Chapter Twenty
Are we talking Knishes or Cannoli’s?
Greenblatt family meeting
Debrief (J): How to use the information you gained from entrepreneurs, artisans, small business owners and moguls, to create a tangible business plan that reflects the career you want?
And how do you demonstrate that career stands in line with the goals of your mogul relatives who still live in a bygone era?
The theory of pulling together a business plan was easy. The practice was impossible, especially after he’d found a bunch of different websites, including three business schools that outlined the necessary documents.
And all of them were way too detailed for his needs. Or his desires, for that point. And he was starting to get frustrated.
“This is ridiculous,” he said. “I’m not giving them all of this stuff. Absolutely not.”
“I don’t think you need to,” Naomi said, looking gorgeous, hair wet, eyes wide as she leaned over his shoulder, probably so that she could get a better look at the screen. “I don’t think they’re looking for finances; I don’t think they doubt your ability to do things.”
“That’s true,” he said as he took a drink from his coffee mug. “They doubt my ability to have a positive business experience that will make them, and my brother, look good.”
Her snort was perfect, as was the rest of her.
“There’s coffee,” he said.
“Thank you,” she replied. “But that can wait because you need help.”
He nodded. “That I do. So, what of—” he gestured toward the screen “—this nonsense do I actually need to put together?”
“Summaries of what you’re planning to do and how, for starters,” she replied, guiding his fingers toward the right place in the outline on the screen. “These.”
He nodded. “What else?”
She brushed her fingers a bit lower. “Maybe something about the services you’re offering, based on your experiences and references.”
Now he was starting to get the benefits of using a format like this. “Right. Because my private cheffing really does perpetuate itself based on the various events I’ve done and the people I’ve worked with. Absolutely.”
He watched her as she looked at the information the screen, tapping her finger as if she could pull a question out of the ether on her own.
“One of the other things they’re looking for is a reputation.
Have you been invited to discuss returning to work with or for any of the people or the events you’ve done?
Any of the stops on your trip reach out? ”
A mouthful of a series of questions required a bit of mind-blowing information that he wasn’t even processing. “If I say all of them, including Katie Feldman’s charity program, what would you say?”
“I’d say,” she said as she leaned toward him, kissing him on the cheek, “that’s amazing but also you have to include that information.”
He blinked. “Repeat clientele? Repeat offers? Either? Both?”
“It’s not something that you have to choose between,” she replied, standing and stretching. “What you’re looking for is not only the opportunity to sell your services, but also the ability to demonstrate the kind of reputation you have. Showing both is the key.”
“That’s right,” he managed. “Because this business plan is becoming my résumé.”
She laughed, rubbed his hair just a little bit. “Considering the services you’re selling are going to be your own, this isn’t surprising in the least.”
He nodded. God, he was so glad she was helping him, both in business and life. Sharing his life with him…
Did he just?
No.
He wasn’t going to have those thoughts, not internally or externally. Not yet. That was putting the cart before the horse in a major way, which did not work when he was with someone who’d been skittish about saying I love you.
And even that, it hadn’t been very long since the hamantaschen.
Which meant he had to pull himself back, drag himself back to reality and then calm his raging, beating heart.
This wasn’t the time for him to think about things that weren’t even close to happening.
Not yet at least. But he realized she was waiting for him to respond, to say anything. “Thank you,” he said. “I really appreciate the help.”
Naomi nodded. “Of course,” she said. “You can absolutely look at my documents and things. I think you’ll eventually need the documents and the setup to the degree that I have them; but eventually isn’t now. So, you’re fine I think. At least at this point.
“Thank you,” he said. “I really appreciate this.”
She smiled, a slight movement of her lips. “You’re going to do this, and I’m so proud of you.”
He looked down before looking back up at her. “I love you.”
“The feeling,” she said, “is entirely mutual.”
And she leaned toward him, her lips meeting his. And settling in for a gorgeous, beautiful kiss.
*
As per usual the next morning after an event, after Jason headed out for a quick run, she got a call from Liv. And after the preliminaries, she got a little excited to tell her sister the news.
“You’re excited,” Liv said. “What’s going on? Tell me.”
“We got everything,” Naomi managed. “Event designer, photographer, cake, and caterer. All we need is music, which was supposed to be a groom thing, and the wedding is back on track.”
“Let me twist Artur’s arm,” Liv replied, already moving to the next item on the checklist without even having been asked.
“I’ll see if he knows what was supposed to happen, or even who was supposed to play.
And if so, see if he can help there. That or the friend of Ash’s who has the cabin might want to play. ”
“Whatever he can suss out will work,” Naomi said. “But that’s going to put a bow on the wedding. We’re not that far out.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Liv said. “I mean you pulled this off and started your business.”
Which was a thing she hadn’t actually processed fully until her sister said the words. “Thank you,” she finally said, once the emotion got shoved down her throat. “I honestly don’t think I would have done it if you didn’t have my back.”
“Of course I have your back,” Liv replied, sounding slightly offended. “You’re my sister.”
“When you’re not ghosting me at a dinner…”
“Batya told me not to come,” Liv said. “Unlike someone who deliberately ghosted Artur and I at Mom and Dad’s.”
Naomi laughed. “You needed to see them without me. He needed to see them without me. But what’s your story? I need to hear what happened from you.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you already know what happened?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Naomi said. “Just tell me.”
“We were running late,” Liv began, as if this was an occurrence that happened regularly, and a story style she told often, “and she said hold on a second, before coming back and being like, you know, Abe and I have enough to talk to them about, and I don’t need you hovering.”
Now that the story conformed to what she’d heard from Batya, she could let Liv off the hook. Not only that, but that she could also see Batya saying exactly that after spending time with her. “Okay,” Naomi said. “You’re off the hook.”
“And did Batya have anything to say?”
“She did,” Naomi replied. “She wanted to talk to Jason and Abe wanted to talk to me. A few other worlds sprinkled around just for good measure but, that was most of what happened two nights ago.”
“Do you think you have time for Shabbas?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ll talk to Jason, but I don’t know what he’s planning.”
“Which tells me that you may have made decisions about things?”
“Maybe,” Naomi said, suddenly reminded of the fact that she hadn’t updated her sister on the state of her relationship with Jason.
And yet…
At the same time, the conversation reminded Naomi of something. “Though Abe did, in fact, make a bit of an interesting comment.”
There was a long silence between the end of Naomi’s statement and what Liv was going to say; Naomi wondered if Liv was going to respond or ignore the question.
“I wondered if he’d say anything,” Liv finally said. “I mean…I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know that it’s entirely possible where something may.”
The indication that Abe had that Artur could propose was more correct than he’d thought, as was her response. She said, “I take it to mean that Shabbas should happen with the four of us sooner rather than later?”
“I do think so,” Liv said. “I think that might be a good idea.”
Which was interesting enough that she wasn’t going to question the ‘four of us’ comment. But there were more things she needed to know. “Speaking of words and ideas,” Naomi wondered, “any words about Judith’s bachelorette party?”
“Weekend in Rockliffe Manor,” which was the irony of ironies considering that she’d just come back from there. “We’ve got a loose set of plans—a spa, a bakery tour, all that kind of stuff. Decadence.”
“Excellent,” she said. “What about the bachelor party?”
“Some cabin somewhere. Maybe in Michigan, maybe in Ontario. I don’t know.” Liv laughed. “Less I know about the bachelor party, the better.”
Naomi laughed; her sister and what she needed, or didn’t need, to know, sometimes amused the ever-loving crap out of her. “Very well. If they want to go that far away for a weekend, it’s their prerogative I guess.”
There was the kind of noise that accompanied a smirk on the other end, and Naomi could see Livvy smirking as her sister spoke. “Very much so.”
But as she ended the call, Naomi found herself looking forward to telling Jason that he had an incoming Shabbat dinner on the calendar.