Page 127 of April

Asher’s smile fell, and she said, “Well, hold that thought.”

Linden’s expression changed to worried.

“No, not the part about you and me being happy in New Orleans,” she added quickly, cupping Linden’s cheeks with both hands. “That is absolutely what I want.”

“Okay. Well, which part, then?” Linden asked.

“The part where I don’t know if I want to work for Carolyn anymore,” Asher confessed.

“What?”

“Yeah…”

“You want to quit?” Linden asked.

“I wasn’t sure at first, but she told me she was planning on me being a partner one day. She’d never told me that before. It’s always been about me taking on more, but she had never told me she wanted me to take over the whole thing.”

“She does?” Linden asked as she ran her hands up and down Asher’s back.

“And when I was on my way back here, I just realized that I know for certain that I don’t want that. I don’t want to take over Carolyn’s company. I want to start my own.”

“You’re doing it? You’re going out on your own?” Linden asked, looking hopeful, which made Asher smile.

“I think so. Not tomorrow, of course. I’ll give proper notice and take care of any clients I’m working on now, but I texted Monica, who knows all about this stuff, and she and I are going to meet and talk to make sure I do this the right way.”

“Ash, that’s amazing, babe.” Linden kissed her.

“Itis?”

“Of course, it is. This has always been your plan.”

“It would mean I might have bought the last of my fancy designer dresses for a long time,” she said. “It would be a new business and in a competitive market. It might not work.”

“It will because you’re the best. You’re better than Carolyn ever was, but you’re also the hardest worker I know. If anyone can do this, it’s you.”

Asher swallowed.

“What?” Linden asked, picking up on her nervousness.

“I want you to come with me,” she said.

“What?” Linden repeated.

“I want you to come with me, Linden. Join my company, whatever we decide to call it. Be my partner.”

CHAPTER 34

“You want me to quit?” Linden asked, taken aback.

“Not specifically quit, but you’d have to in order to do this with me. Of course, you could work with me part-time for a while, I guess, and then quit, but I thought we’d go all in and just do this together.”

“Ash, we’ve never really talked about this.”

“I know. But I want this with you. I want us to share it, whatever happens.”

“We just got together,” Linden said. “If we both leave Carolyn and do this, and it doesn’t work, we could kiss that house we just talked about goodbye.”

“You said if anyone could do it, I could, like, a second ago,” Asher replied.

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