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“You’re fucking brilliant at your job, Polly. You should be a business advisor.”
“I am. That’s why we started this collective. For exactly this.”
We find our seats at a table with the other four women, and I sit next to my sister. Rem and Erin are across from us, and it seems Abbi, Summer, and Chase are off mingling somewhere.
“Have you thought of taking this outside of Bitterroot Valley?” I ask Polly and Erin.
“Yes,” the two women say at the same time.
“We already have some interest in Missoula and Bozeman,” Erin explains. “And I think my cousins are looking into starting up a collective in Seattle.”
“We are writing up bylines, trademarking the name and logo, things like that,” Polly continues as Erin nods in agreement. “There are legalities and the challenges of making sure that the different branches are led by women with strong ethics and a passion for helping others.”
“It would be best if we could sell franchises,” Erin says, tapping her chin. “So we’re not legally held responsible for every single city that wants to participate.”
“I was thinking about that,” Millie says as Abbi, Summer, and Chase join us. “I think we could handle most of the branches in Montana, but outside of that, we’d need to sell franchises. There are so many legalities to think about, and this way, we don’t have to put in that kind of work. We all have businesses of our own already. It would be a lot to handle.”
“You could hire a staff,” I suggest, and all eyes turn to me. “If you wanted to keep it in-house, that is.”
“We don’t generate much money,” Abbi reminds me thoughtfully. “Really only enough for the Collective to pay for itself. We sell tickets to the monthly meetings, just to cover the meal and a drink. The speakers donate their time. Even the ticket price for tonight was just enough to cover dinner, the band, decorations, and such. Erin and Remington donated the facility for the night, which is amazing, by the way.”
“Isn’t it great?” Erin asks, all smiles as she leans in to kiss Rem.
“I kind of like where Ryan’s going with this,” Summer says, tapping her gorgeous white-tipped nails on the table. “We could turn this into a charity situation where we donate to women’s causes. We could have online courses, memberships, and things like that so that it could generate enough money to hire a couple of people and to donate to causes that lift up women. That’s the whole point of this, after all.”
The five women look at each other and then smile.
“We’re going to discuss this further,” Polly decides. “This week. For now, let’s table it and have fun.”
“Good plan,” Erin replies with a nod.
“I do have one businessy thing to announce,” Summer says. “Bitterroot Valley Nursery has been so happy with having cut flowers available in their store while I’ve been based out of there until my shop is rebuilt that they’ve asked me to keep a small kiosk there, and Sharla has agreed to manage it. So, I’m officially a chain.”
“That’s amazing,” Polly exclaims and jumps up to run over and hug Summer. “You didn’t tell me!”
“It was just finalized today,” Summer says with a laugh.
“To badass women,” Remington says, holding up his glass of whiskey. “I’m kind of afraid of them.”
“Here, here,” I reply with a laugh. “To badass women.”
“I heard last night was fun,” Jake says the next morning as he and I have breakfast in my office. I’m sitting behind my desk, and Jake is in the chair in front of it. I want that damn table from Chase.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Russ’s mom got home while we were still playing last night, and she said it was pretty wicked. She said her husband got to meet Drew Montgomery. You know, the football coach.”
“I know Drew,” I reply with a smile. “Did her husband mention that he got to meet London Ambrose Montgomery, the owner of that team?”
Jake eyes me and takes a bite of his bagel. “Not that I know of.”
“See, that’s the problem.”
“It’s a problem that he likes the football coach?”
“No, it’s a problem that he doesn’t acknowledge that Drew’s wife, who was successful before she met him, was also there, and is an impressive woman, as well. That he wasn’t excited to meet her.”
“I think he just likes football.” Jake narrows his eyes. “Wait, is this a lesson about respecting women and stuff?”
