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That made sense. And it also made Morgan feel a hundred percent better.

She tilted her flute towards Vanessa in a silent salute.

“You know something, you’re pretty wise,” she said.

Vanessa rolled her eyes.

“Oh, god! Not you too!”

Chapter 33

The next evening, Chloë was walking the fifty yards from her parents’ house back to her place. Stomping, was more like it.

Why do parents have to be so…parental?

She was ruminating on this particular point because she had just discussed becoming a partner in the new coffeeshop with her folks and instead of being happy, instead of sharing in her excitement, they had immediately started in with the questions and concerns.

Was a business plan drawn up?

“No, me and Vanessa still have to work on that.”

How much money was Vanessa expecting Chloë to put in for her stake in the shop?

“I don’t know yet.”

Was she dropping out of school?

“Of course not!”

Was she truly prepared to take on such responsibilities?

“It what I want to do, of course I am!”

How much did she trust Vanessa?

“Dudes, I trust her with my life!”

It was that last question which truly irked Chloë. Okay, sure, her parents hadn’t gotten to know Vanessa as well as Chloë had over the past several years, but having anybody question Vanessa’s trustworthiness was infuriating. It also implied that Chloë was capable of being duped into something shady only to wake up one morning to discover that Vanessa and Megan had run off to Cabo with her money.

Inside her tiny home now, Chloë plopped down on the sofa and blew out a frustrated breath. Rationally, she knew her parents were just doing what good parents do and so she knew she ought to cut them some slack. Nonetheless it was still annoying.

However, their question about the money was a good one and did present a problem.

According to the rules of her trust fund, she couldn’t touch that money until she turned twenty-five. That wouldn’t happen until May. The only exception was for financial hardship and buying a part-ownership in a coffeeshop wasn’t going to qualify.

She did have money saved in the bank. Even though she didn’t earn a very high salary working for Vanessa, her parents didn’t charge her rent for the tiny house and they even covered the utility bills for it. Her only real monthly expense was for the insurance for her car—which itself was fully-paid

for, her mother signing it over to Chloë when she had gotten bored with it and wanted a Lexus.

But, would what Chloë had in savings cover what was needed to buy into the shop? If it wasn’t enough money, would Vanessa and Megan rescind their offer of being a partner? Would she able to get a loan from the bank to take care of it, then use a portion of her trust fund to pay the loan off early?

Aargh!

So many questions! But she truly hoped she could figure it out because every time she thought about becoming part-owner of the new coffeeshop—whatever it ended up being named—it excited her almost as much as thinking about sex.

***

“Almost as much as thinking about sex?” Morgan asked with a teasing lilt in her voice when Chloë had her on the phone a few minutes later. “I must not be doing something right.”