“Molly, you’re going to make me cry.”
“Suck it up because I’m not done. So while I’d like to continue taking business classes, if I have the chance to go to work for you full-time, earn a good salary, help you grow and expand your business, then I’ll drop out of school tomorrow.”
Amery laughed and discreetly wiped her tears. “Okay, then. You’re on board. Before we dissect the contract options, I want to say my goal, while making money and doing work I’m proud of, isn’t to become obsessed with this and work myself to exhaustion or to the point I hate it. Finding balance in life is key.”
“I never understood what that meant until the last couple of months, when I’ve actually built a life outside of school, books, and bad TV.” Molly smiled. “I don’t know if I can ever thank you enough for chewing me out for my shit attitude.”
“I just wish I could’ve done it without you being physically assaulted first.”
“But you wouldn’t have met Ronin.”
Amery smiled. “There is that.”
“How are things going with him?”
“Good. He’s almost back to his normal pushy, bossy, impossibly perfect self.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I know his instructors at the dojo were really concerned about him after you guys broke up. Every time I saw him, he looked like crap. Like he’d been on the receiving end of . . .”
Her gaze zoomed to Molly. “Of what? Did you know Master Black had started fighting again?”
“I didn’t know specifics, but all you had to do was look at him to see something was up.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he was a mess?” Amery demanded.
Molly gave her a defiant look. “Because you didn’t ask me, Amery. Not once. You knew I went to the dojo, and you never asked me if I’d seen Ronin or how he was doing.”
“And if I had?”
“I would’ve told you the truth. He was a wreck. You were a wreck.”
“I was not,” Amery protested.
“Puh-lease.” Molly rolled her eyes. “Within hours of your breakup with Ronin, you ran away for an entire week. You spent the next week in your loft eating ice cream and crying while you watched martial arts movies and romantic tragedies.”
She blushed.
“You snapped out of it a little in week three. The beginning of week four, you burst into tears when the cover you did for Cherry Starr went live on the book vendor sites, and you were worthless the rest of that week.”
It’d seemed so surreal looking at that cover and the image of herself. Almost like it’d never happened. Adding in that Ronin hadn’t called her or chased her down had made her believe maybe she had been under some kind of spell.
“Week six—”
“Jesus, Molly, how the hell do you remember all this when I don’t?”
Molly offered her a smug smile. “I wrote it on the calendar. Chaz and I took bets on how long you and Ronin could hold out and stay away from each other. I said six weeks, he said eight. And since I always lose, I had to cheat—” She slapped her hand over her mouth.
That’s when Amery knew. “You’re the one who sent the package to Ronin with the peace offering and the note, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I did and, please, please don’t be mad. It got you two to talking again and to see that you are so perfect for each other—”
“Stop. I understand why you did it. I knew I was falling apart during that time, and it pissed me off because I swore I’d never be one of those women who can’t function without a man in her life.” She laughed. “I thought I’d done pretty well at hiding it from you.”
“You sucked at hiding it. It was hard for us to watch and do nothing. Chaz swore after the stuff had gone down with Emmylou and her issues with Ronin last time that he wasn’t meddling in your love life again.”
“But Chaz encouraged you to.”
“Yep. I don’t regret it, because you’re happy, Amery.”
“I am.”
Molly tapped the contracts. “So what does Ronin think of you going to work in the family business?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“What? Why not?”
She twisted a hank of hair. “Because it’s his family’s business. I need to make the decision on my own—what’s best for my company. He wouldn’t consult me on a business decision for the dojo. I have to draw that dividing line because I don’t think he can be neutral when it comes to Okada.”
“Probably true.”
“So let’s keep this between us for now.” She picked up the contracts and dropped them back in the envelope. “I’ll make copies before I take this to my lawyer.”
“Cool.” Molly slid off the stool. “And in my downtime, in my new role as office manager—”
“Office manager?” Amery repeated.
“If you take the Okada job, you’ll need to hire another graphic artist. I’ll have seniority, and I’m good at balancing the creative and business side. Anyway, I’ll check out the actual profit and losses for your existing food-based customers and see if letting that part of your business go will be a financial blow.”
“Awesome. But I want you to wait until this is a done deal before you drop out of school.”
“Damn. And here I was totally going to blow off my homework.”
“Smart-ass. Let’s get set up for the Wicksburg Farm Halloween bash.” Amery made it halfway to the sink with the empty coffee cups when she remembered she’d left her camera in Ronin’s practice room. She couldn’t take a chance on Molly seeing those photographs even if she swapped out the memory cards, and if she and Ronin continued to take risqué pictures of each other, they’d need a camera at his place anyway.
“What’s wrong?”
She turned around and smiled. “On second thought, let’s head to the electronics store first. I’ve been meaning to upgrade my camera and get one of those headset thingies.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE following week, Alvares “Blue” Curacao showed up at Black Arts on time with his instructors—two men and one woman. He bowed and then offered his hand. “Hachidan Black. Thank you for this opportunity.”
It seemed strange to hear his belt rank mentioned since Ronin was used to being called Sensei at the dojo. “My pleasure. Have a seat, and everyone can introduce themselves before we get started.”