“I’ve never really thought about it before.” No, it was time to come clean with him… and herself. She sighed. “I neverletmyself think about it before. Too… intimidating.”
“You can think about it now,” Will told her. “What happens in the romance novel stays in the romance novel. What would be a good name? Would you just call it Emmy’s? Or Miura’s?”
“Nah. I understand why Grabby’s dad named the store Grabby’s, but I don’t think people should name their businesses after themselves unless their name means something to other people. Nothing against… what was it? Peggy’s Diner. I’m thinking about SEO mostly. You want your stuff to come up on Google, so it has to be memorable and fairly unique.”
“For someone who hasn’t thought about this, you sure know your stuff.”
She hesitated before answering. “I took some business courses in college, and I had to do projects and stuff. Sometimes I would use a landscape design business as the basis for a project. That was about as close as I could get to the idea without freaking out. I didn’t even name the fake business because then it felt too real.”
“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot,” Will said apologetically. “If it’s meant to be, I’m sure a name will come to you.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I think I spent most of my life waiting for some big lightbulb moment that would give me instant insight into my calling and how to go about achieving it. It gets tiring after a while, waiting around with a broken bulb floating over your head.”
Will’s keys jingled as he retrieved them once more. Leaning over, he turned on Gordon and shined him down on top of her head. “Don’t be sad, Emmy. Gordon believes in you.”
Emmy pressed a hand over her mouth and shook her head as she looked at Will. “How do you make being a dork look so sexy?”
“It’s a gift.”
He turned off the flashlight and dropped his keys onto the blanket beside him. Emmy looked at the little flashlight and immediately recognized the sensation that rolled over her, despite never having felt it before.
“Lightbulb,” she whispered.
“Hm?”
“Lightbulb,” she said, looking up at him in astonishment. “Sothat’swhat it feels like!”
“You had a lightbulb?” he asked. “Just now?”
“Yes! It’s Gordon! He did it!”
“Way to go, Gordon!” He scooped up his keys and gave the mini flashlight an exaggerated kiss. “What’s the lightbulb?”
“Hikari. It’s Japanese for ‘light.’ If I named a landscaping business, I’d call it Hikari Landscape Design.”
“That sounds… really good. I mean it, Em. It sounds professional and unique.” He pointed at her. “Plus, when you get really big, you can always change it to Hikari Landscape Design by Emmy Miura.”
“Oh man, that sounds good.” Emmy sat back on her hands and looked up at the bright blue sky. For the first time, it felt real without feeling scary. She could actuallydothis. “I could incorporate kanji into the logo. I did some graphic design back in the day. Hell, I did some ofeverythingback in the day. Will?”
“What?”
She pushed off the ground and tackled him. He caught her and fell backwards. This time, when she landed sprawled on top of him, it was her choice. She kissed him hard and smiled down at him. “I’m going to start a landscape design company. I’m going to make people’s yards beautiful.”
“Sounds great.”
“Okay, picnic over. I win Scrabble by default. Let’s go home so I can start drawing up a business plan.”
“Hold on,” he insisted as she pushed off him and began gathering tiles. “You win bydefault? I could have caught up. There’s still a ton of space left on the board.”
“Don’t kill my buzz, Will. I win because I had a lightbulb moment.”
“Okay fine, but I want a rematch someday where I can have my own lightbulb moment.”
“Deal.”
He helped her clean up their trash and pack up the leftovers. Together they made their way back to the car. She smiled over at Gordon dangling from Will’s keychain as he started the engine. It occurred to her as Will pulled away from the curb and headed for home that those sexy Tarot cards had been right. This shitty situation had turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to her.
Because she’d finally had her lightbulb moment.
