Chapter 21
Liam
Over the next three weeks, I worked closely with Skye and Tess on their website and the marketing campaign. The radio clips were a priority. They were nothing special, just what was needed to convey their location and the website. Being direct to the consumer with that information was important.
From there, it all went downhill. On the way to the brownstone, I got a call from our lawyer, Barney. I contacted him right after Albert showed up at the office.
“Tell me you have good news,” I said.
“I have shit news.”
“Okay, shoot.”
I slowed my pace, venturing into a quieter side street.
“I asked around a bit. A friend of a friend knows his lawyer, and…well, turns out Albert actually wants to sell his shares.”
“Fuck!” I leaned against the metal fence of a brownstone, running a hand through my hair. “He can’t sell without our agreement, though. It’s in the contract.”
None of us could sell our shares without all the partners agreeing. It was a way to ensure that we only ever sold to a party everyone considered a good fit.
“No, but you also can’t deny the sale forever.”
“Does he have a buyer yet?”
“Not that I know of, but that doesn’t mean much.”
I unhitched myself from the railing and began pacing around the pavement, almost stepping into a pile of dog shit.
“I’ll talk to Becca and David. The best way to move forward is if we buy his shares. Him selling to some randomly chosen party is not going to happen. It would be a dick move to all our mentees. They trusted the three of us with decision power, not a stranger.”
When I said mentees, I actually meant Tess. I cared about all our mentees, of course, but she was more important to me than any of the others.
“I’ll look at your finances, check the cash flow and the key performance indicators.”
He wasn’t just our lawyer but also our consulting CFO.
“Perfect.”
“Look, I can tell you right away that things might get messy.”
I snorted. Yeah, especially because of that fucker. “Can you put our options in a document and meet with us as soon as possible?”
“Sure. I’m on it.”
“Thanks, Barney.”
I headed to the brownstone afterward, trying to recall the wording in our contract regarding a sale.
Honestly, I never paid too much attention to that part of it.
When we originally drafted it, we’d all been friends, so it hadn’t mattered.
No one thought we’d ever sell. And when we amended the contract so Albert became a silent partner, we made no changes to that part.
We barely convinced him to sign the amendment as it was.
When I arrived at the brownstone, I immediately called Becca and David into my office. It was a cold mid-October day—too cold for the rooftop, and we hadn’t brought up the heaters yet. The two of them sat down. I was pacing the room.
“I spoke to Barney about Albert,” I said without easing them into it, then repeated the whole conversation. I always preferred to rip Band-Aids right off.
“That fucker. He’s getting a check without doing anything, and it’s not enough?” Becca was seething. Her short hair was sticking out in every direction. She looked a bit like a hedgehog. It was always a sign that she was pissed.
“Barney said he’ll inspect the contract and look at our cash flow,” I finished.
“Thank fuck, because I get a headache every time I try to read all that law lingo,” David exclaimed. He got up from the beanbag chair and grabbed the stress ball from my desk, flexing it in his hands.
“I propose we buy his shares,” I said.
Becca nodded in agreement. “That’s a good idea. As long as he isn’t a dick and actually wants to sell to us.”
Years ago, we proposed to buy him out, and he refused. Now he wanted out. This had to work.
“We really didn’t need this right now when we just signed on a new mentee,” David said. “I mean, getting into a legal dispute between ourselves is always a bad idea, but now, it’s especially shit.”
He kept flexing the ball in his hand, frowning.
I ran the day’s schedule through my mind and made a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“Want to go for a run?” I asked him.
David turned around abruptly, looking from me to Becca, whose mouth was hanging open.
“You know it’s nine o’clock, right?” he said. “You never want to go running this late.”
“It helps you blow off steam,” I pointed out.
David whistled loudly, tossing the ball on my desk and jamming both hands in his pockets.
“Hey, Becca. Something’s wrong with him. He’s becoming human. It’s scary.”
“Don’t be a dick,” I replied.
“He’s not,” Becca cut in. “Just pointing out a very pleasant change. You don’t change your schedule even when you’re sick, and now you’re willing to skip a meeting to go for a run.”
“I took you out for an unplanned coffee last week,” I pointed out.
Becca snapped her fingers as a slow grin spread on her face. “Wait a second…I think I know what’s turning him human. It’s Tess, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean? What did I miss?” David asked.
Becca got up from the beanbag, smoothing her palms over her black sweater.
“Our Liam here is seeing Tess.”
“And you didn’t tell me anything? That’s a low blow, dude.”
I cocked a brow. “I’m not into locker room talk.”
I was like my grandfather in many ways, not used to expressing much.
“But I am.” He came up to me, patting my shoulder. “And you can tell me all about it while we warm up for our run. That peep show in the bathroom really did the trick, huh?”
“Becca. Help!”
She shook her head. “Don’t put me in the middle of it. You two go for a run while I actually pick up your slack.” With a grin, she added, “But just saying, I’m liking this new version of you. David, we’re going to have to find something else to give him shit about.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “I’m on it.”
The run worked well for David but not for me. I pushed myself past my usual limit, even though the cold air pierced my lungs and my thighs felt like they were about to explode. Running was addictive, especially in New York, where it was practically a religion.
We stretched again at the end of the run, and David was his usual self, still questioning me about Tess.
I didn’t really blame him. I hadn’t had anything else in my personal life except meaningless dates and sex for the last decade. I just wasn’t used to talking about my personal life, not even with my best friend.
“No talk about Tess anymore. We do have a huge workload waiting for us,” I told him in front of the entrance.
He gave me a shit-eating grin. “No, don’t worry. I’ll just bring her up during coffee breaks.”
I snickered, shaking my head. But right before I stepped in the shower, an idea occurred to me.
I made a phone call to the restaurant where I’d taken her, ordering a basket to be delivered to Tess.
Pity I wouldn’t be there when she received it to see her reaction, but I wanted her to know how important she was to me, how often I thought about her.
I wanted to make Tess happy. I also had a strong urge to protect her from everything—including Albert.
Tess
The great thing about being an entrepreneur was that I could work from anywhere.
Today, I’d chosen the new store as headquarters.
Well, what would eventually become the new store.
Right now, it was still empty, except for the sofa, which had been delivered that morning.
I was sitting on it, replying to emails in between feeling up some new fabric samples.
We didn’t have internet yet, so I was using my phone as a connection hot spot.
I didn’t just come here for the quiet—I wanted to get used to the vibe of this place.
It still seemed a little surreal that Skye and I were already opening our second store, that everything was going so well for both of us. We had about a trillion things that needed to be done in the next two months, but we were used to the hustle.
Once I decided on my favorite fabrics, I placed an order with the supplier.
I got up from the couch and started stretching a little, because my shoulders were stiff.
Midway through my stretching routine, I saw a delivery guy dressed in dark-blue in the window display.
He waved at me, and I immediately headed to the door, opening it.
“Ms. Tess Winchester?”
“Yes.”
“I have a lunch delivery for you.”
I recognized the restaurant immediately. Oh wow. But why would they send me one? And how did they know where I was?
I tipped the delivery boy generously and hurried back to the couch. I spread the napkin covering the basket on the couch, clapping my hands at the sight of all the goodies: freshly baked bread, a selection of cheese and ham, and peach marmalade.
I pressed a hand to my stomach, overcome with giddiness. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it, but…had Liam sent this? He had to; there was no other explanation.
I was so excited that I barely managed to keep still enough to text him a pic of the basket.
Tess: Did you send this?
His answer came right away.
Liam: Of course I did. How many others know that peach marmalade is your favorite?
He remembered! I thought maybe the restaurant had just included it as a standard package.
Tess: Thanks! This is the perfect lunch. Why did you send it?
Liam: So you know I’m thinking about you :)
I grinned at the screen before hugging the phone to my chest. I couldn’t believe he’d actually written that! Or sent me the basket.
This day had already started great, but it was only getting better. My heart gave a mighty sigh while I wolfed down the food. I’d never dated anyone who treated me like this.
After finishing everything, I placed the empty basket strategically in the middle of the room so I could see it while typing at my laptop.
It totally made this empty space happy. Yeah, most people laughed at my notion of happy or sad spaces, but it was just something I felt.
I couldn’t explain it. And this one definitely had happy vibes; it just looked a bit abandoned without any furniture in it.