Page 22 of Beauty and the Grease
I choke on my eggs. “No. He has them, but with his now ex-wife.”
Ameriel nods in understanding. “Relationships can be complex. Sounds like he’s single again?”
“I guess. I don’t know.” I focus on my food.
Gina snorts. “Yes, you do. Didn’t you tell me yesterday his bosses think you two came here together?”
Busted. “Okay, fine. It’s only for appearances’ sake. Nothing more. His one boss has been giving him a hard time about his divorce. Which is weird, so I felt bad.”
“I looked up the company last night, just curious about them.” Gina strokes a finger over her phone, looking at it longingly. “I don’t think I’m strong enough for another eight hours of the digital detox basket.”
“You only lasted three yesterday,” Ameriel says.
“I deserve a cookie for three hours.”
Ameriel shakes her head. “Jenny, I meant to thank you for offering to put my business cards at your shop. Can I ask how you got started with your business? I’m running my event planning gig out of my living room and still working a day job.”
Now this is a topic I could talk about all day. “I didn’t know I had it in me until I was fed up enough with low raises at my old job.” I share about the Reddit forum and the Derby business grant. I tell them about Annabelle and the salon.
“It’s brilliant.” Gina gestures at me with her spoon. “A hair salon at an auto shop. I’d go there.” She replaces the spoon with her phone and taps away at the screen. “Hey, so your shop website says the waiting area is a salon, but from what I see, it’s not like, part of the experience.”
“Annabelle runs her own website. They’re separate businesses.” Honestly, I’m glad she’s laid off asking about Chase.
“But both together is anexperience. I found the salon website. It issocute.”
“I want to see.” Ameriel angles to see her screen.
The two of them fawn over Annabelle’s colorful and lively site, while my repair shop website offers a functional and informative “experience.” Because it’s a repair shop.
“This salon has good branding with this retro vibe,” Ameriel says.
Gina pokes my shoulder. Like an actual poke. “How is business? You should have a wait list with this concept. You should have women driving in from all over Detroit and raving to their friends. And why don’t you have more Instagram followers?”
“Hey, I delegated social media to a Gen Z.” I hate that I used Chase’s delegation insight as a rebuttal.
“You should be doing more video.”
“I’m running arepair shop. What, do you want me out live with the Beast?”
Her eyes widen. “Who’s the Beast? Is he hot?”
“He’s an orange truck.”
“Like a big, hulking man truck?”
“Like a tow truck truck.”
This does not impress Gina, nor should it. She doesn’t even know its clown origins.
Ameriel returns to her tea. “Let’s give Jenny some breathing room. Gina, you know your social media, but I’m telling you, running a business is extremely consuming.”
“You’re right, my apologies.” Gina props her elbows on the table. “I’m going to be real here. Sometimes I feel like I’m ‘just a mom.’ It’s rewarding and also the hardest thing I’ve ever done. If I’m critical, it’s because, I don’t know, I want to do something big too. There are days I say the word ‘potty’ more than any adult woman should. Sometimes I wish I had an outlet for all my ideas.”
The worddelegateechoes in my head. I almost blurt out that she can run the social media for me, but how would I pay her? “Running a business is hard,” I admit. “What scares me is that it’s all on me. I can’t fail or people lose their jobs.”
Gina shrugs. “Jobs are jobs. It happens sometimes when businesses go under.” I gasp and Gina levels a look at me. “I’m not saying you’re going to fail, but when you say youcan’tfail, I feel like there’s more there than what you’re saying.”
What could be worse than costing someone their job? That I’m responsible for? “I don’t know what you mean.”
