Page 83 of No Freaking Way

She shakes her head like she can’t believe it. A chunk of her long, blonde hair comes loose from her ponytail.

I reach across the table and grab her hand. “You freaking did it, Bec. I’m so proud of you.”

There’s a flash of emotion in her eyes. “We did it, Tori. I couldn’t have done it without you. You’re my right-hand woman. The way you run this place as manager is impressive. You help me so much.”

I squeeze her hand. “You know I love working with you, Bec. This is my dream job, slinging ice cream with my best friend.”

She smiles wide. “Exactly. Which is why I want to make you my official business partner. And I want to open a second location here in Denver and have you run it.”

My jaw falls open as I process what my best friend has said.

“Bec…are you serious?”

A giddy smile tugs at her lips. She nods excitedly. “Absolutely. It would be a dream come true to run this business with you.”

I leap up from the chair and pull her into a hug. “Bec, you know what my answer is.”

When we break apart, she’s grinning. But then she takes a second to rein in her expression.

She tries to look serious. “Tori, I want you to give this some serious thought. I don’t want you to say yes just because you feel like you have to or because we’re best friends. I promise, if you don’t end up wanting to do this, I’ll be okay with it. We can keep things like they are now. We don’t have to change our friendship or our working relationship if you don’t want to.”

I’m shaking my head before she even finishes talking. I can feel it in my gut that this is the right move for me.

I start to speak, but she stops me. “I mean it, Tori,” she says gently. “This is a big decision. I want you to take your time and think about it from every angle.”

She talks about how we’d have to draw up a contract and how I’d be able to buy into the Sweet Cheeks company, how we’d be fifty-fifty business partners on everything.

I nod along, even though I already know all this.

“I just want you to take a few weeks to think about all this,” Becca says.

“Okay, I will,” I say, even though I already know my answer. Working at Sweet Cheeks with her for the past few years has been the best job I’ve ever had, and I want to take things to the next level in my career by becoming business partners with her.

Determination courses me. I know my best friend is just trying to be careful and professional right now. I know she doesn’t want me to feel pressured, and that’s why she wants me to wait before I give her an answer.

But I could take all the time in the world to think about it and my answer would still be yes.

She starts to stand up, but I grab her hand.

“Bec, I know you want me to take my time with this, but I promise you, I don’t need to. I know without a doubt that I want to be your business partner. I’m one thousand percent sure.”

She looks at me for a moment. Then she grins wider than I’ve ever seen. She makes an excited squeal noise as she leans down to hug me.

“You’re sure? Like, absolutely sure?” she asks.

I hug her tight. “A million percent sure, Bec.”

“Yay!”

We’re squealing and cheering like we’ve just won the lottery.

When we finally break apart, I pull Becca back down to sit with me.

“Can we talk about the second location for Sweet Cheeks?” I ask, excited.

Becca grins. “Absolutely.”

She tells me that she saw a spot for rent in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver, not that far from Se’bon. For the next fifteen minutes, we chat nonstop about plans for the place, everything from design aesthetics to new flavors we’d like to try out.

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