Page 14 of Touch of Smoke
“Okay, I guess this makes sense even if I’m not going to be a full-service dispensary,” she said.
“Listen, you never know how this may grow for you. I get that your main goal is to help those in medical need, but what about those in need with no insurance? If you can also provide a safe space for them to come and purchase what they need to be comfortable, isn’t that worth it too?” He didn’t wait for her to reply. “At any rate, once you get your financing straight, you’re going to need accounts for your payroll and accounts payable.”
He was really starting to hate his idea of not getting the bedding off the floor because it was damn hard concentrating on business with her lying naked next to him. But he was determined not to be defeated, at least not until he’d finished his full sales pitch.
“What we offer at the bank is assistance in getting you what we call a build-out loan, which will help you build or renovate your facility. And you’re also going to need a merchant services account that will handle your ATM and POS, or point of sales, transactions. We also have a monitoring system that will track your sales and make sure you stay on point with the state and federal guidelines. We can be your one-stop shop,” he said.
“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “That’s a lot. And it’s stuff I didn’t even think to consider. I knew the financing piece was going to be tricky. I had a list of some local banks that are known for giving what they call their minority small business loans andI was going to start approaching them when I had a more solid business plan in place,” she said. “I was thinking about asking Donyell to help me with that. But you know how she is about her birthday. Her and Mike have been planning that party since January. So, I’ve just been taking notes and waiting until I had all my thoughts together before sitting down with her.”
“She’s good at business stuff. They’ve done a great job with the lounge,” he said. “And I know she’s responsible for all the background stuff and paperwork, while Mike handles frontline business. He’s actually interested in having a smoke room in the back.”
“Really? I didn’t know that,” she said.
“Yeah, he shot me an email a few months back after I first told them about the promotion and what I’d be doing specifically. My mom’s still not down with marijuana being legal, but my dad and Donyell were actually excited about the new direction my career is going in.” Christine Simmons was as old school as they came and even though a lot of her cousins had come up in the 60s and 70s smoking enough weed to get a whole city high, she had steered clear and preached to her children not to do any type of drugs until they’d had the mantra memorized. Not that it stopped him from lighting up more than a few times.
“So, right now patrons can bring in their own marijuana to smoke in that back room because he doesn’t want the whole place reeking of it. Well, that’s what they’ll be able to do once Donyell gets finished furnishing it. But eventually, Mike would like to have his own items to sell—gummies, vape pens, inhalers and possibly some topical items. So, that’s where I’d come in to help him.”
“Wow, I can’t believe this is such a big business now,” she said. “I mean, I knew everybody was smokin’. Used to smell it driving on the highway each morning. And then, you know where the clinic was located, I could smell it from every corner.Even a few members of the choir came into church smelling like it one Sunday.” She chuckled. “Ms. Christine and Ms. Lulu, you remember her? She used to work at the liquor store, running the lottery machine when we were young.”
“Yeah, we used to call her son Rambo cause his ass was always walking around with that bandana on his head and acting like he could beat everybody’s ass.” He laughed at the memory.
“Right,” she said grinning. “He sure did. Well, her and your mama were livid. Talked about those three all through service and then after service they even went to the pastor to complain.”
“Why am I not surprised?” he asked with a shake of his head. “If there’s one thing my mama’s gonna do it’s speak her piece.”
“And she passed that trait right on down to her bossy, nosy son,” Sariya said, but her tone was light, the smile still on her face.
He loved to see her smile. Loved to hear her talk and laugh. There wasn’t much he didn’t love about this woman.
“Only bossy and nosy with those who matter,” he told her, knowing that if he’d said those he loved, it would scare her away.
For all that Sariya was a decisive and independent woman, there was a part she didn’t allow everyone to see. That part that had suffered because her father hadn’t wanted her and her mother’s bitterness over that fact had rained down onto Sariya as if she’d been the villain in this too well-known story. That was the delicate part of her that he would die protecting. He knew that there had been moments in her life growing up that Sariya hadn’t felt like she mattered to anyone, or that anyone even knew how unhappy she was, but Ro had seen it. He’d noticed it in the sadness that filled her eyes some days, the light that didn’t reach her smile even when she seemed to be enjoying herself. The sag in her shoulders when he’d see her walking from her house down the street to theirs. And he’d wanted to make it all better for her, even back then.
“I think the smell is part of the stigma,” she said. “I know my mother used to fuss about Uncle Larry coming in the house smelling like he’d rolled in weed. Then he’d hang his jacket in the closet with the rest of the coats and they’d all smell like it. She hated that. Hated having to go to work smelling like that because she said that just gave the white folk another excuse to look down on her.”
He shook his head. “They smokin’ too,” he said. “Smokin’, sellin’ and opening up a bunch of dispensaries anywhere they can.”
“I believe that,” she said.
“And that’s why I think you should open your place. It’s a good idea, Sariya. With good intentions. You’ll be servicing the community and fulfilling your purpose.”
“You really think this is my purpose?”
There it was, that twinge of doubt that she tried so hard to hide. The fact that she’d let it be known here, in this space with him was a compliment of the highest caliber. That meant she trusted him, a fact he’d already known because there was no way she would’ve slept with him if she didn’t. But this was somehow more meaningful to him.
“I really do. You know I think all things happen for a reason. The Lord only closes a door when He’s about to open another one,” he told her.
She turned over onto her side so she could face him. “You remember that from your days at Greater New Hope?”
He chuckled. “I sure do. And I wholeheartedly believe it too. So, what do you say? Are you doing this?”
Her gaze shifted away from him for a moment and he wondered where her mind had gone just that quick, but then she looked back and him and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! I’m going to do it. Will you help me with all the stuff you just talked about?”
He reached out to cup a hand at the back of her neck, then pulled her to him to drop a kiss on her lips. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Sariya. Don’t you know that by now? Whatever you want, baby.”
sariya
She crept into her apartment at a little after nine on Sunday morning, acting like she was doing the walk of shame. Only, she lived alone, so there was nobody to witness the walk and make it shameful. Unless she counted the guilt that had ridden in the car with her like an annoying passenger during the drive home from Ro’s house.
