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obvious discomfort.
    “I see,” Borage replied, seeming somewhat put out. “May I ask which of you is the intended or current business owner?”
    “I am,” I replied with a smile.
    Borage nodded at me and turned the book to give me a better view of the information. I tried to take it all in, but still found myself overwhelmed. I felt my face turn red. I had no idea what I was even looking for here. What if I just wasn’t ready to run a business? If leasing a property was this difficult for me, maybe I should quit before I’d begun.
    My panic was cut short by Borage speaking. “Don’t stress out too much. Everybody gets confused like this. I’m here to help.” Borage smiled reassuringly and at once started to explain commercial leasing contracts. He explained everything in great detail, and was very patient. I thought that he was probably used to dealing with people like me, that as much as I hated to admit it, had more money than business sense. It was only a small town, and although I hadn’t been in business before, I was a little concerned that there were so many vacant stores in town. Still, Borage had assured me that there was more than enough passing tourist traffic for a chocolate shop. And I thought he was right. After all, who doesn’t like chocolate?
    Borage suggested that we walk down the main street to look at the available stores for rent. As we were all leaving, Carl stopped me and turned back to Borage. “Would you like to get a drink some time? Just the two of us, I mean,” he asked, quite bluntly. Carl had never been one to mince words, but I still found myself surprised at the straightforward way in which he’d asked the question.
    “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think my girlfriend would approve,” Borage replied coolly.
    Carl sighed, but didn’t seem too upset.
    We followed Borage out of the shop. Carl grabbed my arm and held me back a little. “Narel, I think he likes me!”
    “But I don’t think he’s gay,” I said. “He said he has a girlfriend.”
    Carl laughed in return. “He has no girlfriend! He made that up. He might have a boyfriend, though.”
    I was doubtful. “Are you sure he’s gay?”
    Carl nodded. “My gaydar is impeccable.”
    I thought it prudent to remain silent. I remembered all the times that Carl’s gaydar had in fact been wrong.
    “Don’t be fooled because he was checking you out. He only did it to cover up the fact that he’s gay.” Carl looked thoughtful and rubbed his chin. “He can’t be out of the closet yet.”
    “He was looking at me?” I asked. “I didn’t notice that he was looking at me.”
    Carl chuckled. “That’s because you’re not used to men looking at you.”
    “Yes, I am,” I said. “Kids used to stare at me all the time when I was in school. Don’t you remember?”
    “They were staring at you because you were morbidly obese, if you don’t mind me saying so, and you were always stuffing chocolate in your face. On the other hand, this guy was staring at you because he thought you were super hot.” Carl shrugged.
    “Surely that’s not right.”
    Carl merely laughed. “Anyway, don’t you think he looks a little like Tom Fletcher?”
    “Shush!” I said. “He’ll hear you. Yes, he does! Do you think it’s him?”
    “Why would he change his name to Borage, of all names?”
    I was about to reply, but by now we had caught up to Borage, who was unlocking the door to a store. I thought over what Carl had said. I was used to the males of the species looking at me and laughing. Borage certainly had laughed, but I hadn’t even noticed him looking at me. Of course, Carl was far more experienced than I was in the whole dating area.
    And was I ‘super hot’ as Carl had called me? I supposed I was. It certainly was taking a lot of getting used to. I had always had long blonde hair, but then I used to be morbidly obese, as Carl had said. I also used to have a huge, crooked nose, and a big round face, and huge ears