Page 46 of The Nice Guy
Her dark hair brushes her face as she shakes her head. “No, I’m not.”
“Did you two talk?”
“Sort of. He suggested workin’ on a plan to move towards makin’ my dreams a reality, but I think that was your idea, not his. I know he doesn’t really want me to do this. I know he’s worried about money, but it feels so much bigger than just that.”
“Oh, before I forget, here’s a check for you.”
Darla furrows her brows and reaches for it. “You don’t even know how much the supplies cost.” Her eyes widen as she stares at the cashier’s check I hand her. “Oh my God, Brynlee, tell me this is not how much you paid your last stylist.”
Laughing, I lean my side into the couch cushion and face her. “No, it’s not.”
“I don’t understand. What’s this?”
The fight not to get her hopes up is real. “I wanted to see what you can do, but I knew at the fair I wanted to invest in you. After the magic you worked today, I know you could beat out any stylist in the big cities.”
“Brynlee, this is too much,” she says and tries to hand the check back to me.
“No, it’s not. The best investments are in people with a passion and dreams. You need an investor, and I’m looking for a business to invest in.”
She swallows as her glistening eyes glance up at me. “It’s too much to ask for.”
“You didn’t ask. I’m offering. I’d like to keep this between us, though. I don’t need any more fuel added to the fire around town when it comes to what people think about me, but I have some money. I’m not Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos by a long shot, but I have some. More than that, I know how to make it work for me. Like this.”
“I have so many questions right now, but you’re sure about this? What if… What if I fail?”
Reaching out, I squeeze her wrist. “I have faith you won’t.”
“No, I can’t risk that—”
“That’s how investments work. If it tanks, well, crap. But I don’t think it will. It’s up to you if you want to take this chance on yourself, but I want to. I won’t force you if you aren’t ready.”
She wipes her eyes and lets out a long sigh. Setting it on the table in front of her, she stares at it. “You know Rhett’s my best friend, right?”
This took an unexpected turn. “Yes?”
“You’re makin’ this extremely generous offer, and I might be an idiot for sayin’ this, but I need to make sure we’re all aligned here. I won’t stand to see anyone hurt him.”
“To counter your sort-of accusation, which… ouch, I think it would be kind of silly of me to go into business with the best friend of the man I intend to hurt, don’t you?”
“Yeah, that would be pretty dumb. And you’re not dumb. In fact, you seem really smart.”
I smile at her, flattered and relieved she doesn’t think I’m some airhead. “Because it seems like you need to hear me say it: The last thing I plan to ever do is hurt Rhett. He’s everything Inever knew I needed or wanted, and I like being with him. I like who I am with him.”
“He’s not just an ego boost or somethin’, right?”
“All my life, I’ve been told what to do, how to act, and what to be, but with him, I’m just Brynlee. He makes me feel like I’m finally enough, and I’ve never really felt like I measured up before. He makes me feel safe to be myself.”
“You really care about him, though?”
Looking at the couch, I smile. “Hurting him would kill me. I’ve never met anyone who can look at me and take my breath away, but Rhett does that. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since we met, and I’ve never met a man who wants almost exactly the same things out of life as I do. When I look at him, I see it all. Marriage, kids, growing old together. It finally feels like I have someone with me who wants to face the world together.”
Her hand rests on her chest. “That’s beautiful.”
“Oh my God,” I gasp, my chest tightening as I look up at her in panic.
“What?” Darla asks, her face scrunched up with confusion.
Panic fills me, and I lean back, my hand mirroring hers. My heart races, and I can’t quite catch my breath. How did this happen? It’s only been weeks.
