“Coffee would be great.”Hawk was already picking up the first file and flipping through it.“Do you have anything that's dark roast?”
“Dark roast is the only way to live,” Lilian said, grabbing two K-Cups from the box stashed in her desk drawer.
“Huh.”Hawk paused in his scrutiny of her paperwork to stare at her instead.“I would have pegged you as the type who liked her coffee sixty percent milk and sugar.”
“No way.”As the machine whirred to life, the smell of pure, dark roast coffee filled the air.Lilian inhaled it greedily and sighed.“My parents always drank their coffee pitch black.It was the only thing we had in the house growing up.I always assumed it was the only option.When I went to college and people had these extravagant orders, it sounded like a foreign language to me.Coffee is coffee.”When it was done, she grabbed the two mugs and handed one to Hawk.The big pink letters screaming “I like my coffee the same way I like my books… steamy”were hard to miss.Hawk’s brows narrowed, either in annoyance or amusement, it was hard to tell, but it didn’t stop him from taking a sip.
They pored over the files for the next two hours as Lilian caught him up on the current state of her business.From what she could tell, they weren’t in dire trouble yet, but they were heading that way.
“Rent isn’t really the problem.Mom bought this place for a steal, so the space itself doesn't cost a thing.It's all the other utilities that are sucking us dry when we aren’t making a profit.”
Hawk nodded, gaze focused on the papers in front of him.“Do you have your utility bills?”
“Here.”
Hawk studied the sheet where she’d combined all their extra expenses: electricity, internet, water, taxes.Then he looked at the profits they’d made over the last three months.The grand total made Lilian’s heart sink.It wasn’t even enough to cover rent for a college apartment.Her mother had been paying the utilities out of pocket, but that couldn’t continue.Not with chemo added to the list.
After what felt like an eternity, Hawk put the folders down and grabbed a nearby pen.He began marking things up left and right, like a general poring over battle plans.“All right, first things first.The profits are a problem, but a fixable one.Your mother was practically giving books away here.Which is admirable but does not make a good business.”
“She really didn’t care about money,” Lilian admitted.“Neither of us did.We assumed running this shop would be fun.And it is, but…”
Hawk turned toward her.The weight of his stare hung between them as he waited for her to finish the sentence.She couldn’t, though.It had been foolish of them not to care about the money.This was abusiness.Only children thought like that.
His voice broke through the silence, the tone surprisingly gentle.“People should pursue businesses that are fun for them.A business is like another child.It takes nurturing and time and money.If you don’t love it, then you won’t do everything necessary to make it succeed.”
She looked up and found their eyes locked on one another.For a second, it almost sounded like he was trying to reassure her.The tension in her shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit.
“And do you love working at the faire?”Lilian wondered out loud.The man certainly didn’t seem happy when she saw him at the faire.She’d seen more of his smile here in two hours than in weeks at the faire.
“I love numbers and making businesses successful.No matter what they are.But the faire isn’t my only job.It’s something I do to help my parents out.”
“Oh, what do you do, then?”
“It’s boring really.I work from home, advising rich people on their accounting.”
She blinked at that.“You mean you do people’s accounting on top of working the faire?”
He shrugged.“It’s fun.”
Fun?What kind of devil man was this?
“It pays well,” Hawk continued.“Especially with the cost of living here.And it allows me to manage my own time, so I can help Mom when she needs it.”
“That’s really nice of you.”
“Yeah, well.”He shrugged.“It’s nice of you, too.To help your mom with this place.”
“Why did you agree to help me?”The question had been eating away at her all day, but even more so now.Hawk was the real deal when it came to having a mind for business.If he was giving advice to rich people in New York, then an hour of his time tonight likely would have cost her a couple thousand dollars.
She wasn’t anything special to the faire.Just a vendor that he barely tolerated.Surely he had better things to do than stand in a run down building, drinking K-Cup coffee and organizing files.
Lilian watched Hawk’s reaction to her question.The way his lips flattened in discomfort.How his eyes never left the Excel sheet in his hand.“There are a couple reasons.Which one do you want to hear?”
A couple reasons?Now her curiosity was piqued.“All of them, of course.”
“Mmm.”He took a long drink of his coffee.“You get one.”
“One out of how many?”
