“I know you did. I was there.”
She looked at him.
Oops. “Listen, whatever they claim, in my experience, it isn’t quite that easy.”
“Oh?”
“I can show you a few tricks to get yourself set up right. That’ll make a big difference.”
“I guess all those years in school have paid off.”
He lifted his shoulder. “I learned this working with my dad in high school. They’ve updated the software in the years since, but the basics are all still the same. It’s pretty common business software, and I used it in one of my internships too.”
She leaned over her computer, tapped a few keys, and the software pulled up. “I guess that would be okay. I mean, showing you how to make fudgedidtake me a long time.”
“I know. Several hours.”
“Almost a whole day.” She flicked her gaze at him. “You needed a lot of tutoring.”
“So much.” He smiled.
She smiled back.
Oh boy. “So you’ll let me help you?”
Sighing, Lily turned to him. She smelled good—a mix of vanilla and chocolate, and suddenly the office seemed a little too small.
“Fine,” she said, but held up her hand. “And then no more helping each other. We duke it out like the rivals we’re supposed to be.” But despite her words, her tone didn’t sound like someone who considered him the enemy.
He’d long ago stopped seeing her that way.
So maybe the Kelley clan was right.
“Lily, make me a promise.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t ever let your receipts stack up like this again.” He tapped the pile of paper. “You’re just making it harder on yourself.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Set a reminder on your phone until you get in the habit. Every night, make sure you load your transactions into the software, okay?”
“Okay.”
He cut her a look. “I’m serious.”
“Okay. Fine. I will. And that will be good, because I swear I’m missing some receipts from the last few days.”
“What do you mean?”
“It just feels like I’ve sold more than this.”
“And that’s the problem. You wouldn’t know for sure if you’re not entering them daily, yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, plopping into the chair in front of the laptop. “Let’s get this over with.”
Over the next two hours, Declan walked her through setting up her business profile, entering her expense accounts, regular vendors, and connecting to her bank accounts. Then loading and reconciling all her receipts.