Page 22 of The Smoke Hour

“Aye,” I stated as I turned around and looked at her.

Her eyes were watery when I gripped her chin.

“Don’t you dare let a single tear drop from those beautiful eyes. Not over me and damn sure not over that nigga. I want you to do me a favor.”

She laughed humorlessly.

“Sorry, but I think I’m fresh out of favors.”

“No, you’re not. I want you to figure out how you gon’ break that shit off with that nigga. ’Cause, ma, I ain’t gon’ lie. I wantsome more of you. I’m not satisfied with that little taste I had. I think I like you.”

“You don’t know me.”

“That’s what these next few days will be about. We’re going to get to know each other.”

“I owe him.”

“You owe me.”

Fiya

Wednesday Evening

“Tea, honey. Pour that tea!” Tamara demanded as she rushed into my condo with Christina hot on her heels.

“Don’t you heffas have work in the morning?” I asked.

I pulled my feet up onto the couch with me and sipped my tea. It was a specialty blend I had created of peppermint, ginger, matcha, and ginseng teas designed to eliminate my headache and improve my mood. I had been in a shitty mood with a headache since I left Smoke the night before.

“Sure, we do. You do too,” Christina stated.

“The difference between us is that I answer to no one. I have my shop, and I open when I choose and close when I choose.”

“That’s what has your ass in this situation now, ma’am. You need to buckle down and become more disciplined about your business,” Tamara commented.

“You don’t think that I’m serious about my business? If I weren’t serious, I wouldn’t have been able to start it from the jump.”

“I know that you’re serious, Kai. I just think that in the last year, you’ve slacked off a bit, and that’s what put you in this situation.”

“Chris, two years ago, you were on my ass about not taking any time for myself and enjoying the fruits of my labor. Now you’re on me because I’ve been taking time for myself.”

“No. I’m not saying that. It’s just that you have to plan for the time you take off when running a business. When you were working your fingers to the bone, you should have been stacking your money so when you do take time off, it’s not hitting your bottom line,” Christina explained.

“Even more than that, you need to consider hiring some help. You can’t afford not to,” Tamara remarked.

“I can’t afford the shit that I have going on already.”

“If you were to hire someone, Kai, even on a part-time basis, it would allow you to keep your shop open longer and possibly even open on Sundays. You work ten hours a day with the shop open for eight of them, and the demand is there. But if you were to hire someone part-time, then you could keep it open for twelve hours a day, and you could work one or two fewer hours per day. That still boosts your income because although you’re paying that part-time person, you can sell more with the extended hours, and you can refocus your attention beyond the candles to the essential oils you wanted to create and the ceramic candle holders you had started making.”

I sighed. “You’re right, Tam.”

“Sis, I know that it’s hard. I deal with people all the time who have the same concerns as you do. They listen to the advice that my company and my team offer, and they succeed. Or they don’t, and they go nowhere. I can’t push it on you. I can only offer you suggestions,” Tamara explained patiently.

“You’re right. I’ll make time to find an assistant,” I stated on a long exhalation.

“Good. Now that we’ve got that agreed upon, can we discuss what’s been going on with you lately?” Christina asked.

“Meaning?”

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