Page 77 of Wishing for Love

“I know I can trust you,” he said. He explained to her everything that was going on as best as he could.

“Wow,” she said. “That is a lot to take in.”

“Tell me about it,” he said.

“How do you feel about it? It sounds as if you’re going to turn over the running of your company to someone else at some point.”

“I feel relieved,” he said. “I know that is horrible, but I think I’ve been so unhappy for so long.”

She reached her hand out and threaded their fingers together. “How come?”

“I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants. I’ve got a chemistry degree, not a business one. Money has been an issue so I’ve been trying to do it all. My father is a big help, but I know he’s got other things he could be dealing with too.”

“You don’t need that stress anymore,” she said. “You shouldn’t feel that guilt either.”

It shouldn’t have surprised him that she understood that. “I do feel it. I don’t want it to seem as if I’m abandoning my job, but I want to be in the lab again. It’s what I love. I got stars in my eyes. I wanted to be this independently wealthy person like my father and my cousins. I knew it took hard work.”

“You can’t be someone you’re not,” she said. “I learned that the hard way in life. You have to do what you love and if it’s being in the lab and playing with things, then do it.”

He laughed and squinted one eye at her. “It’s a bit more than playing with things.”

“I know,” she said, poking his side with her finger. “I’m trying to make you laugh. You’ll be a happier person if you’re doing that. You’re so smart and I’m sure there is so much more you can discover and figure out.”

“It pains me to think that I wasn’t thinking as big as West was. And that he’d been thinking it for a while without saying a word to me.”

“Really?” she asked. “Do you know why?”

“Pride,” he said. “We all have more than our fair share. Just like West didn’t like asking for help but knew he needed it to get to where he was, I don’t either. He didn’t want to hurt my pride coming to me. My mother and his talk a lot. They are close. He hears things just like I do. I think West figured if I needed something, I’d reach out.”

“Do you think your father pushed you to do it? That if he didn’t you wouldn’t have?”

“I do,” he said. “And I don’t want to think about the fact that maybe I could have failed at this when it was staring me in the face. I didn’t need to have a product to my name to be successful. I did that for fun. I kind of did it for Maryn.”

“What?” she asked. “Why?”

“Because in college I told her what I was trying to do. Things I wanted to figure out. She was all about the stuff I could make. She believed in me when so many didn’t. She invested in the company too. I told you that. The shares came back to me, but I’ll make sure they go to Elsie. I’ve got to give up a lot to West too. That’s going to be hard.”

“Do you trust him?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Everything he touches works out. He’s got the resources and a team behind him to make sure of it. But the money he’s willing to invest makes my head spin. More than I ever thought I’d make and he’s going to invest. He’s going to scale this and make it huge.”

It seemed like it was a dream and he was terrified he was going to wake up and find out that tomorrow he’d still be arguing with Scott over a stupid late shipment of two hundred bags.

Now he was going to have the money to fulfill thousands in a single order, not to mention other products. He wanted to keep up with it for Maryn. He couldn’t let it go even if it only broke even. He told West that. He thought his cousin would balk and didn’t. Said he’d understood and they’d make it more than profitable.

“That’s so exciting,” she said. “I know it’s going to take a lot of work and it sounds like Laken will be here for a bit too.”

“She travels a lot. These things take time. It’s not like it’s going to happen tomorrow. We have to negotiate terms and then it has to go through the lawyers.”

“You mean your father and cousin?”

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “But it still takes time. I’d say months before it’s finalized. Then while West gets contracts in place for what I can produce here. Other things I’ll try to develop besides material for bags and shoes, jackets, et cetera. He’s got a long list of ideas and people. I’ll be starting work on that soon. The process to get what he’s thinking of.”

“You should see your face,” she said. “You look so excited and happy. I’ve never seen you like this before. It’s a great thing for you and you need to think of it that way.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I do. I can’t think of it as I failed as a businessman, but maybe succeeded in the way we do things.”

“You are changing the world,” she said, bumping her shoulder into his.

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