What is that God awful noise and why am I on the living room floor? I look around trying to figure out where that offending noise is coming from and feel something vibrating under my butt. I am pulling the phone out from under me and it starts ringing again. The ringtone is Witchy Woman and I giggle to myself. Why is Zoe calling me so early?

I swipe the phone and bring it up to my ear. That was a bad mistake because Zoe immediately starts yelling at me about some nonsense message and a dog. “Wait Zoe, slow down. What in the Sam Hill are you going on about?”

Zoe says, “Girl hold on. Let me play your voicemail back. You sound like a loon.” She giggles and then I hear my voice.

“Zoe! Zoe! I need you to make me a labradoodle pot!” Then there is an umph sound and the line goes dead.

“Girl, what were you drinking last night?” Zoe asks while laughing at me.

I’m trying to remember what the hell I was talking about when I hear the neighbor’s dog barking. That damn maltipoo barks at everything. “Wait! That’s it!”

“What’s it? Alice, have you finally lost your mind?”

“No, Zoe. I have an idea and I need your help, but I would rather not have this conversation over the phone. Can I come visit you?” I ask as I start looking up flights on my tablet.

“You never have to ask to visit me. I would love to see your cute face. When are you coming?”

I stand and start picking up my mess. There is leftover Chinese food on the table and an empty bottle on the floor next to me. “I just booked a flight. Can you pick me up at the airport at four?”

Zoe laughs at me. “Today? You really are serious. Of course I’ll be there.”

“Ok, I’ll see you soon. I need to shower and pack.” I give her a kissy noise before hanging up the phone. I snatch up my purse and keys before heading back to my apartment to pack a bag.

Three hours later I am sitting at the airport, a tall coffee in one hand and a pad of paper in the other. I’m making a list of all the things I need to take care of once I get back home from visiting Zoe. First thing on the list is packing up my clothes and taking them to Dad’s. It makes more sense to move back to the house. All of his personal and business things are there and going back and forth everyday is not an option. The house is also closer to the office. I don’t want to sell my apartment, but I hate the thought of leaving it empty. For now, I decide to just hire a cleaning service to come in once a week to keep it fresh and deal with that later.

I need to deal with Uncle Richie. I still can’t get over what the Michaelson brothers said. He offered to sell the company? I make a note to visit the accountant as well. I need to see all the financial reports for each company. If the Grow-Op is losing money, how are we doing with the rest?

The last thing I need to take care of is school. I need to let my professors know my intentions for the next year. Taking a year off from law school is not the same as it would be for an undergrad. I don’t want to stop, but at this moment, Du-Kane, Inc. needs me more than I need to finish my last year.

I hear my flight being called. I gather my things and pitch my empty coffee cup on the way to the plane’s door. I easily find my seat in first class, place my bag in the overhead, sit down, and close my eyes. I only have an hour flight, but I’m still tired from last night. I doze off before the plane taxis off the runway.

“Al!” I hear her long before I see her. As soon as I get close, she grabs me in a hug. “I’ve missed you girl.”

“It’s only been three days, Zoe.”

“Life is boring up here in the mountains. There’s nothing for me to do but play with my plants.”

I laugh as I hip check her. Plants are the only thing Zoe ever wants to play with. I can’t remember the last time she talked to me about going out on a date.

“So,” she turns to me once we get in her car, “you have some explaining to do about that crazy message you left me last night.”

I throw my head back on the seatrest and close my eyes. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I open my eyes and look over to her. “I met with the Michaelson brothers yesterday. They told me Uncle Richie offered to sell Dad’s company right after he died. They also told me that the business is having financial problems. I don’t know what to do, Zoe.”

Zoe puts her hand over mine and squeezes. “We’ll figure this out. You said something about making a labradoodle pot? What the hell does that even mean?”

“Oh! I watched a show last night about puppy sales starting to dwindle. The breeders started cross-mixing breeds and coming up with new ones, like the labradoodle. I thought, if we put our heads together, we could come up with a new and better plant. Kind of like a pot crossbreeding. A designer plant.”

She says nothing for the rest of the drive back to her house. We pull up in the driveway of her small log cabin, and Zoe finally looks over at me. “If you’re serious about this, it’s going to take a lot of time and hard work. This isn’t something I can do overnight. I’m going to need seeds from all your different plants and a greenhouse. We are talking a state of the art greenhouse.”

“I know, Zoe. I realize I’m asking a lot from you, but this could open up new doors for Du-Kane, Inc. I feel it in my gut, this could put us back on top.”

Zoe steps out of her car and I do the same, grabbing my bag and follow her up to the front door. I keep following her into her tiny kitchen and watch while she turns on her coffeemaker. The silence is killing me, but I know Zoe. She may seem crazy, but she doesn’t make decisions without thinking them through completely.

She makes herself a cup of coffee, then turns and looks me dead in the eye. “I’ll do it.”

“Really?”

She nods her head. “It’ll take me a few weeks to pack up everything and move down to Memphis, but yes. I’ll do it with you.”

I can’t contain the squeal when I hop up and run over to her. I grab her in a hug and we both start hopping up and down, laughing like little girls.

I pull back and look at her, putting my serious face on. “This won’t be easy. I’m asking you to give up everything here. Are you positive that this is what you want to do?”

“There is nothing I would rather be doing. Me and you, Al. We can do this and put your company back on top. You know what this means?”

I groan. “Please don’t make me do it.”

“Oh, we have to do it.”

I smile at my best friend. “Fine. Let’s get it over with.”

We both spit in our right hand, clasping them together, yelling at the same time, “Sisters foreva’!”