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“My brothers and I would have contests on who could sell the most extra stuff,” Vi said, making quotation marks with her fingers. “But don’t ask me to speak Spanish.”

“What?”

“Even though I am Hispanic I understand very little Spanish and speak even less.”

“Oh wow. Do your parents speak it?”

“Not much. I wish I knew it now.”

“You must have managed your own Spec’s stores after working for them all this time,” Cory said.

“I did, but I got into sales so I didn’t have to be at the same store all the time. And now, I enjoy going to other businesses and bringing them into Spec's world.”

“What will you do when you’re VP?” Cory asked.

“Well…”

“Come on, I know you’ve thought about it,” Cory encouraged her.

“I want to focus on the stores. Which leads me to a question for you,” Vi said, peering into Cory’s eyes.

Cory raised her eyebrows and waited.

“I might want to hang out at your store sometime to get an idea of your customers and what you’re selling,” Vi said.

Cory furrowed her brow. “Wouldn’t you want to do that at Spec’s stores?”

“Yes, but sometimes it’s good to see what other stores are selling.”

“Oh.” Cory nodded. “So you wouldn’t want to be doing it to spend time with me?”

A big smile spread across Vi’s face. “That might be another reason.”

“You wouldn’t be taking sales away from me, would you?” Cory eyed her cautiously. “I might have a soft spot for you, but that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of me, Violet.”

14

Vi gasped. “I’d never take advantage of you!” She felt a pain in her heart that Cory would think she’d do something like that.

“Hey, I was just teasing.”

“I’ll admit, going to places where you already had accounts wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but Cory, I didn’t know,” Vi said apologetically. “You know as well as I do that you have to go into these bars and try to make them a better deal than the current one they have. That’s just the way it is.”

“I know that. All of the places I’m selling to were buying from someone else.”

Vi tilted her head and furrowed her brow. “You don’t think I knew where you were selling and went there on purpose, do you?”

“No! I never thought that.”

“When you saw me here at The Neon Rose, I was following up. Talia didn’t tell me who her supplier was. She just said she was happy with the deal she had. I would’ve never come here if I’d known it was your account,” Vi said adamantly.

Cory studied her for a moment and smiled. “Really? Hmm… Well, I’m glad you did come here that night because I got to have a drink with you on my birthday.”

Vi grinned. “And make your birthday wish come true, don’t forget that.”

Cory chuckled. “I had to work for it, but are you saying you’re finally my friend?”

Vi leaned in and said quietly, “I don’t go around kissing women who aren’t my friends.”