I said, “It’s hard to come up with the right words for how bad that sucks.”
He nodded again.
“So maybe we begin talking again about how I can give you the money to start it.”
He shook his head. “No, I said it before, Lexi, no, that’s your money. You know it wouldn’t be good to have you be the money person in my?—”
“I know no such thing. I know I love you and I’m happy to go into business with you.”
“I don’t think relationships usually outlast business contracts.” He cut his eyes.
I frowned. “That’s cold. Ours could. We love each other. I mean, I know we’ve been having some troubles, but we’re working on it. We’re going to…” My voice trailed off, then I finished, “…be good.”
He sighed. “I know, yeah, we’re good. I’m just disappointed, brutally disappointed.”
“If it’s not a contract, if we don’t go into business together, I could loan you the money?—”
“You want me to not only take on the risk of building a business, but to do it with a loan on your money? I don’t think so, Lexi, it’s not the way it should go. You want me to be indebted to you? It would cause more stress on us, change our relationship. I already live here, in your house, I just… no.”
“I just want to help — your idea is really good, I believe in it, I believe in you, and there’s this account with money in it, it’s just a smart investment…”
He was frowning.
My words trailed off.
“I don’t really want to discuss what my next step is.” He shook his head. “It’s nice that you believe in me, because I don’t think I can keep going. This dream feels pretty dead right now, I kind of want to quit.”
I blinked. “You would give up your dream?”
“For over a year I’ve been in meetings, going to banks, designing brochures, coming up with marketing strategies — you know, I’ve got the plan forward and backwards. I have the property, I bought the building plans for the cabins, I know the contractor to build them. I’m just tired of not being able to convince anyoneelseof the merits of the idea.”
I frowned. “You convinced me.”
He squeezed my hand on the table. “Yeah, but really, Lexi, think about it. I have a grand idea and the only person I can convince to invest in it is mygirlfriend.”
“Your ‘girlfriend’.” It sounded so unimportant to call me that in this moment.
That had been our problem, he was still ‘dating’. His focus was entirely on his business. Always. “I think I’m more than your ‘girlfriend’.”
He sighed. “I mean that you might be too easily swayed.”
“You’re suggesting I’m swayed by your hot body?”
“Heck yeah, and my hot moves in the bedroom.” He half smiled. “I don’t want to be a kept man.”
“Fine, I guess I understand. I get you, but I don’t like the idea of you quitting. So I’m going to tell you to hush up about that. This is just a bump in the road. Your path to success is still in front of you.”
He huffed, his eyes traveling to the kitchen counter. “You got the champagne out?”
“Yeah, I guess you don’t feel much like celebrating.”
“Kinda feel like day drinking, though. Five o’clock somewhere.”
“It’s actually past five o’clock here. You’ve got a little jet lag.” I stood and went to the champagne bottle. “But… I’m not opening this, this is for when wearecelebrating your business. It will happen, Coop, I’m sure of it. You can’t have been working on this for so long without it coming true?—”
“Lexi, the world of business is full of failed dreams.”
I put the champagne back in the fridge and asked, “Want a beer or a glass of wine?”
