Fuck him very much for being so very nice when everything hinged on him being an asshole.
CHAPTER 17
Don’t Let Him See
WINONA
“Cheers!”
I clinked my wine glass against four others. A week after John’s bombshell news, Cassandra, Cher, Sarah, and I were having a much-needed and well overdue wine night at Cassandra’s house.
“To Heartbreaker Trades,” Cher said.
I choked, a little wine dribbling out of my mouth. “Cher!”
“What?” Cher asked innocently. “Too soon for the name reveal?”
“We were talking about vacations!” I said, still coughing a little.
Sharing the next big venture in my life was not the plan. But being here tonight wasn’t planned, either. Cassandra had called us out of the blue yesterday, saying it was finally time to get together like we all kept talking about. I’d been thrilled—anything to keep my mind off…everything. So far, we’d been talking about normal things, like Tasha dumping a whole cup of apple juice in David's lap the other day, and Cassandra and Blake’s plans to head to Mexico in January. He’d only crept into my brain a dozen times instead of two dozen.
But Cher also knew my business name had gotten registration approval yesterday, a milestone I should have been happy to cheer from the rooftops.
“Yeah, well, I thought we’d cut to the chase,” Cher said, grinning.
I kicked her under the table, but not too hard.
“Heartbreaker Trades?” Cassandra asked, confused. “Is Heartbreaker Plumbing expanding?”
“Not quite,” I said. “And it’s not anything yet.”
“Come on, Winona,” Sarah said, an encouraging smile on her face. “You’re so close now. I think the cat needs to be let out of the bag.”
My stomach leapt with nerves. Cassandra was a critical puzzle piece in this plan. As the CEO of the Rolling Hills hotel, her endorsement—and hopefully participation on the board—would mean everything in this community.
“Well,” I said, forging ahead anyway, because Cassandra looked eager to hear more. “I planned on telling you in a more formal capacityafterthe reno was done.” I glowered at Cher briefly. “But I’ve had this plan for a while to start a collective for women in trades. My goals are to both give existing tradeswomen connection and support, but also to encourage more women to get into trades, in a way that’s safe and welcoming and women-centric.”
I rattled off the line I’d repeated a hundred times in all the applications I’d been filling out over the past months.
Sarah clapped her hands. “Cassandra, it’s amazing. You should see the business plan.”
“It’s not finalized,” I said.
“I’ve read it,” Sarah said. “It’s pretty close.”
Sarah had read the plan last week. And had immediately asked if she could be on the board. I was going to ask her anyway, so I was thrilled. So why was I throttling my excitement? When I was starting Heartbreaker Plumbing, Iwouldn’t shut up about it to anyone. I wasn’t riddled with nerves like I was now, and it was frustrating as hell.
“It sounds incredible,” Cassandra said, leaning her elbows on the table. “Where do I fit in?”
“Well, funny you should ask,” I began. “I?—”
But the doorbell rang, interrupting me.
Cassandra frowned. “Sorry, one sec.” She got up, and I heard Blake’s voice too. He’d been making himself scarce in the living room.
“Did we invite another person?” Sarah asked Cher.
“Nope,” Cher said.
