I blow out a breath and nod. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s become a part of my identity. But I can no longer deny the opportunity to take a chance on myself and pursue something that truly drives me to get out of bed every morning. Something that I’m passionate about. And if there ever was a time to take the leap, it’s now.”
Evan looks out the quaint restaurant window and rubs his jaw while nodding. He looks back at me in time to say, “All right, I’m in.”
Perplexed, I ask, “What do you mean you’re ‘in’?”
He gives me that front-page smile newspapers love to print. “It means I’ll back you throughout this process. It’s going to be a pricey endeavor. And I’m here to help as much or as little as you need. There are going to be investors, mainly me, since I don’t want you getting screwed around. Then there’s the real estate agent I need to get you in contact with. He’s great at looking for commercial property. My guy who got me the cabin in the Berkshires highly recommends him. Then the attorneys for—”
“Whoa. Slow down there, man. I think we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Besides, I’m doing this on my own. I don’t need your money.”
Evan laughs. The fuckerlaughsat me.
If he wasn’t my best friend, I would be tempted to smash his head against his chicken fried rice.
I lie. I’m still tempted.
Evan wipes his mouth with a napkin before placing it back on his lap once more. “Tony, I may have been that weird computer nerd when our friendship started, but now I’m a businessman… who is still a computer nerd, but still a businessman, nonetheless. And what I have learned in business is that time is money, so let me be efficient with our time here.”
I roll my eyes and brace myself for his spiel.
“I know you’re as hardheaded as a tank, but I’m going to help you fulfill your dreams of owning a brewery, and you’re going to let me. Because long ago, when I was a scrawny kid in college with a dream, you believed in me. You worked all summer to save five thousand dollars, and in my time of need, you gave it all to me, no questions asked.”
“You paid me back,” I mumble.
Evan waves me away. “Not the point. The point is that you helped me first. You were technically my first ever investor. And now, look at how having someone believe in me, someone invest in me, changed my life. I’d like to believe that you didn’t do it out of pity.” He pauses.
“Of course I didn’t. I did it because you were my friend.”
Evan smiles widely. The fucker let me walk right into that one.
“Precisely. And over a decade later, we’re still best friends. And soon we’ll be brothers-in-law. So believe me when I say that there is nothing I would be more honored to do than to support you this time around and help you fulfill the dream you’ve kept on the back burner of your mind for all these years.”
I groan and run a hand roughly through my short hair. “I don’t know…”
Evan shrugs. “If anything, I owe you for not killing me when you found out I was dating your sister. Think of it as taking money from the man who dared to sleep with her behind your back.” He smirks.
“Are you trying to propose to my sister with a black eye?” I growl.
He laughs. “There he is. And don’t worry. I’m aware that my investment just doubled because of that joke.” He lifts his beer bottle in my direction. “To the family business. And whatever went down in the Dominican Republic with you and Nikki.”
I can’t stop the hard laugh that escapes from my chest.
This fucker. Just what I needed. Evan’s onto us. And investing in my dream.
Family business.
That wasn’t the plan.
I was ready to go at this alone. By myself.
So why can’t I stop smiling while I sip my beer?
41
Nikki
If Tony is home,then forward my address to cloud nine.
A part of me can’t believe I held back from falling in love all of these years, yet the other part is glad that I waited for Tony.
