46: Larissa

Larissa meets Lexi after weeks apart and shares photos of six staged graze tables for her new venture, Board & Sweet. She explains how she and Chris hustled for locations, reused food to save costs, added personalized paper quilling, and priced tiers. The spend doubled to nearly two thousand dollars, co-signed by Chris, who also outfitted the house with racks, tables, and fridges.

With Chris’s steady help—deliveries, safer car, tires, full tanks—Larissa transitions to full-time orders from home, begins paying off her (and her father’s) debts, and emails past customers to launch the website. Waiting for bookings is tense, but she feels newly capable because Chris believes in her.

Larissa admits to Lexi a profound, constant ache for Chris, contrasting it with what she lacked with Mike. She refuses to pursue Chris to avoid hurting Mike or costing Chris his friends, even as everyday intimacy deepens. A playful text about Woofarine lightens the mood.

Lexi reports Mike cut ties with Donna and Janessa, may leave the guesthouse, and now works for Tony. Larissa hasn’t contacted him but appreciates his defense of her. She describes Chris’s thoughtfulness and realizes, per Lexi, that she is finally “out of survival mode,” safe enough to nap and rest.

Reflecting on recovered credit and steady income, Larissa recognizes she could move out but chooses not to—seeing love as lifting someone even if it means they could leave. She and Chris haven’t discussed their feelings since New Year’s, and Larissa doubts others would accept them yet. A timely phone notification brings good news, which she decides to tell Chris first.