by Jean Oram
She glanced down at her outfit, worried she had got it wrong.
He laughed at her expression and steered her toward the marina.
She had planned to let herself tip forward in her flowery wedges and catch herself against him in hello, but for whatever reason, her flirty act felt difficult and fake today. Really fake. And almost like a betrayal to her best friend—as silly as that seemed. But Frankie being bothered by the way she'd flirted with Seth at their first meeting had slowly worked its way under her skin and she just couldn't seem to force herself to leverage her flirty act.
She walked beside Seth, her body bumping his lightly as he kept her arm tucked against his side as he pointed out various things about the marina.
He led them down a metal walkway and into a building at lake level. Its doors opened and air conditioning hit them as soon as they entered the mini mall that blocked them from entering the docks directly.
"You look nervous," Seth said, giving her arm a squeeze before letting it go.
"Excited," she corrected and flashed him a smile. She mentally ran through her usual conversation starters, but didn't feel in the mood for any of the flirty stuff she usually opted for. What the hell was wrong with her?
She followed him through the building, spotting a laundry, car rental office and boat works on the right, and a boating agency, sitting area and coffee bar on the left. She nearly squealed with glee over the miniature-ness of everything in the provisions stand at the coffee bar, from mini bottles of Sunlight dish detergent to mini packets of laundry soap to tiny boxes of cereal. It was like a grocery store for kids. She glanced away, trying to hide her delight.
Seth, with his arm still through hers, grabbed the handle of a black, plastic cart, which looked similar to a garbage bin with wheels, and pulled it along with them. He gave a small wave and head nod to a man in full captain's gear, including the hat, which made Mandy suppress giggles. If she thought crash-up derbies were men gone nutty, this was hilarious. These men were acting as though they were hot stuff on a small, inland lake. They were obviously compensating for something in a major way.
"With the franchise expanding, coming here is about all I can manage in the way of holidays at the moment." His tired expression fleeting as the doors in front of them opened and a splash of sunshine made them squint.
Lowering her sunglasses to cover her eyes, she took in the wide pier and followed Seth as he directed her through the maze of docks. "I could get used to this," she said as Seth stopped beside a large sailboat. He pointed to two women down the dock, flirting with a strong, tanned man cleaning a boat deck. "Looks like we're just waiting for three more and we'll set sail."
"Halloo, ladies!" Seth called to them. They turned away from their flirting adventure and, giving tinkling little waves, wiggled their way over before swooping in to give Seth cheek kisses. Mandy couldn't decide if they were genuine twins or just two women who were successfully trying to look like Barbie.
"Seth, darling!" they said in unison.
Mandy hugged herself, wondering who the heck these people were and what kind of party she was going to be trapped on if this boat left dock. This wasn't at all what she expected.
Seth climbed aboard his boat, unclipping the cockpit's cloth and plastic window covering, and turned to the ladies still waiting on the dock.
"Permission to come aboard, Captain?" one of the ladies cooed.
Seth laughed, a twinkle in his eyes as he granted permission. He let the two ladies slip past, guiding them with a hand as they entered the cockpit at the back of the boat. Nodding to Mandy, he pointed to the cart he'd abandoned on the dock. "Be a dear and pass our provisions?"
Mandy passed the supplies, unsure whether she'd be able to ask 'Permission to come aboard' with a straight face and wondering how, exactly, in three seconds flat, she'd gone from feeling as though she had Seth right where she wanted him to being the maidservant.
But her sixth grade drama teacher had once told her she had a talent for acting and could pretend to be anyone she wanted. She'd been doing it for years and could pull off anything. The issue, however, was that today was a whole new play and nobody had thought to hand her her lines.
Seth held her eye and lowered a hand, his voice husky. "Come aboard and let me show you around."
Mandy stepped aboard, pleased with how the boat didn't rock when she added her weight. Seth led her through the bright and warm cockpit enclosure and down a ladder into the heart of the boat. The twins, already ensconced at the little eating table, feet tucked under their skirts as they badgered a bottle of wine into giving up its cork with a loud pop, obviously had their own lines and role down pat.
"This is really nice," Mandy said to Seth, taking in the area down below. Sunny, bright, gorgeous. Again, not at all what she'd been expecting. There was shiny wood on the floor and walls, making it look rich and welcoming. She definitely would not be spending her afternoon pumping this thing full of air. "Very, very cool," she added.
"Isn't it?" he said with a grin. "It helps ground me. Get me focused. You know. That stuff." He shrugged and the personal side slid back beneath the veneer, intriguing Mandy.
She ran a hand over the wood, enjoying its smooth coolness. "So do you—"
"Seth," asked one of the done-up women, "introduce us to your new friend so we can fill her head with lies."
"Great," said Mandy, stepping forward. "I have lots of questions about signing with the franchise and—"
Seth interrupted Mandy with a hand pressed to her lower back. "This is Mandy Mattson. She's considering joining our little Wrap it Up family."
The woman tilted her head, questioning Seth in an unhappy way.
"I know, I know," he said, lifting his hands in protest. "In the past, I've only allowed those who have opened an outlet to join us, but in this case, we had a last minute cancellation—Diana—and I figured Mandy will soon be with us. You'll really like her."
Mandy's heart raced with excitement. A restaurant. Of her own.
Next up a yacht. Fancy hairdos. Good wine.
This was the life. A dream world.
And she was already being drawn into it. She'd passed the test. Seth felt she belonged. She tried to bite back a massive grin as her heart swelled.
"Mandy," Seth continued, "meet Stacey and Dacey. Yes, they are twins." He gave them a wink and, with his hand still lightly on Mandy's waist, turned his attention to two women climbing aboard.
"Lexi! Blair!" he boomed, moving over to take their bags as they made their way down the stairs.
"Seth, a pleasure as always," said an older woman with jewelry hanging off her like moss in a rainforest. She clutched Seth's hand.
Whoa. These women were scary. Was Wrap it Up the place for rich women who needed a hobby? Or was this who you became after a few years in the business?
"Mandy, this is Lexi," Seth said, placing a hand on Lexi's shoulder. "She owns two Wrap it Ups in Dakota and is doing very well."
Lexi pursed her lips. "Not as well as I'd hoped at this stage of the game." She tipped her chin at Mandy. "It always seems as though there isn't as much money coming in as I think there should."
Seth laughed loudly and shook his head. "There's never as much as any of us would like, my dear." He directed Mandy to sit at the small table and passed her a plate of cheeses.
She'd bet her truck Lexi was the woman Seth had been talking to on the phone who expected to be living the life now that she was in with the franchise. The woman was obviously making an okay living which was all Mandy was looking for. Some people could never be happy, it seemed.
Blair turned a cool eye on Lexi. "Hire someone to worry for you, dear. That's what I did." She smiled and extended a hand to Mandy. "Blair Diggs. Pleased to meet you." She turned to Seth. "My, she's a young thing, isn't she?" She stood back and studied Mandy as a farmer might study a mare before purchase. "You have good sense of style." She nodded at Mandy. "Yes, I like you."
Sweet Jesus.
"Yooho
o!" came a woman's cry from above.
My God, thought Mandy as the owner of the voice came into view. Where the hell did he find these women? This one had legs as long as the boat's mast, making Mandy feel like a minnow trying to swim in an ocean filled with sharks.
"Rachelle!" Seth called as he clamored to help her down the last few steps. "Excellent! Everyone is here!" Seth turned to the group clustered around the table, and grabbing one of the glasses of red wine the twins had poured, took a large gulp. "We're about ready to set off. Unfortunately, Diana couldn't make it. But we have a new recruit in her place that we hope to entice, so ladies, be on your best behavior and don't scare her off!"
Damn. How was she going to pick their brains if he was laying down rules like that?
Seth grabbed another glass of wine from the table and Mandy checked the locations of the life vests as, for a moment, she thought he was going to down that one, as well. But instead, he pushed the glass into Mandy's hand, buzzing around the small enclosure like a trapped wasp.
"Let's settle the provisions away and set sail. There's sunshine to catch."
He tossed the food into cubbies, grabbed the fresh bottle of wine the twins had opened and topped up everyone's glass. Glancing around the group, she couldn't decide if him being the only man present was good, bad, or neither. Either way, her methods for pulling information from the franchisees was going to have to be modified ever so slightly.
"Seth?" Mandy asked, helping him tuck away a few items on the navigation table. "Have applicants ever been rejected?"
"A couple. Why? Are you worried?" He shot her a crooked smile.
She gave a light laugh and nodded. "Of course, I am!"
"Well, I don't think you need to worry. You seem like the savvy, work-hard type that always wins no matter what."
Mandy felt herself blush while her heart did a cheerleading routine in her ribcage.
He lowered his face so it was close to hers. "How about we do some preliminary paperwork next week and see where it takes us?"
She slipped her hand into his and gave it a shake. "Done deal."
"Now," he said, raising her hand to his lips, "come help me steer this thing out of the harbor."
Chapter 9
The setting sun spilled a soft warmth into the interior of Frankie's building and made Mandy want to cuddle up against Seth—the man who had brought financial success to all those women she'd met on the boat. All of them were amazing—even Lexi who kept giving Seth sidelong looks throughout the afternoon. And even though it had been a bit difficult to dig deep into what it was like to be a franchisee, after Seth kept insisting that they all take it easy and not talk shop, she had learned enough to want to open her own Wrap it Up.
Mandy slipped her feet underneath her on the old plaid couch she'd found in the alley and leaned closer, eager not to miss a thing, as he flipped through the franchisee manual.
"So," she began gently, "what does one need to do in order to get hooked up with a loan from Wrap it Up?"
Seth paused for a second, as if he was trying to remember where he was. Finally, his light gray eyes met Mandy's. He shook his head and said, "Oh. You won't need one of those."
She pulled a printout from her folder, her hands shaking. "It says here you offer better rates than the bank and I could use a little operating cash to start up." She'd never been brilliant at math, but she knew she was going to need quite a bit more flexibility than the bank was willing to offer.
He folded the binder closed over his arm, marking his place. "Are you having issues securing a bank loan?"
"Well," she began carefully, "I'd like to have more flexibility than they're willing to offer to get me off the ground."
"What about liquidating assets?"
Even though they had yet to sign an agreement, Mandy had already cashed in her investments as well as looked into the value of her truck. Nobody was going to pay her the amount she'd put into it and what it was worth to her in her head—correct that: in her heart. "Liquidating everything immediately would result in a financial hit I'm not willing to take at the moment. I'd rather pay interest on a temporary loan."
Seth narrowed his eyes, taking her in. "I see." He shuffled through pages in his binder. "It would have to be an open loan that could be called in at any time."
Mandy's mind raced as she tried to figure out the implications of such a loan.
He waved a hand without looking up. "Don't worry. I wouldn't call it in until you were well under way and able to pay it back." He handed her papers. "Permits. Applications."
"Flaming hoops for me to jump through?" she asked in a voice that came out smaller than she intended.
He gave her a crooked grin. "It's not that bad." He pointed at the document on top. "That's your completed market evaluation."
"Really?" She flipped through the document, eager to read what it had to say about her hometown and her possible future success.
"You chose a good part of the world. We'll take care of the rest of the papers after you get your license. No point pursuing things if the town's about to shoot you down."
"Uh." Mandy felt panic close in on her and she forced herself to push it back. "I thought you talked to them?"
"Yes, but to operate a business, you'll need a permit and license. However, in the meantime, we can still sign and plan out a few things, making everything conditional on your approval from the town." Seth reopened the binder in his lap. "I'll also take your deposit and have you sign a letter of intent that'll hold your interest in this region for up to three weeks."
"Wait." Worry tangoed its way through Mandy. "Someone else could sign a contract and get this region before me?"
"If you let the three weeks lapse without signing the agreement, yes."
"But I'm serious. I want in." She clenched her hands to prevent herself from grabbing his arm. One minute, it felt as if he was welcoming her into the franchise with open arms, and the next moment, there were all these walls to break down and only three weeks in which to do so.
He set his papers aside and stood, whipping out a tape measure as he shot her a grin. "Instead of worrying about all the paperwork, let's see how this place measures up!" He held out a hand as though asking her to dance. She hesitated slightly before slipping her hand into his. He pulled her up onto her tall boots and, hands on his hips, cast a quick look around the open, empty room.
"Just to be sure," Mandy asked, "if I can't meet some of the requirements, I get my deposit back, right?"
"Depends on how far along we are. But let's see if we can squeeze a floor plan into his space. There's no point giving you a franchise if you have nowhere to put it." He gave her a smile that gave his left cheek a fetching dimple.
She rubbed her hands together. "Where shall we start?"
He picked up the binder and, licking a finger, slowly flipped a few pages. She resisted the urge to rip the binder from his hands and speed read through every page.
He paused on a page. "Ahhh...here we go. Layouts." He glanced up at the dusty space. It was long and narrow, like many of the older buildings on Main. This one, especially so, since it had been divided in half when Frankie's grandmother and grandfather split up decades ago and literally divided most of their joint assets in half.
"I was wondering..." Mandy said casually. "I didn't get a chance to ask the other franchisees on your boat how many hours they put in a week. What's the average?"
"It was a party, not a meeting," he muttered as he fought with his tape measure, his cheeks flushed.
"I know," she said lightly. "But what should I expect? I already work long hours so I'm not afraid of putting in the time."
"The more hours, the greater the odds of your success in the first few years," he said, his head bent over the numbers on his tape measure. "We might be able to squeeze one of the B floor plans in here. Or maybe modify a plan. Something in an L shape, maybe..."
He popped three color-coded sheets from the binder and moved to the center of the room. He nodd
ed thoughtfully, the lines around his mouth serious. "You have one layout that will work." He held up floor plan B-2. "It's our smallest and it runs the food counter along the side."
Mandy felt as though she'd suddenly lost fifty pounds. Thank God. Another hurdle successfully leapt over. She traced a fingernail along the plan's traffic areas between the tables. "This one is much more efficient for waitresses."
"Mandy," he said with a suffering sigh. "You know there won't be waitresses."
Mandy swallowed the feeling of disappointment that had come over her out of nowhere. "I know," she said lightly. "I just keep imaging them, for some reason. Habit, I guess."
But was it really just habit? Why did she keep imagining waitresses if she wanted to be more than one? She looked around the narrow space. Maybe it was because she knew if she had waitresses, she'd be able to turn over more product. Waitresses such as herself were masters at convincing people they wanted dessert and a coffee, after all. If they had to get up and mosey to the counter, they wouldn't order more. And they certainly wouldn't order extras right off the bat, as everyone always started off being good and sticking to their diets. If they made one good, healthy choice, they were that much more likely to cave and have something later that went against their diet. Willpower was a limited quantity and she was a food pimp.
"You have been in a Wrap it Up before?" he asked, staring at her.
Mandy laughed. "Of course." She placed a hand lightly on her chest. Twice. "Once a waitress, always a waitress. That's all."
"You're a waitress?" he asked, looking her up and down doubtfully. His eyes lingered on her designer sundress's label. "I thought you—"
She caught the whiff of distain and quickly added, "You know small establishments! Even someone who helps the owner with ordering and training staff has to work the floor! But that's not who I am."
At least not in front of you.
She shot him a blaring smile.
Seth, using his take-charge voice again, sent shivers of anticipation ricocheting through her abdomen as he said, "Let's do this." He strode to the right side of the room and measured several areas before drawing lines on the bare concrete floor with colored sidewalk chalk.
