Page 86 of Friends Don't Kiss

?

Just sayin’.

When she turns thirteen she’ll want a real human boy band jumping out of her cake

…

When I get to Emma’s office, on the second floor of a brick building in town dating back over a century, I bump into Noah coming out of her suite, carrying a heavy file under his arm. “Hey, how’s it going?” I ask him, catching the door he is definitely not holding for me.

His head down, he darts to the staircase.I wonder what’s wrong with him.

“Are you going to need chocolates for the holidays?” Although pastries are my forte, I’ve enjoyed making chocolates out of my kitchen to sell through the general store. I still haven’t gotten their order, and the longer they wait, the harder it will be for me to fulfill it. But Noah is already at the end of the hallway. “Hey, boss!” I call out.

“Hey!” He turns around, seeming to only see me now. “Gimme a couple days.”

“What’s up with him?” I ask Emma as I make my way through her small wait room and into her office.

Emma is stacking papers together and slides them in a drawer as I come in. “Who?”

“Noah.”

She shifts in her chair. “How are you doing?” she asks as she stands. “Coffee? Water?” She looks out the window and stretches her neck.

“Hey, sorry.” I know better than to ask questions about her clients. “I’m good, thanks. And forget my question.” She looks tense, though. “Everything okay… with you?”

She turns around, her features composed. “Better now that you’re here.”

“Aww, thanks.” I drop a pink box with a green-gold bow on a side table.

She eyes it and her smile deepens. “You didn’t have to do this, but thanks.” She crosses her feet at the ankle, calling my attention to her legs, her pumps, her pencil skirt. She’s so put together. Most women around here wear outdoor gear even for work. “Do you know why you’re my favorite client?” she asks.

“Cos I pay you in sweets?”

She chuckles. “Apart from that.” She narrows her eyes on me. “Because you’re a diamond in the rough. The perfect project. The seed in the ground. I can’t wait to see you blossom. It’s going to be so fun.” She pushes herself from the window, sits behind her desk, and rests her chin on her hands. “So. Tell me everything.”

I tell her about my visit to the barn, and everything Maddie disclosed. About the fact that I don’t think in terms of profit, when my discussion with Maddie made it clear I should. “I have major impostor syndrome. I know I’m good, but I can hardly apply for a loan and bring my cakes as proof of concept.”

“But with some recommendations, it could be a different conversation. Let’s start working on that.”

“You can’t tell anyone I’m actually considering the barn, Ems. It’s too early. I just came from visiting it.”

“I won’t say anything. But it wouldn’t hurt if you talked about it to a few friends. At least test the waters with how likely it is you’ll get the variance.”

By friends, she means Colton, who will be voting on it now that he’s on the Select Board. But I heard Justin loud and clear the night that Colton was appointed: people are going to start annoying him with their requests. I don’t want to be these people. “I’m not too worried about that. Maddie said it’s a formality.”

Emma simply nods.

“But thanks,” I add quickly. “If I decide to go for it, I’ll ask around.”

I torture my fingernails, then add, “I applied for a scholarship to attend this school in Paris. They have three-month intensive training. I feel that if I get accepted, I’d have something that proves my worth when I return.”

Emma smiles and swivels the screen of her computer. “Show me the school,” she says.

I pull up the Institut Culinaire Pierre de Varanges. The first page is an impressive array of where their graduates have gone on to work. It might as well be a jetsetter’s ritzy catalog of destinations.

Emma clicks through a few tabs. Her smile is dreamy, stars in her eyes. I can see why my friends who are business owners say she has their best interests at heart.

“So, tell me something,” she says as she shuts down the browser and turns her attention back to me. “Where do you see yourself in five years? Because you’re after two very different things. On the one hand, you’re asking me to help you work on a business plan that would be for you to establish your business here—at least, that’s what I can help you with. On the other, you’re applying to a school that’s a springboard for an international career—as an employee, if I understand this right.”

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