Alison paused, clearly surprised. “Did you fill the applications out correctly?”

“Yes!” Emma took a deep breath. “I’m going to have to pass on buying Paw Pals.” It took everything she had to keep the emotion out of her voice.

Alison was just staring at her. “Or . . .”

Emma shook her head. “Or what?”

“Just how short are you?”

Emma had half of her estimated costs to take over the business, and that was only if she used the bulk of her insurance settlement.

Eyebrows raised, Alison was waiting for an answer.

“Half,” Emma said. “I have half of what I need.”

“Huh.” Alison walked the length of the place and then back again, standing in the center of the room to turn in a slow circle. “Huh,” she said again.

Emma and Hog looked at each other.

“I could get the other half,” Alison said.

“The other half of what?”

“The business costs.”

Emma gaped at her. “What does that even mean?”

“I’ve got business skills, good ones. And you, for whatever reason, have the intangible ability to make people like you. You always have. You inspire loyalty. You bring people and their pets into this business like flies to honey.”

Emma was boggled. “Did you hit your head or something?”

“We have opposite strengths that would actually complement each other. Plus, I make decent money. I’ve socked a bunch of it away because . . . well, no husband or kids, so what am I going to spend it on, you know?”

Emma shook her head in bafflement. “Are you saying you want to go into business with me?”

“Historically Paw Pals has done well and you have a solid business plan.”

“A second compliment in a row,” Emma said, truly stunned. “Are you morning drinking?”

“I just know a smart investment when I see one. Even if I don’t like you.”

“You have a job,” Emma pointed out.

“I do, and I love it. But I got into Armstrong Properties because I’m the CEO’s niece. And great as that is, I want to invest in something on my own as well.”

Emma laughed without mirth. “You do realize that this would never work between us.”

“You’d let pride come before the business of your heart?”

Emma looked at Hog, who’d gotten bored and slid to the floor and was already snoring. He was depending on her. If she couldn’t get a job, and she couldn’t get a business loan, what was next for them? Driving across the country to live on her retired parents’ sofa . . . She looked at Alison. “You’re serious about this.”

“Very.” Alison still stood in the middle of the room, hair perfect, makeup perfect, outfit perfect, looking every bit as sure of herself as she’d been in high school.

“Even if we set aside all the logical reasons why this wouldn’t work,” Emma said, “there’s also the emotional reason. My armor is humor. Your armor is to look perfect. That’s a lot for me to try to beat with only my wits.”

“You think I’m perfect?”

“I think you want everyone to believe it.”

Alison laughed. “You want to know just how not perfect I am? Everything I have right now is thanks to my uncle. Everything. Without him and Simon, I’d be nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly grateful to them, but like I said, this place . . .” She looked around. “This place would be mine alone.”

“Well, and mine,” Emma said dryly.

Alison waved that off as inconsequential and Emma had to laugh as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She held up a finger to Alison and pulled her cell out, answering it without looking at the screen. “Hello?”

Nothing.

She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the caller ID. Ned? Dammit. “What?”

Silence.

“Ned?”

“No. It’s . . . me,” Cindy said quietly. “I lost my phone. I used Ned’s to try and find it. I hit ‘Babe’ in his favorites.”

“And got me?” Emma asked in horror. “Seriously?”

Cindy’s only answer was a soft sniff.

Emma sighed. “Look, I meant it when I said I’m not interested in him anymore. He’s all yours.”

There was a beat of weighted silence. “I know how much I hurt you, Emma, and I want you to know I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’ve regretted it every single day since. I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry enough to do me a favor?”

“Yes,” Cindy said. “Anything.”

“Delete my number from his phone.” Emma disconnected and did what she’d asked Cindy to do, what she couldn’t believe she hadn’t yet done—she deleted Ned out of her phone.

But not Cindy.

“You’ve got a set, I’ll give you that,” Alison said with approval. “Where were we?”

Emma let out a breath. “Paw Pals. Out of morbid curiosity, what kind of a partner do you see yourself being?”

“A better one than the exes squared, I can promise you that. Plus, I’m awesome at numbers and marketing, and I like to work my ass off. And bonus—I have my current job, which I’m not giving up, so I’ll be mostly an invisible partner.”

“And in this crazy scenario, I’d do what exactly?” Emma asked.

“You’re the face, the day-to-day operations. And the people pleaser.”

Emma laughed. “I’m not a people pleaser anymore. And come on, you don’t even like me.”

“What does liking you have to do with making money?” Alison responded. “Think of it this way. What will you do if you don’t take my deal?”

Her parents’ short, uncomfortable couch flashed in Emma’s mind . . . “And what is this deal exactly?”

Alison smiled. “Fifty-fifty ownership, of course.”

Emma laughed. “No. Twenty-eighty, and once I pay down your loan on the same terms I’d have taken from the bank, you’re out.”

“Fifty-fifty ownership on the business or no deal.” Alison didn’t fidget, didn’t move, just held Emma’s gaze, her posture relaxed. Waiting. Patient.

Like a snake . . .

But the woman really did have sharp business sense and knew how to make money. Dammit. “This is never going to work unless we promise to be honest with each other.”