Page 51 of Unconventionally, Elle
"Yep, we leave Friday. Funny enough, I wanted to live there when I first moved up north."
"No shit, that's hilarious. You know it's fucking crazy expensive, right?"
"Literally the exact reason we are here together right now." I bumped into him teasingly. "But we are just going for the weekend to relax and see the huge Christmas tree and all that fun stuff. He says it's really magical." I beamed, thinking about how it would be my first white Christmas in more than a decade.
"You're going to have a blast," Finn said. "When we go in summer, we love the sailboat tours--they're the best and so fun."
"Wait, no way! That's so funny you say that!" I let go of his arms and squeezed his hands.
"Huh, why?" he asked, confused.
"Barrett tells me all the time that he'd rather own his own business, a sailboat business, in Nantucket and do tours. I've just never heard anyone else ever say anything about it. I didn't know that it was a thing." I was excited by the revelation.
"Oh, God. Elle, it's a huge fucking thing. You have to reserve it days in advance. Too bad he doesn't do that. I bet it's way more fun than what he's doing now." Finn shrugged and continued walking.
"Finn, why did you open up the yoga studio?" I asked as we turned onto the next street to go to our coffee shop. I was going to write,
and he was going to do a little administrative work for the studio.
"To be honest, I never had the intention of being a fitness studio owner."
I kept staring at him, waiting for him to go on as we walked.
"I had a degree in education and was a physical education coach for a high school here. It was all right, but super political. Later, I became the cheerleading coach and fell in love with it. I loved my girls and training them for competitions and all that stuff."
We arrived at the café, went inside, and got in line for our usual orders.
"Anyways, after a few years, I realized that even though I loved cheer and my girls, I hated dealing with the school board and all the bullshit that went with working in the school system. At that time, I was taking yoga classes here and became good friends with the owners."
Finn gave our orders to John, and we walked to the end of the counter.
"Thanks for the latte," I said with a soft elbow bump.
"No problem. So anyways, I was talking to the previous owners one day after class, and they mentioned they were going to sell the studio because they wanted to retire and travel, but they also wanted the new owner to keep the name and continue the legacy they'd built. Jackson and I had been dating for about a year, so I went home and told him I wanted to buy the studio. It just felt right."
"Holy shit! Were you scared?" I asked with eyes wide.
"Fucking terrified. But Jackson believed in me and really made the dream possible. He had a little money from his parents and some more saved up. We added it to whatever I had, and it was enough to make an offer."
"Wow." I was in awe of Finn and Jackson. "I actually didn't know Jackson was part owner."
"Oh yes, absolutely. He has more money in this than I do. He's the brains behind it, really. I'm the instructor, social media guru, and face of Align. But Jackson, he makes sure we're good financially."
"You guys make a perfect team. I literally had no idea he's so involved."
"Oh, one hundred percent. The LLC paperwork has his name on it too, ha ha. Anyway, we went with our money to the owners, and they accepted our offer. Jackson got all the legalshit taken care of, thank God, and I started getting my fitness certifications. Also, since I was a student and the instructors knew me, most of them stayed on the schedule, so that was nice."
"Yeah, for sure," I said.
"I quit my job right after the contracts were signed," said Finn.
"Do you miss your girls and cheer?"
"All the time," he admitted. "But my hands were tied. I couldn't be their coach anymore with the way the school system was handling internal affairs. Over the years, some of the ones who stayed in town have come to the studio and said hi, and it makes me happy. But I had to make a trade-off--stay miserable but keep my girls, or do something that scared the shit out of me but felt right. I know I made the right choice, though."
"Definitely."
"Elle! Finn!" John called our names from the bar.
