Page 76 of For Butter or Worse
She smiled, remembering the dinner with his mom and brother. And when she looked back at her sister and mom, she smiled, too, which was new. Usually, when she looked at that photo, there was an undercurrent of grief. But her perspective had shifted from her talks with Leo, and now she was able to see the happiness in the memories of her mom.
“You want the good or the bad news first?” Jasmine still had the bottle of wine, and she poured the remainder into Nina’s glass.
There was also a plate of croissants on the desk, and Nina took one as she sat in the vintage leather office chair. “If you’ve got wineandcroissants, then I think I need the good first.” She took a bite of the flaky perfection, willing it to act as a salve to the eventual bad news she’d hear.
“Businessisbetter.” Jasmine leaned across the desk and opened a manila folder she’d spread out. “Our reservations are up. On nights when you’re here, people tweet about it and that brings in more buzz.”
There were charts and cash-flow numbers pinned on a graph. Lines spiraled downward and turned red, so without even studying the numbers, she knew that part signified the loss of sales. But there was a slight uptick in the last few weeks. Nina’s strength had never been the business end—that was all Jasmine—but her stomach tightened in an anxious knot.
Jasmine sighed. “We’re still recovering from the first half of the year. If reservations continue as they are, we can pull out from some of the debt, but not all of it.”
Nina rubbed her temples. Why had she thought everything wrong with her business could be fixed in a few weeks, and with a silly PR stunt? Her efforts had barely made a dent. “Is this fixable, or are you telling me it’s game over?”
“With you and me it’s never over. I wouldn’t allow us to go down easy.” Jasmine’s expression was cool and measured.
“What do we need to do? Actually...” Nina finished off the wine—she might as well. “What do I need to do? This so isn’t your problem. And you have to keep focusing on the menu for the gala.”
“Don’t forget that I work here, too.” Jasmine took an enormous bite of her croissant, closed her eyes as she chewed and thought. Then she exhaled sharply as she said, “Leo. The answer is Leo.”
Nina could trace all the bad career moments in her life back to Leo. Being coupled up with him apparently hadn’t solved anything, either. So how could he continue to be the answer?
“When you’re steady with him, the restaurant is, too. A trending hashtag means we’re booked solid for a week. Hell, even your cookbook sales shot up over the last month. We’re just riding this up-and-down wave, and it’s all based on whether or not your fans think you’re in a good place with him.” Jasmine perched on a corner of the desk and shrugged, as if to say, “I don’t like this either, friend-o, but here we are.”
“I mean, what am I supposed to do? Marry the guy?” Nina’s voice trembled, because she knew there was no future for them. Leo would never see her as anything other than a hookup.
“Look, I’m your business partner, best friend and I have incredible style—these are all facts. The other fact I know is that these numbers don’t lie. When you’re with Leo, our business looks salvageable.”
Jasmine hugged her. Nina didn’t realize her shoulders had been so tense until she felt her best friend’s arms wrapped around her. She hugged Jasmine back. They were in this together.
“This is just one thought I had,” Jasmine added. “You need to do what’s best for you, and I’ll support whatever decision you make. You know I’ve got your back.”
Then Jasmine left, closing the door behind her.
Nina’s foot shook nervously as she weighed her options. Cut things off with Leo to spare her own feelings and let her business and best friend’s career tumble into oblivion...or keep on seeing him and risk falling even harder for him.
The choice was simple—she’d keep seeing Leo. But she’d have to set clear boundaries, because if she was in the same room with him, who knew what her instincts and body would choose to do.
She pulled out her phone—now was the time to finally respond to Leo. She’d set a date for them to meet and lay out new ground rules. Having to fake a relationship with a person she wanted a real connection with would be awful, but she needed to do what was best for her business, and her friend’s livelihood.
She had a new notification: a text from Leo.
Leo:Right.
Right? What was right? Was this a passive-aggressive way of reminding her she hadn’t responded? Which...was fair.
She opened their chat, ready to reread everything he’d said. Which is when she saw it: the text she’d sent to Charlie. Except it wasn’t to Charlie; she’d sent it to Leo. It was marked as delivered. She must have opened the wrong chat and sent it by accident. Her mouth went dry as she read what she’d sent:Only bad shit happens when we’re in the same room.
And then he’d responded with “Right.”
“Fuck!” she shouted, to no one but herself. She was a complete idiot. Jasmine had just told her how to save herself and everything she’d worked so hard to build. And without even knowing, she’d blown up her only chance in a single text.
Not only that, but now Leo also thought that she didn’t want to be in the same room as him, which couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, all she wanted to do was be around him. The realization hit her like a ton of flour. She wanted to be with Leo, like, really wanted to be with him. She furiously texted back.
Nina:Please ignore—meant to send that to someone else!
Nina:Really sorry. Huge misunderstanding.
Nina:And I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your earlier texts. Work has been crazy...
