The troll raised her eyebrows. “More inspiration? We’ve barely cleaned up from last night!”
Sumi was amazed how much she suspected she loved the business piece of it all, once she removed her guilt overThe Perfect Petal’sowner from the equation. She was driven by something that had never possessed her in the classroom, a giddy desire to succeed, to push higher, to aim bigger. Unlike those first few months, when she mourned her success inspiteof Ranar, now she was determined to be successfulforhim.You can’t be a sugar mama if you’re barely clearing six figures before taxes, and he needs a Kiss the Cook chili apron.
Urban Narcissus had, if nothing else, been an excellent model for her. A business aiming high, elevating both their product and clientele, and reaping the reward. It was the dryad and her sleek black suit Sumi had thought of that morning.
She did a double take once she entered the design room, as Hedda guiltily slurped coffee from her leaky cup. “First of all, get rid of that fucking menace before it spills all over the counter again! Iliterallybought you a new one!”
One of the gnome sisters dropped her head against the worktable, shoulders shaking in laughter as Hedda sniffed, begrudgingly carrying her cup to the sink, and removing the brand-new tumbler from the cabinet.
“Throw it away! But I was thinking, remember what I told you about that shop I trained in?Urban Narcissus? You liked that mothman guy, right? He lived in the apartments off the highway, I believe . . . I say we call him back, he can be the Bridgeton driver.”
Hedda pulled a face. “I don’t know if that’s going to be worth it. You’ve got alotof shops in Bridgeton to compete for the business.”
“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. I’m not worried about the other shops in Bridgeton. How much competition does Urban Narcissus have?”
The troll cocked her head as Sumi grinned ferociously. It turned out she had quite a knack for the art of war in business. She had never wanted to direct any of it at Ranar. The only thing she wanted to do with Ranar was pull him into her arms and kiss him until he forgot about the past few months, butthatwas a different plan.Thisplan was fueled by spite, born out of a conversation she’d overheard at her party. Two selkies, comparing notes over recent weddings they’d attended, and how expensive everything, including the flowers, had been.
“That’s the kind of stuff my boss likes on the front reception desk,” one of the girls had added.
Weddings were a beast she didn’t want to touch with a barge pole, but arrangements for offices were a different story. That she could do. Do it easily and do it well.And upchargein the process.All she had to do was click a few boxes on her Bloomerang partner portal. She had already checked. Tropicals and other high-end flowers and botanicals, orchids, bonsai . . . they could elevate the offerings and the price point commensurately.
“If we were to start buying the big tropicals and expensive shit, don’t you think we might get a piece of that business?”
“We might, but they’ll still have the edge of being closer in distance. If you’re setting the minimum price point to be the same as theirs, I don’t see how —“
“Oh, but we’re not going to match their minimum price point. We’re going to setourstwo dollars lower.”
The grin that spread overhead Hedda’s face was diabolical in its dawning, and the gnome sisters cackled in unison from the other side of the table.
“You’re going to Showcase Showdown them.”
“We’re going to fucking Showcase Showdown them.”
“You are both evil,” Seff hooted. “But I love it.”
Sumi grinned. “The difference between being evil and being shrewd is in how you choose your victim.Thisis just good business.“ She turned away still smiling, humming to herself. She had a future naga husband to keep, the best guy without exception, and he deserved only the best in return.
The UnFriendzone
Ranar
“So that’s it. I need to pull the plug before I start throwing good money after bad. You know the weddings will start to dry up by mid-October. I’m going to quietly put it on the market by the end of this month, and hopefully I’ll be able to move any stock we’re sitting on by the time it goes to escrow. We’re done.”
Grace nodded slowly, not bothering to challenge him.
He’d already had the same conversation with his parents that morning. His mother understood, insisted it was for the best, that she wanted him to get as much money for the property as he could without sacrificing anymore to the taxes. Shesaidthat, but as she left the room, Ranar watched her pause, reaching a hand out to touch the notched door frame, marked with their heights.
A short while later, he had been in the design room with his father, organizing himself for that weekend’s wedding. “I used to put Ruma in her swing right there, remember? Every afternoon while we worked. I used to tell her this place would be hers to worry over . . . We’ll need to get you out of the house every dayafter this place is gone. Figure out a new routine. Okay, Appa?” Ranar knew he was as much talking to himself as he was to his father, not expecting an answer.
His father looked up, fixing him with a look, shaking his head. “You worry too much. You always worry too much. Let your mother and I do the worrying.”
He smiled sadly. It was bittersweet that the fact that his days of worrying about this place were nearly at an end. “I’ll try to do that more.”
“Ruma needs to be a doctor, not run any of this. Sell it and send her to a good medical school. And you don’t need to worry about this place so much either. Focus on school. Then you get a good job that doesn’t keep your hands in water all day.”
Ranar laughed, turning away as his eyes burned.Where the fuck was this lecture twenty years ago?“Okay, if you say so. You’re the boss.”
“Don’t forget it. Why don’t you go call that pretty girl and stop worrying so much.”
