“Uh-huh. And did you find it in Gabe’s or Jake’s mouth?”
“What?”
“Oh, come on, it was obvious both of them are after you.”
She couldn’t lie to her best friend. “I gave Gabe my number just as a friendly catch-up, considerate thing.”
Which he’d taken seriously, since he’d already texted a few times and they’d made dinner plans to catch up later this week. Which Laura had agreed to—a friendly hangout. Not a date.
“So you got it bad for Jake, then?”
“No, I don’t have anything for anyone. And if you were going to guess, smart money would be on the guy I gave my number to.”
“Yeah, but you never go for the smart bet when it comes to guys,” Hannah said.
She had a point there.
“Well, as fun as it would be to chat about my bad taste in men, how about we talk about something else?”
Hannah smiled. “Oh, come on, you have great taste in bad men. But this place looks amazing.”
Laura dusted off her hands. Anything to get past her no-dating policy and change the subject.
“I’m hoping to really be up and running in a few days,” Laura said. “I just need to finish cleaning and—”
“Obtain some flowers?” Hannah finished, glancing at the empty coolers. Laura’s chest stuttered on a breath, because the simplicity of her problem was also overwhelming.
“Yeah, that’s a top priority.”
“How top of a priority?” Hannah asked, coming more inside. “Because you know that lame-ass thing I was telling you about? It’s my boss’s brother’s reception, or party, or some shit.” Hannah waved her hand like she was swatting an annoying fly away. “Anyway, he’s throwing it at the bar, and apparently because I have tits he thinks I know how to decorate for a party. The one thing he wanted, though, was centerpieces for all the tables.”
“Really?” Laura exclaimed. Then she tried to tamp down her excitement. Her best friend was also going to be her first customer. “I can do centerpieces. I just need an idea of what you like, how many, and your budget.”
“I don’t like flowers, so it’s whatever you think, and I need twelve. The budget is a grand.”
Laura nodded happily. She could pull that off. Flowers at wholesale couldn’t be that expensive. Pair them with some cute vases and boom! She had a customer. She’d stand to make a profit if the centerpieces came in under seventy dollars apiece. Which they should. At least, she thought so . . .
“That’s great. I can do that. When do you need these?”
“Is one week too soon?”
“Nope,” Laura said quickly. “I can make that work.” She’d make anything work if it meant getting a profit for the shop.
“You’re a lifesaver,” Hannah said, and for the first time, Laura felt good about herself. She was making progress—she had a customer and couldn’t wait to shove this in Jacob’s smug face. Flowers could be lucrative. Sure, it was her best friend needing flowers for a bar, but still. It counted as business. And she hadn’t spent a dime. Which meant she could use some of the business money to get some start-up items and flowers, because she’d make it back. Perfect!
She just had to figure out how to get Jake to loan her some of that business money, since he was the stingy man in charge of the accounts.
“I have to get running to work, but come in and see me.”
“Um . . . I’ll try. I just have a thing later this week.”
“A thing?” Hannah asked.
“It’s not a date, but I told Gabe I’d have dinner and catch up with him.”
“Oh, sure. And I bet he’s real excited to catch you up with the par
ty in his pants.”