Starry-Eyed Love (Spark House)

But I can see what the next few months are going to look like. Nothing is slowing down. Avery’s getting married, and I don’t want to be shackled to Spark House. I want time to enjoy my life and my sisters and my boyfriend.

I can only hope that she had time to sleep on it and has come to realize the same thing.

Jackson drops me off at Spark House just before eight. I’m surprised to see Avery’s car already there. She usually doesn’t roll in until closer to eight thirty. And often she stays later than me and Harley, so it all balances out in the end.

Jackson gives my hand a squeeze. “I’d ask you if you want me to come in with you, but I think I already know the answer.”

“It’s just fear of the unknown. I’m not actually scared of Avery. I don’t want the conflict, but I know it needs to happen.”

“Will you call me later, let me know how things go this morning?”

“I will. I promise. But send me your meeting schedule so I’m not interrupting anything. I don’t need Mitchell on my bad side because his boss is taking off in the middle of more meetings.”

“At least leave me a message if I’m in a meeting, or I’ll be distracted.”

“I feel like I’m a bad influence.”

“Absolutely untrue. You’re the best influence.”

“I don’t think Mitchell agreed with that yesterday when you left.”

He chuckles. “Mitchell is used to me being a micromanaging workaholic. He’s unaccustomed to me wanting time away from work, but he’ll adjust.”

He kisses me goodbye, and I head into Spark House, unsure what I’m about to face.

I’m surprised to find not only Avery and Harley, but also Declan in the office. They’re clearly waiting for me.

“What’s going on?” I glance at all their faces, trying to read the tone of the room.

“Come have a seat.” Harley pats the chair next to hers.

I give Avery the side-eye. “Are you going to get on me again about the meeting I’ve already apologized for?”

“No.” She looks appropriately chagrined. “I’m really sorry I laid into you like that. I had some time to think about how I reacted. It wasn’t fair of me to dump that meeting on you, especially not with what you’ve been going through with Jackson. You never would have done that to me. It was really shitty of me, and I feel like a huge jerk. I bailed on work when I shouldn’t have, and that’s on me. We have a proposal for you.”

“And coffee and cinnamon rolls,” Harley adds.

“This isn’t some kind of ambush, is it? You aren’t going to ply me with coffee and tell me nothing is going to change.”

All three of them shake their heads.

I take the chair next to Avery, who nods to Declan.

“I’ve been looking at your finances over the past couple of months, and I’ve projected your potential revenue for the coming year based on the increase and potential stabilization of growth.” He manages our financial portfolio and has ever since he graduated from college. He spins his laptop around so I can see the growth chart. “And based on what we’re seeing, it looks like Spark House is going to double profits from last year. And that’s being conservative.”

“Which means we should be able to hire someone else to help?” I ask, hopeful that this is where this conversation is going.

“You will definitely be able to hire someone to help. Multiple someones, actually.”

Avery gives him a look. “Can we ease into things, please?”

“Absolutely, babe. Easing into things is clearly my strong suit since it took me a decade to ease into asking you to marry my stupid ass.” Declan turns back to me when Avery rolls her eyes at him. “I already knew Avery was under a lot of pressure, but I didn’t realize how hard this was on the two of you. There’s nothing wrong with realizing that you need extra support and hiring the right people to provide that. So if you’re in agreement, we thought it might be a good idea to bring me in to handle the business administration of Spark House.”

“You want to work for Spark House?” I lean back in my chair, taking in Avery’s, Harley’s, and Declan’s expressions. It doesn’t look like they’re joking.

“Declan has mentioned it a bunch of times over the past few months, and I kept putting him off because … well, it scared the crap out of me. I didn’t want it to mess with this.” She motions to the three of us. “But I can see how me stonewalling the two of you every time you brought it up has been making your lives impossible. I don’t want either of you to hate working here, and I can see if we keep going down this path, that could happen. We’re all overworked. I see that now. We don’t have a work-life balance, and that’s not good for any of us. I’ve been really selfish about all of this. I didn’t realize how selfish until last night, and I’m really sorry it took me so long to finally stop and listen to what you were both trying to tell me.” She looks like she’s on the verge of tears, which isn’t something that happens often with Avery.