Sophia felt herself smile for the first time all week. A real smile that wasn’t forced for investors or employees. “Hi, I’m Sophia. My car broke down on the way to a blind date I didn’t want to go on.” Jake’s grin matched hers. “Hi, I’m Jake. I stopped to help a stranger so I’d be late to a blind date I also didn’t want to go on.”
Harper appeared with a coffee pot. “Can I get you two started?” And Sophia and Jake both said “coffee” at the exact same time, looked at each other, and started laughing again. And maybe, just maybe, this night wasn’t going to be a disaster after all.
Two hours disappeared like they were nothing. And Sophia couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat somewhere without checking her phone every five minutes or thinking about work deadlines. But Jake had this way of making everything else just fade into the background. They talked about everything and nothing, the kind of conversation that flows easy when you’re not trying to impress someone. And she found herself laughing at his stories about the ridiculous things people brought into his garage thinking they could be fixed with duct tape and prayer.
“I had a guy last month bring in a transmission held together with zip ties and actual chewing gum,” Jake said. Sophia nearly spit out her coffee. “I’m sorry, chewing gum? Like the kind you chew?” Jake nodded completely serious. “Big Red cinnamon flavor. I could smell it from ten feet away. He looked me dead in the eye and said his buddy told him it would work temporarily.” Sophia was laughing so hard tears were forming. “What did you tell him?”
Jake grinned. “I told him his buddy was an idiot and sold him a rebuilt transmission at cost because I felt bad for him.” Sophia leaned back in the booth studying him. “You do that a lot, don’t you? Help people even when it costs you.” Jake shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “My dad always said, ‘You can either be rich or you can sleep at night.’ And I’d rather sleep at night.”
Something in Sophia’s chest did this weird twisting thing because she’d spent the last two years surrounded by people who’d sell their grandmother for a good quarterly return. And here was this guy who fixed transmissions at cost and stopped for strangers in snowstorms. “What about you?” Jake asked, flagging Harper down for more coffee refills. “What’s it like running a fashion company?”