Chapter 25
Billie
The next couple of weeks are a blur. I spent more time at the diner than at home, and aside from missing Rome, I’m loving it.
Nita has become an unexpected mentor, and it feels like she’s enjoying it too.
We talk shop every chance we get and the paper I’m working on feels more like the real world than a school project.
“For someone who doesn’t love the business world,” Nita says as we work through a set of numbers I need for a section of my paper. “It’s like you were born for this.”
“You think?” I ask. “I honestly had no idea what to major in, even after my first two years. By junior year, I had to pick a major and business seemed the most generic.”
“Maybe deep down you already knew what direction to go, you simply weren’t sure of your final destination.”
“You think I am now?” I wrinkle my nose. “I’m really enjoying what we’re doing but I’m not sure how it translates to reality. Everything for my project is hypothetical. It’s based on a real business but we’re not implementing it.”
“Not yet.” Nita is thoughtful. “But I was already thinking about opening another store, something up in the Valley. Because this place is busy all day, every day. The location is stellar, but I think it would do well somewhere like Burbank as well. And people on the other side of the hill wouldn’t have to traipse through L.A. traffic to get here.”
“Oh. That’s a good idea.”
“Which led me to consider franchising, because there’s just one of me.”
“That would be amazing,” I say. “I wish I was in a better financial position—I would buy one in a heartbeat!”
“You’ll be there before you know it,” Nita says thoughtfully. “And if that’s something you want to do, maybe we can work something out.”
“Like what? I literally have five hundred bucks to my name. I live with my brother, I’m borrowing a car from my…friend, and I still have another two months until I graduate.”
“Two months is going to go by in a heartbeat. Before you know it, you’ll be trying to figure out what’s next.”
I chew my lip. “I was kind of hoping what’s next is…this.” I meet her gaze. “I love working here and I’m really enjoying the management aspect. Scheduling, vendor meetings, coming up with weekly specials and all that.”
“And if I opened another store… would you want to run it?”
“I…yes!” My heart skips a beat with excitement. “That would be incredible. Is that a possibility?”
“Absolutely. We can’t keep going at the rate we’re going. Even hiring more help, we’re out of room. We could do half the business we do and still make a nice profit without having to turn people away every night.”
“But honestly, I have no money. And I have to eat, so it’s not like I could work for free.”
“Of course not. Give me some time to think about it. In my head, I’ve got a few thoughts, but I have to talk to my attorney and my accountant. Take a little time to think it through. Talk to your brother—maybe he wants to invest? Or mention it to Rome.” She winks and I feel my cheeks flame.
“What? No, I?—”
“Stop.” She laughs. “I see the way he looks at you when he comes in for a drink. He orders a bunch of food he doesn’t eat and then has you pack it up for him. You think I don’t know what’s happening?”
“Nita, you can’t?—”
“I know. Your brother would lose his overprotective mind. Athena told me.”
“Is it obvious?”
Nita laughs. “Anyone in the same room with the two of you will figure it out. The way he looks at you, and the way you look at him…it’s actually a little swoony.” She fans herself.
“Ugh. It won’t be swoony if Bodi finds out.”
“How long are you going to keep this up?” she asks gently. “You’re an adult. You don’t need your brother’s permission to fall in love.”
“I know. It’s more about Rome. He’s had…
trouble in locker rooms in the past. And he really needs to play one more season.
If something goes wrong between him and Bodi and it impacts the vibe in the locker room, who do you think they’ll trade?
The kid who’s got a lot of years ahead of him and has been part of the extended Phantoms organization for seven years, or the guy who’s at the end of his career and has only been around a few months? ”
She grimaces. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. But seriously, at some point, Bodi has to loosen the reins. What are you going to do if this gets serious?”
“We agreed to suck it up until the season is over. Then I’m going to sit Bodi down and tell him everything.
But we also don’t want to blow things up if it burns itself out, you know?
Hell, we don’t even have anywhere to have sex.
We don’t dare do it at home if Bodi’s in town because he could walk in at any moment.
We could get a hotel room, but like, how many?
Every night? Every other night? That’s ridiculous. ”
“It is. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this right now. Plus working, going to school, and all the extra projects for graduation.”
“Well, the good news is, I don’t have any written final exams. Just five papers and/or projects.”
“That’s great—and you have options here.
You can continue just being an assistant manager who takes a few shifts waiting tables, or you can move into full-time management, or we can work on the franchise deal.
That was always the plan, but I had to see how the first store did before I committed to anything else. ”
“Are you at all worried that interest will wane?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. It’s L.A. People are fickle. But my projections show nothing but growth, and believe me, I have a ton of data backing them up.”
“This is exciting,” I say, gathering my things. “But I have to get home. My feet are killing me and Bodi left on a road trip, so I might get a foot rub tonight.”
Nita sighs. “I need one of those.”
“I’ll let you know if he has any single friends!”
She laughs. “See you tomorrow. If you can still walk.”
“From your lips to God’s ears!” I wiggle my eyebrows.
I text Rome to let him know I’m on my way—he’s planning to order dinner—and spend the entire drive thinking about my conversation with Nita. It’s an exciting prospect but there are so many variables, the biggest being what’s going to happen with Rome.
Things feel like they’re moving at warp speed and that scares me.
Rome doesn’t have any job security and I’m not in a position to pack up and move to some remote cabin in upstate New York.
Nor do I want to. Rome has this whole post-hockey plan that doesn’t include me, and if we’re going to be together, that has to change.
Or at least be put on the back burner for a while.
This is the first time our age difference has been a legitimate concern and it frustrates me because we spend so much time sneaking around, the moment we’re alone all we want to do is touch.
Whisper. Be together. We should be spending quality time together, both with other couples from the team and alone, and using this honeymoon period of our relationship to really get to know each other.
And we can’t because of Bodi.
My brother irritates me so much.
I love and appreciate him. I know how much he had to sacrifice to finish raising me, and that’s just it—this is his time to shine.
He shouldn’t be worrying about me. I’m an adult, and despite needing a little help here and there, I’m ready to grab life by the balls.
What I don’t understand is why he isn’t.
From the outside looking in, he’s doing well.
But he’s not playing as well as he could be.
I know my brother like no one else and he’s incredibly talented, but he’s also lazy.
He’d rather sleep than put in an extra workout.
Enjoy the off-season instead of using that time to get into better shape.
The way Blake does. It’s almost like Bodi has convinced himself that he’ll never be an elite player so there’s no point in trying. Instead, he focuses on what I’m doing.
In a way, I think it’s become his crutch. He can’t be the player he wants to be because he’s still taking care of his little sister. There’s no doubt he took on a parental role he wasn’t prepared for. I was physically and emotionally traumatized, so he made sure I got all the help I needed.
Now I’m beginning to see it was at the expense of his own hopes, dreams, and maybe even his mental health. I just can’t seem to get him to wrap his head around that. And if either of us are ever going to be happy, I have to keep trying.