Page 15 of The Perfect Blend
"What's up, dog?" I asked gamely.
"Ah, nothing much. What's up with you?" She asked, laughing at her own awful joke. "Well, actually I know what's up with you since you left me an essay of a voice message the other night."
It was true. Once Zach had gone home, I had just been too hyped up to go to sleep, so instead I lay on my bed and sent a really long voice message to Zoe, rambling on about everything I was feeling. It maybe, ok definitely, hadn’t been confined only to the business opportunity, but to my more personal feelings about Zach too.
"Don't pretend you didn't love hearing it."
"Oh, I loved it. This is some rural boss babe stuff. A-grade gossip if I wasn’t sworn to secrecy as your best friend. Bummer.Anyway, now we just gotta spice up the romance side of this little situation and you are all set."
I could hear noises that sounded like brushing fur in the background. Time to change the subject.
"Who are you grooming today?" Zoe often called for chats whilst in the quieter stages of grooming.
“Percival Frost, the Samoyed. He's a very good boy and very handsome too.Yes, you are,” Zoe said, directing the last part to the dog that was no doubt standing on the grooming table looking at her adoringly. I could see it now. “But don't think I didn't notice you sidestepping my question, Miss Robin."
"I mean, it wasn't a question..."
“Sure, sure, but the romance?"
"I don't know," I said. "Sharon's not wrong about my history. I don't want another mistake, especially now with such a great business opportunity involved. I don’t want to make this complicated and muck everything up."
"OK, but Sharon's a little obsessed with your next potential heartbreak, when she should be focusing on her own husband.” I raised my eyebrows at that slightly savage read. She wasn’t wrong, but still, ouch. “Also,” Zoe continued, her voice softening earnestly. “She always looks for the negative in everything. In your voice message, you sounded so excited about it all. It’s been a year since your last relationship, and you’ve done a great job of focusing on yourself. Don’t miss taking a chance on something that excites you just because you're scared things will go wrong.”
I bit my lip as I took in her words. Zoe wasn’t always this serious, but when she was, it was always worth paying attention.
“Be careful, fine, but don't close yourself off,” she continued. “You deserve better than that. Pete was a cheating scumbag who broke your heart. That was bad enough, but don't let the fear of finding someone else like him interfere with your happiness, okay?"
Zoe was right, of course, she usually was. It made her a fantastic best friend who always managed to cut right to the heart of things.
"Okay,” I murmured. "Thanks Zoe."
"Anytime. I love you, hun!”
“Love you, too.”
“Naturally. Oh, hey! I heard about a Christmas market over in Buxton, and they have afestive grooming competition!” She sort of sang the last bit, her excitement was obvious. “Want to go with me and do some research for your market?"
I snorted. "Market research. Nice. When is it?"
"This coming Saturday. You can do all the planning for your market this week and then come with me to make sure you're not missing any tricks."
"You've sold me on it. Are you entering the competition?"
"Is the Pope Catholic?" She said, prompting a laugh from me.
"I feel sorry for all the other entrants, they’ve got no chance. Is Ruby as hyped as you?” Ruby, Zoe’s poodle, was the guinea pig for all of her grooming inspirations.
"Ruby is as cutting edge as me. She lovesfreshdesign, and is thrilled to be a part of the creation of an innovative new look." Zoe said, putting on the kind of voice you might expect a snobby art critic to have.
"Of course,” I replied in a suitably posh voice. “Well, I’d be a fool to miss her next foray into the world of fine pet grooming, so definitely count me in.”
"Perfect. I'll pick you up at 10!"
"Sounds great. See you then." I said, smiling as I hung up the phone.
∞∞∞
By the time Saturday came around, I was up to my eyes in market organisation. The week had flown by. It had been exciting to throw myself into a new project. I’d left Jamie largely to their own devices this week as I powered through my to-do list, and it seemed to work well for the both of us. Maybe in the past year I’d fallen into the comforting routine of running the shop and not realised that it wasn’t giving me the buzz it used to, and I wasn’t allowing any growth for my staff either with me hovering over them all the time. I was ready to be getting stuck into something new, developing my business more, or trying new things like this project. It felt electric to be working on something fresh.
