“Oh please, like you all don’t love it when I’m testing out new items,” I throw back at them.
“Not so many pumpkin things this year,” Greylin begs me. “There are other fall flavors.”
I arch an eyebrow, my voice full of a good-natured challenge, “Like what?”
Her eyes go wide and round as she blinks at me a few times. “Caramel? Apple?”
I can tell she’s grasping at straws, but her suggestions aren’t without merit. With a wink, I admit, “I have both of those on my flavor profile mood board.”
Mayer snorts out a laugh. “I love that you put together a flavor mood board. Did you find some good food porn shots for your inspiration?”
Ican’t help the way my cheeks heat because she’s pegged me completely correctly. I did find some good photos of the flavor profiles I’m going for this fall as inspiration.
“I’m not going to be ashamed of the beauty of nature,” I snark at them while pouting slightly.
“You fierce warrior, you,” Greylin teases me, “out here defending the gloriousness of mother nature’s best work.”
“Someone has to,” I sit up straight and put on my best posh accent which has my best friends giggling right along with me.
“So,” Gemma’s voice has a lilt to it that tells me she’s about to give me a whole bunch of shit about something, “it’s time to work with Rook again, huh?”
I bite my lip and look away from my friend. I want to bury my face in the soft upholstery of the chair I’m curled up in. That is one of the wonderful things about designing your business with your best friends—we were able to set up our huge four-person office for business as well as comfort.
Which means we start every day comfortable and in a space that feels like home.
“He really cares about the product he puts out and is willing to listen to my dissertations about terpenes and their role in the entire experience. His business is a good size to craft exactly what I need, and he never cuts corners when it comes to quality,” I defend my working relationship with Rook.
“You could get a better deal elsewhere,” Mayer points out, but there’s nothing malicious in her eyes, just curiosity.
“Maybe,” I concede and try not to jump down my best friend’s throat. “But Rook is able to work with me one-on-one and provide exactly what I’m looking for. Also, he’s still small, just like we are and I think we should support him. Hopefully, as he grows, he doesn’t forget about us,” there’s a wistful quality in my voice that I’m unable to hide completely.
When I look at my friends, they all wear matching knowing looks and grins. With a roll of my eyes, I huff out a laugh and hold my hands up in surrender.
“Supporting small, local business,” Greylin teases me, “is that what we’re calling it now?”
I narrow my eyes at her and decide the only way I can get myself out of this situation is to deflect, deflect, deflect. Which is exactly what I set out to do in spectacular fashion, even if I’m not smooth in the least.
“How is everything going with Aiden? I’m a little surprised that you’ve come up for air already,” I tease her.
The smile on her face tells me she knows exactly what I’m doing. I almost breathe a sigh of relief, but you never know what can happen with these ladies. We’ve known each other so damn long at this point that we do know each other’s secrets, the things we wish people would forget, and the dreams we’ve forgotten ourselves.
“Well, you have to breathe sometimes,” Greylin laughs and winks at me. “Things have been really good though.”
She says good, but the happiness on her face is obvious. The woman is practically radiating joy.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely shocked when Greylin and Aiden got together. I thought that his whole date bargain thing was just a way to create an in for him. He doesn’t have to admit it to me; I know I’m right.
I never thought I’d see the day when the mayor’s son, the same mayor who hates our business and recreational cannabis use at all, would fall in love with the woman who runs the dispensary in town. Oh, and Aiden is a police officer. It’s poetic and beautiful.
As long as Aiden treats her right and stands against his father for her, then I’m all for them being together. I’ve seen the way the man looks at her; I wish someone would look at me the same way.
Maybe one day.
Mayer’slip curls slightly as she sneers, “Has his awful fucking father come around with his tail between his legs?”
I cringe and share a look with Gemma. Mayer has been on the front lines when it comes to fighting Mayor Simmons and the crusade he’s been on since even before we opened. He’s used the health department and the smallest of town ordinances to make our lives hell.
There hasn’t been all that much we could do about it either. Not unless we wanted to take the mayor on. He’s been elected in Storyville for years; I’m not entirely sure who would come out on top of that battle.