year-old. Maybe you go back to court and get full custody. You and Ruma can travel all over the unification. See the biggest everything. The biggest ball of tinfoil. The biggest piece of cheese. All of that.”
“You’re starting to slur, Grace. And I can’t wait to see the judge’s face when I tell them I want to redo the custody agreement so that Ruma can have a childhood of roadside attractions instead of private school.” He struggled to sit up as Grace laughed, pulling his tail in closer, hoisting himself up upon it, swaying as his head swam. “And I know I’ve been talking about selling, but that was different. I need to extend this as long as I can for my dad’s sake. I don’t know what’s going to happen with him once we close the doors, this is all he knows. This is the only routine he’s ever had.Yes, I’m going to have to sell the building eventually, and I’m going to rake whoever buys it over the coals. But I’m not giving that up easily and I’m not going quietly. That’s what they all want. She can put me out of business, but I can make her fucking miserable first.”
Grace laughed again, downing her drink and sinking low in her chair. “This makes me sad. She was flirting with yousohard that day! I thought she was gonna be perfect for you.”
Ranar pursed his lips, the end of his tail thrashing in agitation, thinking of that morning at the Black Sheep. “Did I tell you I asked her out?”
From the arm of her chair, Grace’s eyebrows shot up.
“We ran into each other outside the coffee shop. It was before the construction barrier even went up. She said yes, too. We were trying to make our schedules line up when—“ Ranar cocked his head, pausing, rememberingwhySumi was in Cambric Creek that morning in the first place. “Motherfucker, that was the day she got her permit. That’s the only reason why we didn’t set a date right then and there, she got a call from City Hall and had to get back to a meeting . . .”
She had looked so beautiful that morning, full of nerves, and he’d done his best to ease her mind. Ranar dropped his head back, groaning.
