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from me, his long legs bumping mine beneath the table.
"This place is an icon. I used to come here with my friends in high school a lot. It's been here
for years."
I pick up my folder, busying myself in looking through the papers inside so he won't see how
flustered I am. Gabe has agreed to help me but he's made it pretty clear that friends is all we'll ever
be. I have to stop blushing and stammering like a schoolgirl around him or he's going to change his
mind about helping me. If I'm ever going to prove to everyone that I can do this, I need his help.
Gabe peers at me. "Are you okay? You have dark circles under your eyes. You look
exhausted."
I have to laugh. Honesty seems to be the thing that binds us together. "Is that your line today? I
thought you were supposed to be charming?"
"Charm doesn't work on you. You cured me of trying that the first day we met. You'll always
get the truth from me." He smirks and sits back in the booth.
I roll my eyes and hand him the two-page document. "Here's the budget I drew up."
Based on Eli's advice, I used online software to create the budget. The first page is the
overview with a small graph and the second page contains detail on all the expenses.
"How did you come up with these numbers?" Gabe flips the page and looks at the detailed list
of expenditures.
"Some of them are just rough estimates. But for the things like cleaning and construction, I got
quotes from local businesses on how much they would charge for those services."
"Good. It's best to get as close as possible on the expenses. I can't tell you how many times I've
been blindsided on how much things cost running the shop. How much contingency have you built in?"
We're interrupted when Patsy brings two glasses of water and my iced tea. "Hi, what can I get
you to drink handsome?"
Gabe gives her that blinding smile and I can practically see her melting next to the table.
"Water is fine for now. But I'll have a cheeseburger and fries. Sasha?"
"I'll have the same. And a chocolate shake, too."
As soon as she leaves, I take a long drink from my iced tea. Gabe watches in amusement as I
drain almost half of it away.
"Are you okay?"
I push the glass back. "No, I'm not okay. What is a contingency? And how was I supposed to
know to get one?"
I'm in the middle of what feels like a full-scale panic attack when Gabe puts his hand over
mine. Immediately I stop breathing.
 Relax. You've already done the number one thing any business owner can do if they aren't sure
about something."
"What's that?"
He leans over and says, "Ask for help."
His calm, rational demeanor makes the panic recede. My hand flexes slightly under his and
when I turn my hand over, our palms meet. That has my pulse increasing for another reason
altogether.
He leans back and the cool air against my exposed palm reminds me where we are. I look
around but luckily no one noticed my little freak out session.
"So, what is a contingency?"
Gabe points a finger at the bottom of the budget. "It s usually the last line item under expenses.
It's basically just a number that you estimate for emergencies. A cushion. Let's say that the cleaning
you've budgeted at three hundred dollars actually ends up costing you five hundred dollars."
"I'd be two hundred dollars over budget, right?"
His eyes glow in approval. "Exactly. But if you have a one thousand dollar contingency, then
your bottom line would still be okay. You'd actually be eight hundred dollars in the black."
Patsy appears then with our food, so I push the files to the side of the booth. Then she
reappears a few minutes later with my chocolate shake. Gabe glances at me and then takes a bite of
his burger.
"Chocolate therapy already?"
I pause with the straw halfway to my mouth. "How did you know about that?"
"You told me, remember?" His eyes twinkle with laughter as he takes another bite of his
burger.
Mentally thinking back to all the things we talked about on the rooftop that night, I shake my
head. "You remember that? I have to watch what I say around you."
"Paying attention to people is one of the things I do best. And you should definitely watch what
you say around me. I have a long history of using the things I learn about people against them."
His reference to his past makes me wonder. Just who is he trying to warn off? Me or himself?
* * * * *
After we finish our burgers, Gabe takes out a pen and starts putting check marks next to the
items he thinks I can trim. His suggestions line up with the same things I've been thinking. Cleaning,
instruments and construction are the main areas where I think I have some wiggle room.
"Most construction estimates are heavy on the labor costs. But if you can find someone willing
to help for a lower rate, then you'd have your stage built for a fraction of the cost and you could use
the money budgeted for that elsewhere."
When Patsy appears with the check, she lingers for a few minutes making small talk while
clearing our dishes. Her gaze is all over Gabe and she's asking him so many questions. Where he's
from, what he's doing in New Haven. If he's my boyfriend.
I choke on the last sip of my chocolate shake. "Um, no he's not & we're not."
Gabe rescues me. "We're friends." He winks at her. "And now we're friends too, Patsy."
Patsy gives him a saucy smile. "I could use a few friends like you." Then she sashays off with
her tray balanced on her shoulder, an extra swing in her step.
Even though I understand why getting involved with Gabe is a bad idea, it still sucks to watch
other women flirt with him. Imagine how much worse it would be if you were dating. Gabe is the
kind of guy who attracts women without even trying and a lot of those women wouldn't care if he was
taken or not.
What if he hadn't been such a gentleman the night we met? I'm not fooling myself that he'd have
fallen instantly in love with me. Chances are pretty good that the same thing would have happened
with Gabe that happened with all my other relationships. I would have gotten attached and he would
have left.
Same story, different ending. Except I'd be sitting across from him hurt and angry while
watching him flirt with another woman right in front of me.
Mentally rolling my eyes, I pull out my wallet to pay for our meals. Before I can even open it,
Gabe drops several twenties on the table.
"What are you doing?" I hold up my wallet. "This was a business meeting so I should pay."
He ignores me and pulls on his leather jacket. Whistling, he makes a show of looking around
as though he can't hear anything.
Despite my attempts to be annoyed, a laugh finally escapes. "Gabe, I'm serious. You're doing
me a favor so I should pay."
He makes a face. "Okay, that's never happening. And the second
most-important rule of business is, if someone is trying to give you money, let them."
Shaking my head, I stand when he does and slip into my coat. He gathers all the papers that
we've been looking over and slides them back into the manila folder. He's taking this business mentor
thing really seriously. I'm sure he's got plenty of other things he should have been doing today but
instead he's here helping me.
It's kind of sweet.
"So, where is this little club going to be?" Gabe walks beside me out to the parking lot.
I pause next to my car, suddenly self-conscious about how rough it looks. Car payments eat up
a lot of money and I learned early that if I wanted to survive as a starving artist, nice cars were out of
the question. My eye is immediately drawn to Gabe s sleek, black Audi on the far end of the lot. I
don t know much about cars but I m sure it s expensive. My old clunker may not look like much but
it's paid for. And that makes it very attractive to me. And whatever Zack did to it has it running like
new.
"It's right across the street from here." I point to the buildings directly across. "This part of
town has some of the oldest buildings in New Haven. Those used to be row houses and then they
were converted to commercial spaces about twenty years ago. The landlord has been struggling to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]