Until Cece (Happily Ever Alpha World)

“Yeah, yeah, but think how much fun you’ll have in the other ones. Sociology? Psychology? You’ll love that stuff. And if you’re lucky, you might have some professors who have the ability to actually make you like subjects you hated before. I absolutely detested History in high school, but my teacher in college had a way of explaining things that made you sit on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what happened next,” she tells me, and I sit up and narrow my eyes on her.

“Wasn’t it your History professor in college you had a massive crush on?”

She waves away my words. “Pish posh. That’s besides the point. Yeah, he was hot, but not even his good looks could’ve made World Civilizations interesting without his storytelling abilities.”

“If you say so. But I’m sure there’s nothing that could make me like math.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I know it’s a lie. There is one thing, or person rather, who would make me enjoy any subject.

And that person just so happens to be my boss.

Too bad it’s not units of measurement for cooking I’ll be having to learn in school, but stupid College Algebra. Ugh.

A month after that

“You made that?”

The astonishment in Steph’s voice makes me blush. “Yeah.”

She takes my phone out of my hand and zooms the picture. “Could you like… make it again, only rainbow?”

I tilt my head. “I can make it anything you can think of.”

“Make what anything you can think of?” Winston’s deep voice comes up from behind me at the bar, and my nipples immediately go erect, like they always do the moment I hear his timbre for the first time each shift I work and it sends a skitter of chills across my skin.

I glance at him over my shoulder then nudge my chin at my phone still in Steph’s hand. “A wreath.”

“A wreath? Like for Christmas?” he prompts.

Steph shakes her head. “Not just for Christmas. She makes them custom herself and can do any holiday or theme. Check this out. It’s one she did for her kids’ classroom in their school colors.”

I shrug. “I do it for their teachers each year for their birthdays.”

Stephanie looks up at me. “How much does it cost in materials?”

I bite my lip and look upward, doing the calculations in my head. “With the wreath form, all the ribbon, the centerpiece, and everything? About forty bucks, give or take.”

“I’ll pay you $80 for this same size, rainbow ribbon, with some sort of Pride centerpiece,” she tells me, and my eyebrows shoot up my forehead.

“Are you serious? Girl, I’d do it just for the cost of materia—”

“No way.” She shakes her head. “This is gorgeous, and you deserve to be paid for your time and effort. Eighty bucks. Can you have it done by next week for my girlfriend’s birthday?”

“Of course.” I nod, and I watch as she pulls her wallet out of her crossbody bag she has slung around her, since she’s on her way out the door after finishing her shift.

“Here’s the forty now to cover materials, and I’ll give you the other half on delivery. Deal?” she asks.

I smile, looking down at the cash in my hand and then up at Steph. “Deal.”

“Awesome. My girl is going to love it!” She looks over at Winston when he takes my phone out of her hand.

“This is really beautiful, naekkeo,” he says, using the nickname he’s called me since day one, and my face heats further. “Do you have inventory, like on standby?”

I shake my head. “No, I usually just make them as gifts. I do have the ones I use on my own front door for each holiday and season. You just watched my first sale.”

He narrows his eyes as if deep in thought. “How about…” He glances back down at my phone. “Bring the ones you have for your house and line them up on that wall over there next to Steph’s girlfriend’s paintings. Put a little sign up saying you make them custom and that the ones on the wall are examples but not for sale. I can guarantee you’ll get some hits.”

“Oh, for sure. Hannah has sold like eight paintings in the last four months since you let her display them, and they’re expensive as hell. These pretty babies going for eighty bucks a pop will fly like hot cakes. No doubt,” she agrees, and excitement fills me.

Even if I could make a little bit of extra cash making the wreaths, that would be amazing. Not only because I could use the money, but because I would be making it doing something I absolutely love. I never thought to sell my wreaths before. But now that Steph and Winston are encouraging me to do it, I feel kind of silly that I hadn’t thought of it before.