Page 101 of Just for Tonight

“What if you make yourself a job?”

“What?”

“Well, you probably post on social media about your love of clothes.”

“Of course! I have seventy thousand followers…”

I blink but she says this as if it’s no big deal. “They could become your customers if you sold the kind of vintage clothes you admire.”

She looks at me, astonished. “But I don’t know anything about running a business.”

“You know how to shop.”

“Of course.”

I’m making myself crazy here, trying to compel fruit to ripen, trying to convince my uncle to give my plan a chance and getting nowhere fast. Here’s a place I can show some kindness and distract myself from grapes.

If not from Jake.

In fact, Jake might be part of the solution. My spirits rise immediately.

“I can help you with the rest,” I say and her face lights. “First, you’re going to need a plan of what you’re going to sell and how you’re going to market it. You could start out with an online store, for example, and build your business before renting a storefront.”

“I could start by selling what’s in my closet,” she says with heat.

I’m surprised and it must show.

“Oh, I have awesome stuff. If the choice is between getting my car back and keeping my clothes, I want the car. I’ll need it to go to estate sales and garage sales to get more stock.” She frowns. “Actually, the car might not be the best choice. A little van would be better, so I could store clothes in the back. I could do pop-up markets and sell out of the van.” She smiles. “People could use it as a change room to try things on!” I’d give her a pad of paper but she starts tapping into her phone. “There’s a huge vintage show in Toronto twice a year. I could have a booth…”

I feel compelled to add a reality check. “How would you pay for it?”

“Right.” She grimaces. “First, I’ll go to the show and leave cards all over the place with my website. And I’ll make videos of myself modelling the clothes and post them on my socials. And maybe Mom doesn’t need all of her purses. I could go to the thrift store and see if they have anything worth having. And I’ll make an online store, but…” She stops to look at me. “I need a little bit of money to get started. I need to print cards and register a website domain and…”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Trying to find a job.”

“Get your ideas in order. Make as good a plan as you can, and we’ll go see someone about a little seed capital to get you started.”

“Who?”

“Your brother Jake.”

“Jake isn’t going to talk to me, not after what I said to him.”

But I think she’s wrong. I think what drives Jake crazy about Candace and her kids is that they never do anything themselves. He helped Candace. I’m willing to bet he’ll step up for Madison if she has a plan and asks for his help.

There’s one thing I need to know first, though.

“Just tell me that you weren’t the one who keyed his car.”

“It wasn’t me,” Madison says immediately, shaking her head. “It was Ethan and I didn’t even know until Jake was gone. It wasn’t me!”

I believe her, and that removes the one detail that could derail this idea.

“Let’s go to Toronto tomorrow and find out what Jake says,” I suggest. I do have a client to visit downtown so there’s a good excuse.

She looks wary. “Are you going to tell him first?”