Alpha Billionaire Series
Coming Home Chapter 11

MAKENZIE

Present, six weeks after the funeral...

"Where do you want these?" Mom asked as she pulled open a case of ribbons.

"I think along that wall." I pointed to a large section of empty shelving that hadn't been designated for anything yet.

"I'm so proud of you, Makenzie. You took a dream, made it a plan. And look at you. You're really doing it."

"Thanks. But I couldn't be where I am right now without you. I couldn't do it without you. And I certainly couldn't do it without Gloria."

"I was surprised to learn that Gloria liked to quilt as much as you do. I never knew."

"Just because you don't like to do craft projects, Mom, doesn't mean your friends don't."

"I guess. She never mentioned it, we always talked about tennis mostly."

I shook my head. Mom talked about tennis to the exclusion of listening to other people.

"You act like it's such a strange thing to want to make quilts. It's making art and playing with fabric."

"I've never really understood art. Well, you have always been the creative type. After all, you studied Art History at Mary Brooks College."

I had graduated with a degree I wasn't sure how I would use. They didn't have programs in costuming or fabric arts; Art History was the closest option available.

When Gloria mentioned wanting to own and run a quilt shop, I jumped at the opportunity to go into business with her. And now we were setting everything up with plans of opening in a month.

I carefully slid the open blade of the box cutter down the middle of the tape on the large box in front of me. I couldn't just slam the blade down and rip open the box, I had to be careful of the contents. I gasped as the box opened revealing the treasure inside. Bolts and bolts of brightly colored quilting cotton, wrapped in plastic waited for me.

The lush colors and whimsical patterns made me happy just to look at them. I wanted to pet and play with the fabric immediately. If I stopped and did that every time a new shipment came in, this quilt shop would never get set up. The front door opened.

"I'm sorry we aren't open for business," I said without looking up.

"I hope not. It's a bit of a mess in here." Gloria, my new business partner said. "Have you been getting a lot of walk-ins? Oh, is that the new Kate Bassett fabric?" She distracted herself when she saw the fabric piled next to me. "Yeah, it's yummy, isn't it? I said, running my hand over the plastic-wrapped fabric that had begun to pile up on the massive white laminate cutting table in the middle of the shop.

"There's so much of it. I don't know what I'll make first. I think that's going to be both the best and the worst part about owning my own quilt shop. I'll be able to play with all the fabric, but then I'll be so sad I have to cut it into pieces and sell the fabric. I won't be able to take it home with me," Gloria said.

"Isn't that the whole point of opening the quilt shop so that we can share all of this with other people?"

Gloria nodded. "That and to have an excuse to buy bolts of fabric."

She picked up a bolt that I had just unloaded, a very modern take of a fairy tale design created in bright fuchsia and hot lime and other crazy, wonderful colors. Gloria held it as if it was a beloved teddy bear. "It's just so perfect. I've always wanted to be able to just buy a bolt of fabric and not know what I was going to do with it."

"Well, now you do know what you're going to do with it," I said. "You're going to sell it. And make as many sample quilts as you want."

For me, having all the supplies and all the fabric I wanted at my fingertips for creating was what appealed the most.

"Where do you want these?" Gloria's son Ethan grunted as he carried in an armful of boxes.

"Depends on what they are," I said.

"Those are the sewing machines for the classroom," Gloria said. "Put those in the classroom area."

"Where?"

She pointed to the back of the long room that was to become our shop. We hadn't finished determining the details of how the shop was going to be set up, but we had sectioned off the classroom area with a line of blue painter's tape on the wall and floor. We still had shelving to assemble and other display furnishings to bring in. The front half of the space was going to be our retail shop with fabric and all the notions someone could possibly want for quilt making. The back third we were sectioning off for teaching space.

Gloria and I agreed we wanted to bring in big name designers for workshops. For the first year, we would be the ones teaching classes, but the plan was that as soon as we could, we would book someone from our personal wish list of designers we would love to study with. "Does Nantucket really need another quilt shop? After all, how many people really sew?" Mom asked.

"You're a riot, Jennifer. It's not just little old grandmothers quilting. Kate Bassett is only in her thirties, and she's covered in tattoos. Her fabric is a limited edition, and after it's no longer available it sells for hundreds of dollars a yard. It's a whole subset of the industry." Ethan grunted as he set another load of boxes down with a loud thump.

"Sh," I lightly chastised him. "Ainsley is napping, don't wake her up."

"Sorry Mak. She's out like a light," he said.

"You can never have enough quilt shops," I said, returning to the conversation.

Ethan joined us and leaned against the cutting table. "With Ainsley asleep, I can't start assembling the tables. What do you want me to do now?"

"I think you can take off for a few hours' sweetie. She won't be asleep all day."

Gloria ruffled his hair.

"You're such a good young man. I don't know how all of this will get set up without you," Mom bragged on him.

"Thanks." Ethan looked down at the ground. If he were any younger, I would have expected him to kick at something on the floor to avoid the embarrassment.

I agreed. Ethan was a good guy, but I didn't want to embarrass him further. "What are your plans for the rest of summer?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "You'll need me plenty around here."

"But that doesn't mean you'll not have much time for other things, don't you?" I asked.

I looked back to where Ainsley was asleep in the playpen.

"What are you thinking, Mak?" Gloria asked.

I shrugged. It was a wild hair of an idea. "We still haven't settled in since the move, what with jumping right into opening the store. I haven't begun the process of hiring a nanny."

"I told you we can call the agency," Mom interjected.

"I know, but I still would need to interview the candidates from the agency and run my own background checks."

"We never worried about any of that when you were children. We simply trusted who they sent over."

"I know, you've said. But I'm not you, and I'm looking for hiring a long-term nanny, not a babysitter for the evening. There's a difference."

"I don't know how I would fit in there. I can't do the interviews for you."

"No, but you could be the nanny until I have time. I mean, Ainsley already likes you, you're good with her."

Ethan put up his hands in a double stop gesture. "I don't know about that."

"I'm willing to pay you the agency rates. And I don't know anyone else who would be looking for a job that would end when it's time to head back to school. Anyone I know would be on the island vacationing for the season." Ethan looked back at the sleeping toddler. "Nanny? I don't want people to hear her call me Nanny."

"She doesn't have to call you nanny, it's a job title, not a name. If you can get her to call you Ethan, I'm good with that."

"A male nanny?" Mom asked.

"Childcare is not a gendered role. If Ethan thinks he might have kids someday, this will give him a leg up."

Gloria started giggling. "We could call you a Manny."

Ethan pulled out his phone and leaned back on the cutting table. "Were you serious when you said you'd pay me agency rates?"

He held out his phone to me. There was a number on the screen.

"This is what an agency that serves Martha's Vineyard is charging per hour. "Are you seriously willing to pay me this?"

Ethan's mother grabbed the phone from his hand and looked at the rate. "She is not paying you that much. That's ridiculous. The nannies at that agency make half that if not that much." "But she said..."

I took the phone from Gloria and looked at the amount. I didn't know what I was expecting to pay, this did seem a little steep, but it is what I said I would pay.

"Yeah. It won't be a full-time job, because there will be times Ainsley can be here, and I will be nanny shopping once the store is open and running."

Ethan nodded. "Sounds like a good deal to me."

I held my hand out to him. He slid his hand into mine and we shook on it.

"How soon can you start?"