Sunny squeezes my arm. It pulls me from my stupor and reminds me that she and Kierst are still here, likely gauging my reaction.
“I know she’s intense,” Sunny says, “but she’s probably the smartest person I’ve ever known. Take everything she said today as a compliment. I’ve accompanied her to a few of these meetings over the last year. Usually, she walks in, visibly gags, and immediately walks out. If you have any desire to franchise this place or expand, she’s the one to do it with. You can trust me on that.”
I manage a nod. Expand Wilde Beauty? I’m not entirely sure if the double-knotted state of my stomach is because I’m exhilarated or terrified.
Sometime during my mild panic attack, Sunny also leaves, although her exit is far less dramatic. She abandons me to a customer-free store with only my sister around to verify that the last ten minutes have actually happened.
“Holy shit, Gems.” Kierst whacks me kind of hard in the chest. “I feel like we’re in a movie. Like, when does something like that actually happen in real life? What are you going to do?”
This is a huge deal. Something I would have only admitted to wanting in my wildest dreams.
“I think I need to talk to Dax.” I reach for my phone on the counter in front of me, but Kiersten moves like a ninja, slapping her hand on top of it first.
“No, Gemma. You need to go home tonight, pour yourself a glass of wine, possibly take a hot bath, and think about what you want.”
I don’t like her tone or the snippy emphasis on you. “Do you have a problem with him? Or are you still pissed off at me?”
“Neither. I barely know the guy, and I forgave you when I finished your latte. What I want is for you to figure out your own opinion first.”
“Why?”
She opens her mouth to speak but pauses. It hangs there open with no sound coming out until she takes a deep breath that makes her nose hiss. “Because you’re absolutely terrible at making life decisions, Gemma.”
Okay. “I’m glad you held back to spare my feelings.”
She shrugs, not arguing with me. “Deny it all you want, but every time you’re faced with something big in your life, you start making lists of things that can go sideways instead of trusting in your own abilities to make things happen. Then you choose the boring safe route.”
“I do not.”
I don’t.
I make plenty of risky decisions. Every single day. This morning I decided to bring back skinny jeans, all on my own. Besides, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to overanalyze major, life-changing decisions. That’s normal adult behavior.
Kierst’s soft, open mom look is gone. Her arms are folded across her chest. She’s not trying to hide the fact that she’s annoyed.
“Humor me for a second. I’ve been thinking about you and this other timeline you are supposedly from, and I have a few theories kicking around in my head. I just want to see if one of them is right.”
“Fine.”
“You said you work for Eaton’s Drug Mart? As a buyer, right?”
I have no idea where she’s taking this. “Yes.”
“And you love it?”
It’s totally a trap. “I wouldn’t say love. It’s fine.”
“Well, the Gemma I know would hate working for someone else. She’s ambitious and smart, so I’m very curious to hear why you pursued that job.”
She doesn’t ask an actual question, but it’s clear from the eyeballs she’s giving me that it’s now my turn to fill in the blanks. She will be sorely disappointed when she hears there was no big drama behind my decision. Yes, four years ago, I thought of starting Wilde Beauty. I had a little bit of money tucked away, a small inheritance from when Aunt Livi’s older sister passed away. Then the job offer came along. I remember feeling uncertain about it. I only applied because one of Stuart’s friends worked at the company and offered to put my résumé on the top of the pile. I interviewed for the experience, and it went well. Then I guess I decided it was a better idea at some point.
“I applied, I got the job, and I thought it would be a good investment in my future.”
Kierst raises her brows half an inch. “You thought it would be a good investment.”
I think back again. That’s exactly what happened. Stuart was so excited for me when the offer came in. We went to a fancy dinner in Toronto. He thought it was the right move for my future. They had a solid benefits package and a generous annual allotment for retirement savings. I wrote the acceptance email during our Uber ride home.