"Partner?" The word tasted strange on Jenna's tongue, and she glanced sideways at Amanda, as if her friend could help interpret this paradox. They'd met at The Fix for a late lunch after Jenna's interview because, as Amanda had put it, "I love my parents, but if I don't escape, I'll turn gray before I'm thirty-five."

So Jenna had served as a helpful excuse for Amanda to get away. Amanda, however, wasn't returning the helpfulness favor; she looked just as confused as Jenna.

Jenna turned her attention back to Reece and Brent, both of whom were standing behind the bar right in front of Jen and Amanda's half-eaten order of mini crab cakes. "You're saying that you want me to be a partner in The Fix? Like an owner? That's what you're saying?"

"That's what we're saying." Reece took her glass and refilled the Diet Coke. "So?"

Her eyes cut toward the back hallway, down which Tyree had just disappeared. He'd come over with the guys, greeted both women, and then told Jenna that Brent and Reece had something to tell her. Then Tyree had left, and her two best friends had shooed Eric—the first shift bartender who'd been telling Jen and Amanda about his unsuccessful hunt for a new apartment—down to the far end of the bar.

After that, the guys had relayed their morning conversation with Tyree and the plan to get the bar back on its feet.

A plan that, frankly, she thought was brilliant. For them. For her, not so much.

"In case you missed the memo, I don't have any money to invest. I don't even have enough money to buy a car. Thus the job search and this morning's interview. Which, by the way, went fabulously, thanks for asking."

Amanda whistled through her teeth, then leaned back, giving each guy the eye. "Doghouse," she said under her breath.

Brent scowled in her direction, and Jenna rolled her eyes. Brent and Amanda had gone out twice, and even though there didn't seem to be sparks, Jenna was a romantic and still held out hope. Brent needed a woman in his life, and Faith needed a mom. And since Amanda and Brent were two of her best friends...

"So you got the job?" Reece said, interrupting her matchmaking meanderings.

"What? Oh, no. Not yet anyway. But I'm sure I will. They want me on a project tonight. They called it an on-the-job interview. So it's looking good."

"Yeah? That's terrific."

"Thanks, but I don't have it yet. And it's not like they're going to advance me the big bucks. So I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be a partner."

"We want you for your mind, not your money," Brent said, and Amanda snorted.

"Men never say that," Amanda muttered, then shoved another crab cake into her mouth.

Jenna swallowed a laugh. "All right. I'm listening."

"We need your marketing expertise," Brent explained. "Your ideas and your time. Not your money."

"Oh." She looked between the guys. "Really?"

"We told you our deal with Tyree. We're looking at a big project on a short fuse. We need someone who can help us get the word out. Who can increase the customer base and, well, do whatever it is you do to drum up business."

"Oh," she said again. "I can do that. But if I get this job..."

"We'll take whatever time you can give us," Brent added, leaning forward, but his urging was unnecessary. Of course she was in. This was for Tyree. And now that the guys had invested, it was for them, too. No way would she let them down. No way did she want to.

She leaned back, thinking. "My friend Maia works in marketing. An Austin friend, not LA. I'll do some brainstorming with her. And we need to see about doing a little work on the stage if we're going to bring in more acts. If we shift the angle, we can increase the size of the stage and the floor space for dancing. Double-win."

Reece flashed a wide grin—the kind that went straight to her gut and made her look away quickly. "So you're in?"

"You know I am," she said, meeting Brent's fist-bump as Reece waved to an incoming customer, then slid down the bar to take an order.

"We knew you'd come through," Brent said. "Tell Reece I'll talk to him later. I've got to go run a systems check on the security cams. Congrats again," he said. "And good luck tonight."

"Thanks," she said, reaching up to accept his hug. Then she watched as he headed to the back of the bar. Once he'd disappeared into the hall, she turned her attention to Amanda again, then drew in a deep breath to calm herself. "I went from nothing to do, to way too busy."

"You can handle it," Reece said, returning to put the new order in the computer. She gave him the message from Brent as he tapped the screen, and he nodded acknowledgment. "Listen," he said, once the order was processing. "I'm sure you'll get the job—who wouldn't want you? But are they going to mind if you're moonlighting?"

"I'm sure I can make it work with them. They really seem to be interested in me. The interview was like something out of the Manual for Awesome Interviews."

"So what's the point of tonight?" Reece asked, his arms crossed as he studied her.

"Don't do that," Jen ordered. "Don't get all cynical on me."

He raised his hands. "Just asking a question."

She made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. This was so Reece. "It makes perfect sense. They want to see how I perform under pressure. And I thrive in the hot seat, so I'm golden."

"What's the event?" Amanda asked, though Jenna couldn't tell if she was legitimately curious or trying to help shift the conversation.

"The company's been doing a campaign for a bridal company that centers around the selection of women for a wedding and bridesmaid calendar. The girls sent in their pictures, and tonight the winners are being announced. So they want all hands on deck. Like I said, it's the perfect time to see if I'm a pressure player."

"A wedding calendar?" Reece's brows rose.

"Just because you think marriage is a hideous trap that destroys love—"

"I'm pretty sure I said it was a ridiculous institution that sucks the lifeblood out of relationships and is doomed to failure. But the idea's the same."

Jenna rolled her eyes. She knew his views on marriage. She even understood them, to a degree. With a mother who'd walked out when Reece was fifteen, a father who'd remarried and divorced three more times and a best friend whose wife had packed her bags and skipped out on Brent and their newborn, it was no wonder Reece thought the institution of marriage was a crock. The last time one of their friends had gotten married, Reece had given them eight months.

They'd been divorced in six, and he'd practically oozed self-righteousness. "The only good marriages I've seen were Vincent's and Tyree's," he told her once. "And those ended in death."

Definitely a cynic. She, however, didn't share the sentiment. It was the lack of a marriage that had forced Jenna's own mom, Arlene, to struggle as a single mom, foolishly believing that Jenna's dad would see reason and return on a white horse, especially since he'd always told Arlene that he loved her and their daughter. He hadn't come back, of course, and Jenna had grown up with no sign of a father, except for four Christmas cards during her first five years, and with an over-worked mother.

But Arlene had finally married five years ago and was now blissfully happy in Florida with Jenna's stepfather. Which, as far as Jenna was concerned, disproved Reece's gloom-and-doom view of marriage.

"I think the idea of a bridal calendar is lovely," she said. "And from a marketing standpoint, it's very smart. Those girls will share with their friends, and then the calendars with the company logo will end up plastered on bedroom walls all over the city. Of course, if it were me, I would have done a contest. Had some sort of fashion show for sponsorship and then—"

She sat up straight, almost unable to believe she could be so incredibly brilliant.

"What?" Reece tilted his head, eyeing her. "You okay?"

"Jen?" Amanda leaned forward. "What is it?"

Jenna leaned back slowly, smiling so broadly her cheeks hurt. "Well, there you go," she said, eyeing Reece. "I've done it. I've just totally earned my way into this partnership."