Chapter Nineteen
As he sat with Naomi, over a lunch that was unlike anything he’d had before, made by Charlotte in her kitchen, Jason found himself chewing on some of their host’s words as well as her food.
Not the fact she wanted him to work with her for a few different projects and went as far as to inform him he was getting some of her contracts for said projects.
No.
It was something else. But he couldn’t quite articulate what it was, so he let it build and clarify in his mind before mentioning it to Naomi.
And it took him until he got into the car and started driving to get to the point where he had something coherent he wanted to say to her. “What Charlotte said about how she organizes her business resonated really strongly with me,” he said once they settled into the drive on the expressway.
“Really?” she asked.
It wasn’t surprise, which was good, but it was curiosity he heard in her tone. Which meant Jason had to continue. “We’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how I want to organize my own business.”
“Yes?” she said. “Is this a debrief?”
He laughed, amused at the term that had become so familiar over the last few days. How quickly something so silly like a word and it’s particular meaning could become a huge part of his life. But all he said was: “Sure. Why not, if you want to call it that?”
She nodded. “I do,” she said, the organizer and planner in her coming out to play. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“We’ve been learning from various entrepreneurs how they do what they do, and some of them plan for themselves, and some of them have others to plan for them.
Like Charlotte. And I think that like Charlotte, it’s so much easier for me to do my job when someone else can organize that back end of a job.
I’m willing to do and dive into whatever, but I need someone to keep me on track. ”
“Do you need someone to plan for you? Organize for you. I mean…” She paused, and he wondered what she’d actually end up saying. “I mean someone who’s more comfortable at it than you are. To keep the books.”
“I was thinking a few different things,” he said, thinking about the vibe between them since they’d made hamantaschen. That calm, comfortable, caring vibe that indicated she might be open to sharing things with him.
And the fact that she’d told him she loved him, which he couldn’t fathom quite yet.
Love.
“Oh?”
“Maybe a virtual assistant?” he began, pulling himself back on track as they continued along the highway. “Like I’d hire someone to answer my booking number and keep my schedule? Kinda like what Samuel and his brother have, only for catering/private cheffing/any food-related thing.”
She didn’t answer immediately, but he wasn’t worried. He very much appreciated how thoughtful she was; how careful she was about things.
“I like that idea for you,” she finally said as they continued to drive along the expressway.
In her voice, the way it curved around the words, he could hear a very large but. “But?”
She looked like she was trapped, holding words she didn’t want to release. “If you really want to know?”
“I do. I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t want to know.”
She swallowed, a tell-tale sign of nerves. “Okay. So.”
She needed encouragement, so he gave it to her. “Yes? I’m here, ready to listen when you want to tell me.”
She nodded. “I’ll just come out with it,” she finally said.
“I think that idea is really thought out but at the same time, I think it’s impersonal.
Catering, event planning, is important. Private cheffing is important.
But having someone who doesn’t know you, who hasn’t tasted your food or can’t vouch for you, is…
not the best of ideas. That was the other part of what Charlotte said, and honestly, the part that stuck out to me. ”
“Yeah,” Jason agreed, relieved she reacted the way she had.
“Makes sense. Not the best when you’re planning an event and want to lock down a caterer.
So. Maybe I put my food things under the auspices of an event planner, who knows me personally.
Who’s eaten what I’ve cooked. Someone who is planning other events, but also maybe, spends part of their time manning my phones, both metaphorical and real? ”
“I like that idea,” she said. “I think that’s a better choice. To partner up with someone who could pick you out of a lineup.”
He nodded, glad she’d agreed. But the way she’d agreed made him happy, especially the words she’d used.
He’d borrow them. “I figure,” he continued, “I’ll do my setup and see, you know, if there’s anybody interested in partnering up with someone like me.
” He hoped she’d determine what he was actually asking her.
And that she’d think it was a good idea, not just in the general, or the abstract, but in the very specific.
And personal.
“You want to do something like this on top of the other conversation we had earlier? The one about the add-on for my events?”
He nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I was realizing as I was listening to Charlotte that I didn’t just want to partner with you on a superficial level. I wanted…more.”
“I’m listening.”
“The thing I’ve noticed, being around you and other event planners, is that one of the things that’s the most fickle in planning, generally, is the caterer.
I wanted to give you more than just my consulting and my brainstorming power.
I wanted to give you reassurance that no matter what happens to you, you have a caterer. ”
“Which is a wonderful thing,” she said.
“But,” he said, “that would require you to know all of my scheduled availability and all of the time I’d have.
It would be a simple step beyond, especially at the beginning of your business, to serve as my back end on these events.
So, what do you say? Would you partner with me on this… deeper level?”
And as the words left his mouth, he hoped she’d answer him, that she wouldn’t leave him hanging.
He wanted her. He needed her.
And he hoped she’d take that step.
*
Oh wow.
Naomi hadn’t expected this, not in a billion years.
Jason was offering her an exclusive on his catering services in exchange for managing his appointment books as she grew her business. Which, in essence, meant she’d manage her business as well as his. If it was anybody else, it was concerning, daunting.
But like so many situations she’d found herself in as of late, the answer that diffused the nerves and the tension was, ‘but it’s Jason.’
Jason, who knew her, who had already offered to brainstorm with her about the autumn festival, who had spent days of his own time, postponing his own business to help her save her cousin’s wedding.
And, he’d offered to literally roll up his sleeves and help in the kitchen. Something he’d vehemently been against…all because Abe wouldn’t cater the wedding without him.
Jason who she loved.
But Jason also had faith in what she was doing; he’d scraped her off the floor a few times since he’d come back, and even before he left.
Which meant she owed him. Big time.
But something was bothering her.
What?
And then she realized what it was.
Expansion.
Two people who were putting brand-new businesses together, working together. Both of them sharing resources at the beginning, what would happen if the businesses expanded beyond their capacity? It wouldn’t hurt to ask. To find out.
“If I agreed, to your plan,” she started, “when our business grow to the point where the books became overwhelming, could we, or I, hire someone to consult and take care of the appointment books?”
“I love that idea,” he said. “I love the idea that you’re thinking positively about expansion and how we’re going to grow together.”
“That’s the planner in me,” she said, taking his outstretched hand in hers.
“So… is it a yes? Do you want to take this ride with me, be a business partner on a deeper level?”
Did she want to? Could she let someone else do it?
Did she want to intertwine their lives like that?
That was the most ridiculous question she’d ever asked herself. Of course she did. All the same, she nodded. “My exclusive event planning services featuring your catering, with right of first refusal based on your schedule.”
“And also,” he said with a laugh, “we’ve just gotten the final part for my business plan proposal.”
“The theory,” she said. “But yes.”
Which, as far as she could tell, was the easiest question she’d ever answered. A celebratory kiss followed as they headed upstairs to her apartment, easy to access off of the expressway, dropped their stuff off at the kitchen table, and their clothing followed on the way to the bedroom.