Grimoires and Where to Find Them Raconteur, Honor (read along books TXT) 📖

I was floored by the implications. After tasting them myself, I knew very well how delicious they were. They’d become immensely popular with the population, once tried.

Gibson let out a low whistle. “I certainly liked them. I told you I’d eaten my way through them before realizing what I’d done. How big of a scale are we speaking of?”

“I don’t know at this point. She’s drafting up a business plan, and I’m meeting with her this weekend to talk it over. She said she’d leave the product placement and advertising to me, but…I’m not really the guru for that. I can certainly tell people what all strawberries can be used for. But marketing?”

I saw her point and agreed. My Jamie has good common sense and isn’t the type to dive in without thinking the implications through.

“No, you’re not the right person to manage this. I strongly suggest you sit down with my parents. My family’s been running one business or another for decades now. They would know how to go about this.”

Jamie snapped her fingers. “Yes. Yes, that’s precisely who I need to run this by. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Likely because you were as stressed as we were yesterday.” Seaton regarded her with a thoughtful tap to his chin. “I do agree, the Davenforths would definitely be the right people to consult. I would even suggest having them run the business, unless you want to change career paths.”

Jamie made a face. “Uh, no. I realize it doesn’t look like it from your point of view, but I’m not an entrepreneur.”

I could make a very compelling argument against that statement. But I did realize that most of what she’d invented here was actually a reinvention of something she missed from Earth. Jamie was a woman who knew her strengths. She knew herself very well and was highly cognizant of where her true talents lay. And running a business wasn’t it.

“But, I mean, can I dump this on them? That hardly seems fair, either.”

Her objection was a sound one. “At the very least, discuss this with them. My father’s technically retired, I’m aware, but he’s also…restless.”

“Bored out of his freaking mind is how I would have put it.” Jamie rolled her eyes expressively. “I think he’s still going into the office regularly and driving people up the wall. You think this will be a good project for him, don’t you?”

“I do. And even if he’s not willing to take it on, he’d know who might. You can always hire a manager and an advertising firm to do this for you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s all a really good point.” She sighed, the exhalation one of relief. “I kept trying to figure out how to cram this into my schedule. I finally realized it’s too much for me to do on top of everything else.”

I sometimes barely saw her, day-to-day, that’s how busy she was. I understood why and didn’t fuss. I was relieved to see she wasn’t going to put yet another thing on her shoulders.

“Perhaps dinner with them this week? To talk it over? I can arrange it, if you wish.”

“Sure, poke your mom.”

I drew out my pad to do so, and our food arrived at that moment. As the server set our orders down in front of us, my stomach gave a happy rumble. The scent alone made my mouth water. I truly did love this restaurant.

Seaton fell to teasing. “Well, Jamie, I must say, if I had to pick the thing that would make you filthy rich, foreign fruit wouldn’t have been on my list.”

Jamie snorted. “Yeah, I didn’t anticipate a strawberry emporium, either. And who knows, maybe people here won’t be as strawberry obsessed as my people.”

We all shook our heads.

“I’m buying stock as soon as you’ve got a business set up,” Gibson informed her, and he looked quite serious about it.

I perked up a little. “Oh, stock. That’s an excellent suggestion. Yes, let me be an investor, as well.”

Seaton lifted a hand. “Me three.”

Jamie looked at the three of us with a quirked brow, torn between amusement and surprise. “I didn’t expect this to be a business meeting. I feel like a con artist with a get-rich-quick scheme.”

It did rather look that way on the surface, didn’t it? It amused me, too. But I had faith in this particular scheme. “Don’t leave us out of this, my dear. We’re all very invested in making sure this works.”

Gibson and Seaton lifted a glass in salute, and I clinked mine against theirs. We were solid in our agreement on this. “To strawberries!”

Jamie laughed, shaking her head. “You’re all weird. And thank God for it.”

We reconvened at the conference table, and I looked around expectantly, hoping someone had had a breakthrough during lunch. I’d been so busy talking strawberries with the guys that I honestly hadn’t thought about the case.

From the look on Niamh’s and Foster’s faces, they hadn’t thought of anything, either. But Gerring had a scheming expression, and he kept twiddling with his fingers as if entertaining an idea he wasn’t sure he should share.

Frankly, I’d take even a bad idea at this point. Anything to get the ball rolling. So, as I resumed my seat at the head of the table, I poked him. “Gerring. Out with it.”

He almost objected. His mouth opened to do it but then he closed it again, chewing on his bottom lip for a second before shrugging. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea…”

I waved him on, a little impatiently.

“But I kept thinking, if we can’t figure out how to find him, maybe we should encourage him to come to us?” Gerring looked around the table as he spoke, judging how his idea was being taken. “We know he’s after the Reaper’s Set. I don’t think that will change even after the disaster of what happened yesterday. Obsessed people don’t let go of things easily. And especially with