Look but Don't Choke

Chapter 17

          "You were doing well this previous month. Better than the last that's for certain. But what are these expenses here?" My accountant pressed one manicured finger to the dismal withdrawal currently missing from Taste Teas' account.

           I cringed. "I had to pay for the car. I had a sudden...breakdown."

           "Evie, how many times have I told you not to spend company money on personal expenses? You need to be using the money left over each year to reinvest in the business so that you can boost your current income."

           "It was an emergency." I'd met her as a timid freshman when we had roomed together in the university housing. I'd been enamored by this woman who was so unlike me; dark, lovely, classy, and beautiful. In my youth it had been my mission to unlock the secret of the sway of her hips or the trouble-free pitch of her laughter or most importantly that confidence that had made me envy how easily she could lull men under her spell.

           "What kind of emergency cost you nearly one thousand dollars? Why didn't your insurance cover it?" Her normally sultry voice didn't lose its magnetism even as she chastised me.

          "Long story."

          "Are you saving money from your check every month like I suggested?" She hadn't changed since then only gotten surer of herself; but then she'd say the same for me.

           "Well...sometimes." I started squirming in my seat.

            "That would really help you when you need money not related to Taste Teas. Do you have a plan to pay back what you borrowed from yourself?"

            "Of course..." Not.

             "And when you pay it back will you please let me invest a portion of it? I can help you get this place franchised in five years. Seven tops. And we need to talk about home ownership too. When are you gonna move out of that dump apartment and into a home? You could use more assets than just Taste Teas and that tore up car."

              "I was thinking about a coffee cart, actually," I said changing the subject.

              "A cart?" Her face just barely flickered with the tiniest hint of condescension.

              "Yeah. Taste Teas does good with the foot traffic over here on the north side of the university, but the east side of the campus is lacking in a good coffee place."

              "So you want to go mobile? It has potential. I'll make a note to look into the permits, but I still think you're not thinking big enough. Imagine a brick and mortar Taste Teas on the other side of town. And you, middle-aged and able to travel while your managers do all the real work."

              "I'm not ready for all that yet, Alice."

              "I understand." She ran a hand through the long black hair that framed her face and lay gently on her shoulders in semi-thick locs—a process she had started in college. "Anyway what I really wanted to talk about was the expenses here that you haven't explained. When you write out who the money goes to on the statements, it just says 'The Raggedy Man'."

              I snorted.

             "What's so funny?" she asked.

              "Nothing, he's cool."

              "He's cool?" she raised an eyebrow; a gesture that spoke to her astuteness. "He's the handyman I take it."

               I nodded.