“Why’s it my wish instead of yours?”
“I’m not the one at a crossroads.”
Cecily cupped the coin in her palm. If she wished for an answer, what would the fountain tell her? She wasn’t sure she really bought into the idea of wishes as anything more than a romantic notion, but Wishful was touted as the town where hope sprang eternal and she could sure as hell use some of that, so she figured it was worth a shot.
Which path am I meant to choose? She tossed the coin into the water. Not exactly the classic I wish formula, but none of the stories she’d heard since coming to Wishful specified that you had to ask a certain way.
They both watched until the ripples faded and the glint of treasure shone beneath the water’s surface.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Now we walk a little more.”
Reed obviously had something in mind so she linked her arm through his again, snuggling close for warmth, and followed his lead.
As they left the green, headed down Spring Street, he began again. “So I’ve already told you that my family was all up in the middle of Cam and Norah. We aren’t exactly known for our subtlety as a group. We all felt awful that Norah thought she had to defend her relationship with Cam, so since she couldn’t figure out how she could stay, we took it upon ourselves to come up with a plan.”
“Something other than her becoming the new City Planner?”
“Yeah, that wasn’t even on the table at that point. We were focused on proving that there was, in fact, a need for her services in a town of this size. So we utilized the groundwork and rapport she’d already built by starting the citizen’s coalition and reviving the Chamber of Commerce to secure letters of intent from almost every business in town, expressing interest in marketing services, should she decide to open her own firm. Uncle Pete pulled together all the paperwork necessary to file for a business license. Mitch drew up plans to renovate this place into her dream office.” Reed stopped in front of the old train station. “And we ran over her like a stampede of elephants.”
“How did she take that?”
“Oh she was gracious about it—she’s Norah, after all—and once she got over feeling backed into a corner, she really got into the idea. It’d never even crossed her mind to open her own firm. Obviously, this isn’t what she ended up doing. But there’s no reason why you couldn’t take the same plan and adapt it to you.”
Was he crazy? “Open my own firm? At twenty-four? With no professional reputation to speak of?”
“You have plenty of professional reputation here. You’re damned good at this kind of work, and you love doing it. There’s a documented need for the kind of services y’all can provide. It’s part of why Norah has those two days of open consult a week, even though it’s really more than she has time to deal with on top of being City Planner. And I know for a fact she’s been passing a lot of it off to you. It’s not the kind of corporate accounts you’d work with at Verdant, but it’s a different kind of challenge. One that appeals to you, or you wouldn’t have stayed here this far past the end of your internship.”
“Something like this would take considerable startup capital.”
“Which we both know you have, should you choose to use it.” He held up his hand for silence. “I know you don’t want to touch that money for yourself, but consider how many people you could help if you were properly set up. And it’s not like you have to do anything on a grand scale to start. There’s no rule book that says you have to have an office to accept clients right off. People like it if you come to them. Makes them feel important. And you’ve said yourself, you tend to get a better feel for a business when you spend some time there.”
Even as excitement began to hum in her blood, she had to force herself to slow down, consider all the angles.
“There’s one major problem with this scenario.”
“What’s that?”
“All those letters of intent are for Norah’s skills. I’m not Norah. I’d
never pretend to be.”
“You’re every bit as good as she is. Better, even, at some things.”
“That’s sweet, Reed, but you’re not exactly an unbiased party here.”
“I agree, but it’s not coming from me. Norah’s said so herself. Which is why she got these.” He reached into his coat pocket and handed her a folded sheaf of papers.
Cecily unfolded them. “What’s this?”
“Signatures from all the business owners in town who want to work with you. Not quite as comprehensive as what we pulled together before, but we were operating on a much shorter time-frame, with less manpower. I didn’t figure you’d appreciate being bowled over either, so I didn’t loop in the rest of the family. Still, it should be enough to prove viability of the concept.”
“Norah did this for me?”
“I thought it was my idea when I took it to her, but as usual, she was five steps ahead of me. She said she owed you. If I hadn’t brought it up, she would have.”
A hard knot lodged in Cecily’s throat as she stared at the list of names spanning more than three full sheets of paper.