This part of her story was different than the last. As she’d spoken of her difficulties with Nazi boy, she’d sounded strong and resilient. Now, however, she was once again that abandoned child, learning that she was the biggest mistake her mother had ever made. Her loneliness was palpable and Shane simply couldn’t stand to be physically separated from her. He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together, offering her this little comfort.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I should’ve gone to live with my grandmother in Montana.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Her fingers flexed against his as she tightened her grip on him. A second later she relaxed. “Because I was angry with her for not taking me in after my dad died.”
“So what did you do instead?”
“I stayed with my best friend for a couple days until I found a room and a waitressing job that paid better.”
“When did you start your business?”
“I’d learned how to crochet and knit from one of my friends’ moms and had been making headbands and adding lace embellishments to stuff I found at the thrift store. I bought a used sewing machine and started doing even more stuff. It was amazing how well things sold online. All I did was waitress, sew and market my stuff.”
“The rest is history?”
“Not quite. Nazi boy and his friends tracked me down. Fortunately I wasn’t home. But the homeowner was. They shoved her around and scared her pretty good. After that they went into my room and took everything, including the five hundred dollars I’d saved.”
“What happened then?”
“The homeowner pressed charges and they all got picked up by the cops. But she kicked me out. Once again I had nowhere to go and nothing to show for all my hard work.”
“Did you stay in Houston?”
“Nope. I moved to Waco and lived out of my car for two weeks.”
“At seventeen?”
“Haven’t you figured out I’m tougher than I look?” She gave a rueful laugh. “And I’d turned eighteen by then. In fact, I’d been out celebrating my birthday with friends when Nazi boy robbed me.”
“What happened after that?”
“That’s when things get boring. I found another waitressing job and another place to live. Took a second job at a tailoring shop. The owner let me use the machines after hours so I could create my designs. In four months I was making enough by selling my clothes and accessories online to quit my waitressing job. In a year I moved into a studio apartment and was bringing in nearly ten thousand a month.”
Shane had a hard time believing her numbers could be real. “That’s a lot for a solo operation.”
“I didn’t sleep, was barely eating and the only time I left my apartment was to get supplies or ship product.”
“How long before it got too big for you to handle?”
“By the time I turned twenty, I had four seamstresses working for me and I was in over my head. I was paying everyone in cash and eventually that was going to catch up to me. So I talked to a woman at the bank I really liked and Pamela hooked me up with a website designer, lawyer and an accountant. But between the designing and running things, there was still too much for me to do, so I hired Pamela to manage the business side. And then things really took off.”
“And now here you are running a ranch.” He smiled ruefully. “It’s not an ordinary sort of career move.”
“Probably not, but it’s a lot better for me. While I loved designing and promoting my fashion lines, I’m not cut out to sit in an office all day looking at reports and handling the myriad of practical decisions a multimillion-dollar business requires.”
“You’d rather ride around in a pasture all night, keeping an eye on your pregnant cows.”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
“So, you sold the business.”
“A woman in California bought it and has plans to take it global.” Brandee shook her head. “It’s still a little surreal how much the company has grown from those first few crocheted headbands.”
“I can’t help but think it was a lot to give up.”