“What?”
“A spa.”
Mark stopped for a second to take in JJ’s reaction. When JJ’s face scrunched, Mark started to pace.
“A spa?” JJ asked.
“A full-service day spa. Mani. Pedi. Hair. Fingers. Meditation. Whatever it is people do in places like that, I want in.”
“Mark, that’s . . . insane.”
Mark rolled his eyes in the most dramatic fashion I’d seen since Ellie turned eight. “It’s not insane, JJ! It’s good business. Crazy people are hated all the time for their progressive ideas.”
“A spa? In Pineville? Population 100?”
“It’s a business idea, not a cultural revolution.” Mark threw himself into a chair. “The people in Pineville are way too wound up. They could use a few massages. Pineville is adorable, right? A cozy little mountain town. What better advertising is there for a place to relax? This could create more traffic, which would boost the economy. It’s so close to Jackson City that we have a guaranteed funnel from . . .”
Mark trailed off as he jogged to his desk in the other room and grabbed a piece of paper. Then he came back to the table to frantically scribble on it. There was more space to be agitated behind his desk, but he seemed glued to JJ. I tilted my head to the side, a syrupy piece of pancake on the end of my fork.
How interesting.
“Is he always like this?” I whispered to JJ.
JJ nodded with a sigh. “It’s worse when he’s cooped up like this in the winter, though. Mark very spontaneously bought a lot on his own last year. Normally we’ve done our business ventures together, but this time he used his own cash. He’s trying to figure out what to do next.”
“Obviously any good spa has a salon—” Mark continued, this time slashing lines across the piece of paper. A few scrawled numbers came next, then something that wasn’t legible. Perhaps a list.
“It won’t turn a profit for years, Mark,” JJ said. “You’ll have a steep build-out.”
“True. Good point. Heavy build-out.”
“You sound like you’ve done this before,” I murmured.
JJ nodded. “He always has ideas.”
“Okay, fine,” Mark muttered. He scribbled something on the next page. “What if I start it as a hair salon and eventually grow the offerings? Reduces the build-out and decreases time to profit. Millie Blaine has been looking for a new space since the previous salon owner shut down and left town.”
“You’re going to build a three thousand square foot building for a salon?” JJ asked as he peered at Mark’s scribbles.
“No, a spa!”
JJ muttered something unintelligible in response while he scooped a few pancakes onto his plate. The smell of butter and syrup lay thick on the air now. The banter bounced back and forth between them like a ping-pong ball.
Fascinating. So this was the Bailey brothers in their natural habitat. I chewed on a piece of pancake as I watched. For having been made on a hot plate, these were delicious.
“Opening a spa would seriously cut into your plans for next year,” JJ said.
“I won’t run the spa,” Mark mumbled, deep in thought. “Someone else will. I’m just funding and giving the initial push. I’ll need a manager.”
“He wants to go full mountain man,” JJ said to me as an aside. “Beard, attitude, flannel, everything. He said it was his goal next year to finally realize it. He just needs a little more guaranteed income to make it happen.”
“A man can only dream,” I said wryly.
JJ waved Mark back to his seat. “Mark, eat breakfast. Keep thinking on it. You’ll have to round up some investors, anyway, so let the idea simmer.”
Mark rubbed a hand over his scruffy face. He tossed the pen away and shoved the papers under a plate JJ had set out for him. “Fine. You’re right. But keep thinking on it. I’m willing to bet the idea grows on you. You survived the night, Lizzy?”
“Thanks to your hospitality, yes.”
“You can stay with us anytime you drive your car off a cliff.”
I snorted into my coffee.
Mark winked. Several minutes passed in companionable, hungry silence. Mark flipped through his phone, muttering under his breath, spitting out details on the weather. JJ seemed lost in thought as he stared at the top of the table. The pancakes disappeared quickly to their wolfish appetite.
Mark swore at his phone when the internet failed, then stood up. “Thanks, Lizbeth. Breakfast was delicious. We’ll see how the weather does later today. I might be able to take you home. More likely I’ll take you tomorrow when I leave for a business meeting.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
He stalked out of the room, cursing the gods of mountain internet. I watched JJ slowly unwind in the aftermath.
“When did you guys get internet, anyway?” I asked.
“A couple months ago,” said JJ, still shaking his head. “It’s actually not too bad. Faster than I expected it to be when Netcast announced they were expanding out here in the canyon. Does seem to be hit-or-miss in bad weather. But it’s really letting Mark go full steam ahead with his expansion plans.”
“Oh, is that why you guys haven’t been in the Frolicking Moose as much lately?” I teased with a grin. “I was afraid you’d found a new favorite coffee shop.”
He shot me a quizzical look, like he was surprised I’d noticed, and I scrambled to change the subject.
“What do you do while Mark does . . . all this?” I asked casually. My coffee mug half-covered my face. Not only was I hesitant to ask, but I didn’t have a book to hide behind. Coffee was the next best thing.
JJ froze. I held my breath.
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t look back at me. “Ah . . . stuff here and there.”
“Oh. Prep for summer campers?”
“Sort of.”
Silence fell around us, which gave me ample time to study him. His hair was tied out of his face. He wore a pair of
