Chapter 24—Nat

"So, what's the problem?" Nat asked. She was in her pajamas, snuggled in the oversized chair in the small living room of their fake apartment, working on analytics reports for her boss, while also watching Christmas movies.

"They're being so nice," Andi said.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Nat asked. She closed her laptop and got up to make another cup of cocoa. Jackson had given them all a mix earlier that tasted amazing. He told her to mix it with half and half. She was going to need to go for many runs to compensate for all the cocoa she planned to drink while she was here.

"It would be if I weren’t in the process of actively lying to them,” Andi said. She threw her arms around wildly while she talked—a typical Andi maneuver. “And not even a little lie,” she added. “A massive, huge, epic, insane, awful, terrible, no-good, lie.”

“Okay,” Nat said, pulling a second cup out of the cabinet. She poured some milk into the saucepan and put it on the stove. “So, why not just tell them the truth?”

“I can’t,” Andi said. She flung herself down onto the couch. “They’ll take the inheritance away,” she added after a moment. “And I can’t do this without the money my grandma left me.”

“Says who?” Nat asked while she dumped scoops of the mixture into the milk. How much would she have to beg to get Jackson to make her some more of this stuff?

“Says…Tim…and me. He’s a jerk, but he’s not wrong about that. And if my parents knew what I was planning, they’d agree with him, too.”

“You can take yourself off that list because you only believe that to be true because Tim said so.”

“That’s not true,” Andi argued. Nat gave her a side-eye. “Maybe it’s true. But is he wrong? How am I going to start up a whole business without any capital?”

“Andi, you’ve already started a business. You’ve been selling those gourmet truffles you make for years. That was all you. All your own ingenuity. No inheritance needed.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the same thing,” Andi said. She took the cup that Nat handed her and brought it up to her face for a long sniff.

“This cocoa is almost perfect,” she said as she looked up at Nat with wide, puppy dog eyes. Nat laughed and dropped some marshmallows into the mug. “Yay,” Andi said with a smile. “Now it’s perfect.”

“You’re wrong, by the way,” Nat said as she took her seat in the oversized chair again. “You built something out of nothing. Why not build off that momentum? I know I keep asking you this, but is a bakery really what you want?”

“It is,” Andi said. “I think.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Nat said. “Let’s back up here. Aside from being engaged, is there any way you could get your parents on board with you running your own business with your inheritance?”

“I don’t know,” Andi said. Her brows furrowed like she was giving it some thought.

“I have a theory,” Nat said. “I think they need to see you in action. You agreed to help Jackson get ready for this festival thing, right? Your parents will be here for that.”

Andi shook her head. “That’s not enough. They’ve tasted my baking. Seeing me bake won’t be enough to actually sway them. They already know I can do that. They’re going to be skeptical about all of it.”

“I don’t mean just watching you bake,” Nat said. Andi just stared at her. "So, let's create some opportunities for them to witness you doing all of it." Nat wasn't going to back down. This idea had legs. It was going to run.

"How?" Andi asked, seeming more interested.

“You saw what happened yesterday,” Nat said. “People were lined up around the block for the things you baked.”

“They were there for the coffee, too,” Andi argued. That may or may not have been true.

“They weren’t lined up like that the first day we came. So, give yourself some credit, my dear.”

“What does it matter? My parents didn’t see that, though.”

“They will when you do it tomorrow. And the next day,” Nat said.

“I don’t know.” Andi chewed at the inside of her lip. “Jackson really only wanted help with the festival...I really don’t want to step on his toes. He’s helping me so much.”

“And how is this not helping him? Eric told me earlier that the date he went on yesterday morning was actually a meeting with a bank about a loan. He didn’t find that out until later. Eric says the business partner left him high and dry, and Jackson is scrambling to stay afloat. How can lines out the door not be helpful?”

Andi seemed to be mulling this over.

“We can talk to him about it. Talk to that girl who does the marketing, Allison. She can help us come up with a way to spin this so that it doesn’t mess up expectations or whatever crap he said. She can help us find a way to make it a seasonal treat that culminates in the baked goods at the festival. Then, when you’re gone, it will be a fun thing that helped him out.”

Nat expected some push back from this, which is why she was going so hard. To her surprise, though, Andi sat up straighter and began nodding. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah.” This time was more enthusiastic. Like the possibility of this working was slowing dawning on her. Andi jumped up from the couch. She headed to the door but quickly turned around to grab her cocoa cup from the side table.

“Where are you going?” Nat asked.

“To talk to Jackson,” Andi said. “Maybe Allison, too, if we can find her.” And with that, Andi was out the door.

“Wait for me,” Nat called, wrapping her robe tighter and grabbing her own cocoa cup before following Andi downstairs.