Chapter 11
W ith twenty minutes until the meeting, Charlotte walked to the coffee bar. She’d gone through some items on her list on autopilot, but she had enough time to start a fresh pot of coffee for the meeting (and for herself) and pulled out her phone to catch Melanie up on her morning.
Charlotte: Melanie. I have a problem. Remember that I mentioned Chad had some hot guy with him at Wonder World?
Melanie: Yes.
Charlotte: THAT’S the investor.
Melanie: !!! Small world.
Melanie: Also how hot?
Charlotte tried to look Gregory up online but she couldn’t find him on social media.
Charlotte: I will take a picture for you later.
Melanie: You’d better.
Charlotte: I gave him a two-hour tour of the park this morning. But I can’t tell if he gets Lands. He hasn’t been to an amusement park before, except for maybe once as a kid, let alone a theme park. I’m worried.
Melanie: It’s going to be okay. You’ll figure it out.
Charlotte: If I’m allowed to stick around.
Melanie: Why wouldn’t you be?
Charlotte: I don’t know. I just had a Thing with Emily and I think she’d be fine not having me around.
Melanie: You’ve had a Thing with Emily for ages. Try not to worry.
Charlotte: Yeah, you’re right.
Melanie: I’ve got to run. Keep me posted, okay?
Charlotte: I will. Thank you. 3
Melanie: 3
Charlotte slid the phone into her pocket and grabbed the full carafe of coffee. She placed it in the conference room and then went back to the kitchen to grab an assortment of mugs. Her aunt and uncle entered the conference room as Charlotte set the last mug on the table.
“Aunt Marianne! Uncle Frank!” She walked over to give them hugs despite having only been away from Lands for not even a full week. Knowing what the meeting was about too, Charlotte figured the occasion called for hugs.
“Your parents told you what was happening, didn’t they?” Marianne asked while she embraced Charlotte, her stacks of beaded bracelets rattling as she patted Charlotte’s back. It made Charlotte glance at the blue lace agate bracelet on her own wrist, a gift from Aunt Marianne who, when Charlotte had come back to Lands after the DreamUs layoff and Chad cheating debacle, had taken the bracelet off her own wrist and rolled it onto Charlotte’s, emphasizing the crystal’s ability to soothe anxiety. Aunt Marianne only gifted her bracelets when she believed someone needed them; it touched Charlotte so much she’d worn it ever since, only removing it to shower.
When she pulled back from her aunt, Charlotte noticed Marianne’s long, Morticia Addams–style hair was limp— hair her aunt had let her and Emily play with and brush endlessly when they were small. Aunt Marianne was the type to give and give to others without thinking of herself, but it wasn’t like her to not brush her hair to a shine. Charlotte would have to talk to her about a self-care day soon, something Charlotte herself had been trying to embrace in the months since DreamUs let her go.
“My parents? Not keeping a secret? That doesn’t sound like them.” Charlotte smiled as she pulled away and put an arm around her uncle and looked into his piercing blue eyes to get a read on his mood. Uncle Frank did not possess a poker face; his every reaction showed on his face. It was helpful, and often amusing, because everyone could see what Frank thought of an idea in real time. “How are you holding up?”
Frank became absorbed with adjusting the cuffs of one of his ever-present flannel shirts and breathed deep enough to move his shoulders, which he turned into a roll, squaring them. Charlotte could see weariness in his movements. “I’ll be honest. I’m tired.” He glanced at his wife. “We both are. We want to get some kind of future settled for the park so we can travel; it’s time. You know we’ve been fixing up that busted RV forever now. I don’t do well with change, I know that, but if I can make sure Lands is in a good place, I’d feel okay about leaving.”
Marianne raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips.
“Okay,” Frank chuckled, “I’d feel better about leaving. I wish we would have been able to figure out how to get Under the Waves open with our own money, but sometimes you have to admit when you need help. So, here we are. Was that a long enough answer for you?”
Seeing her aunt’s and uncle’s demeanors made Charlotte glad she didn’t come at them first thing today and overwhelm them more with her list.
“Hey, it was a complicated question. Sounds like you’re approaching this in a healthy manner. I’m proud of you for putting yourselves in a position to move on and retire,” Charlotte teased. And she meant it; she really was proud. Uncle Frank had a legendary stubborn streak, so it counted for a lot that he was open to outside funding. That they would be in this conference room about to meet with a venture capitalist would have been unimaginable to Charlotte in the not-too-distant past. She patted her uncle’s arm. “I know it must be a lot. Now I grabbed a lot of mugs, but I want to make sure: who all is joining this meeting today?”
Frank replied, “Just you and Emily and Ever Fund’s representative, Gregory. Emily already has an idea about Ever Fund—she’s the one who reached out to them, after all—but we wanted you in the room to hear what he has to say. But what we discuss today stays confidential. I don’t know if we’re going to agree to anything, and if not, no need to give everyone a scare, and if so, well, we want to tell the staff the right way.”
“Are you telling me we’re going to align on a communication strategy?”
Her uncle rolled his eyes and pulled out a chair at the table. Charlotte grinned. Her corporate lingo always had that effect on Frank, so this time she’d wielded her powers to lighten the mood.
Marianne and Frank were unusually quiet as they waited for the others to arrive. They sat next to each other, and Charlotte was pretty sure they were holding hands under the table. She studied the shadows around her aunt’s eyes and the rigidity of her uncle’s shoulders. This couldn’t be an easy decision for them. Charlotte promised herself she would keep that in mind whatever Gregory said today. After all, she appreciated Marianne and Frank including her in this meeting. They certainly had no obligation to loop her in; Emily wasn’t going to.
And speaking of, Emily and Gregory walked in, laughing about something as they opened the door. They seemed more familiar with each other than Charlotte would have imagined. She considered Emily’s feelings toward her family’s business and the comment Gregory made that indicated to Charlotte he wasn’t thrilled to continue his family’s line of work. They were both too dressed up for Lands. Seemed like they had a lot in common, and Charlotte fought off an odd “I saw him first” feeling. Because no, Emily had. Whatever , Charlotte thought, letting the flash of possessiveness roll off her. She stood, lifted the coffee carafe, and broke the awkward silence. “Does anyone want coffee?”
At the nods from everyone except Emily, Charlotte poured as Gregory opened his laptop and plugged into the meeting room’s screen. He patted his pockets, and when he didn’t find what he was looking for, his mouth twisted in frustration. “I don’t suppose any of you happen to have a clicker, do you?”
Her aunt and uncle looked confused, but Charlotte had this. Giving presentations was a common occurrence at Dream Mechanic, so most people had a clicker on their person at all times. Charlotte hadn’t given up the habit of keeping one nearby; it was at her desk. “Yes!” Charlotte exclaimed too loudly. “Brb.”
Had she really just said “brb” out loud? This meeting was going to go swell.
She rushed up to her laptop bag and back in a short amount of time, but the room had gotten quieter in her absence. Charlotte lifted the clicker up triumphantly. “Here you go!” She didn’t know why she felt compelled to help this Gregory’s presentation go smoothly.
“Thank you.” Gregory stood and took the clicker. “As you all know, Ever Fund is interested in working with Lands. The presentation you gave us was intriguing—my mother in particular is excited about this proposition. We believe it’s important for both parties to be on board, so part of our process is to give a reciprocal presentation to highlight what we do. Additionally, with some input from Emily, I have some suggestions to help along the return on our investment—assuming we all decide to move forward.”
Emily jumped in. “Thank you, Gregory. You’re here because the park needs cash. We have a lot of maintenance, some potential upgrades, and it’s beyond time to open Under the Waves. The construction site keeps sitting stagnant, but it’s all so close to the finish line. Ever Fund would be a huge help in making that happen. We’re eager to hear what you have in mind, then we can hopefully move things forward soon.”
“We hope for the same,” Gregory said. “Allow me to get started.”
She’d seen bursts of Gregory’s personality on their tour around Lands, but he transformed while going through slides. Charisma, confidence, competence. God, Charlotte, who had nightmares about not being prepared, was a sucker for competence. While he may or may not be one hundred percent on board with working for his family, he came alive while delivering the notes about Ever Fund’s history. Not for the first time, Gregory brought Chad to mind—that man could have a room on the edge of its seat for even the most boring topic. Gregory was so smooth.
His pride in his grandmother’s business made Charlotte feel encouraged about how Ever Fund would work with Lands. Their portfolio wasn’t what Charlotte would associate with a venture capitalist firm. More success stories for mom-and-pop–style businesses, like the burger trucks-turned-cute-diner Gregory had mentioned, than tech bros making apps—those sorts of clients were in there too, and Charlotte didn’t miss when Gregory mentioned those were Ian’s efforts to expand the firm’s interest with more diverse clients, one of which was the deal Emily had spotted in her alumni newsletter.
Maybe this wasn’t so bad, Charlotte thought. Wait, when did he roll up his shirtsleeves? She couldn’t believe she’d been too absorbed in the presentation to miss that moment. And was that a hint of a tattoo peeking out below the pristine blue cuff? How dare he keep revealing these more laid-back parts of himself that also happened to be sexy. Charlotte wondered what the ink could be.
With the Ever Fund overview out of the way, Gregory clicked to the second part of the presentation: the part about Lands of Legend.
“After hearing from you about Lands of Legend and confirming details on the exact status of Under the Waves with Emily, Ever Fund is willing to invest up to two million dollars in the park.”
Through wide blinks, Charlotte stole glances at her family. Emily had a small, content smile. Marianne looked cool, like she was offered millions of dollars on the daily. Frank, however, sat with his jaw hanging open. Yep, no poker face. Charlotte imagined her own face showed surprise, too. That would have been loose change in a couch at DreamUs, but here at Lands? Two million dollars could change everything.
Like a pro, Gregory let that number hang in the air and make an impression before he picked back up. “The majority of that would go toward opening Under the Waves with the two rides, the Manta Diver and Lost City. The remainder, if unused, will be allocated with approval from Ever Fund. I’ll remain onsite at least through the opening of Under the Waves to ensure the work is carried out with maximum efficiency.”
Charlotte interpreted that as Gregory being present to make sure no dollar would be wasted. And fine, they were investors. She wondered how they would recoup their costs, though; Charlotte could work her way around a budget, and while crunching numbers was never her most favorite task, she didn’t have to pull out a calculator to know it would take a minute for Lands to turn a profit. She raised a hand.
“Charlotte, let’s wait until Gregory is done before we ask questions.” Emily looked at Charlotte with daggers in her eyes.
“No, it’s fine. Yes, Charlotte?”
“When do you foresee Under the Waves and those rides opening?” She needed to know how long Gregory would be around, just because.
“I was getting to that.” He clicked to the next slide with an opening date and summer revenue projections with and without Under the Waves. “Memorial Day Weekend.”
Bold, Charlotte thought. Bold, but doable. It was January now. They’d have to plan around winter weather but with how far along Under the Waves was, a concentrated period of construction should do it. She looked around the table and saw her uncle’s face flip through emotions while he took in that date and did the math. Surprise, reckoning—Charlotte could tell by how he was nodding his head—acceptance, happiness.
“You think that soon is possible?” Frank asked, voice wobblier than he probably preferred.
“Absolutely. Moreover, we would need Lands to commit to that date if we want to move ahead with a partnership. Having Under the Waves ready for summer business will be crucial to spiking attendance and start earning back the investment.” He gestured toward the projections. “I think we can see a twenty percent increase in revenue in ticket sales after we open Under the Waves, which will be our first priority. I looked at several parks”—he paused to grin at Charlotte like a student who wanted a gold star sticker—“amusement parks and theme parks after our conversation this morning, Charlotte. Profits consistently see a big jump when parks open a new ride, let alone a whole new land.”
Charlotte nodded emphatically. She didn’t want to agree with him, but he had done that homework correctly. Charlotte replied, “I know DreamUs is on a different scale, but that was always our experience. It brings in more crowds and you steadily earn back all the money you put into the new areas.”
“That’s our hope,” Gregory said. “We want to make sustainable changes that continue to build the park’s attendance and appeal over time. Ever Fund is in for the long haul; we know it will take a while for our investment to pay off. Of course, Under the Waves opening isn’t the only contributing factor.”
Click.
“I discussed some options for bumping up the bottom line with Emily.”
That wasn’t encouraging, Charlotte thought.
The screen jumped to the next slide and revealed a list, much like the one Charlotte had made to share with Frank and Marianne before running into Gregory derailed her. Except as Charlotte scanned this list, she noted how many ideas were counterproductive to one of her aunt and uncle’s core tenets: keep Lands affordable for families. Ideas that were, for Lands, not great. Not right. Dynamic pricing that would drive the cost of park admission up on more popular days, increasing the prices for food and drinks by a substantial percentage, treating Under the Waves as an area that would require its own, separate ticket. Ideas that felt like nickel-and-diming their customers. And the last bullet point in the column of possible revenue levers to pull said, “Corporate events, weddings, including IP.”
IP. Intellectual property. That screamed Emily. Charlotte would give up Sir Cinna-Swirls for life if Gregory could correctly define IP. With the latest Peak Fusion article fresh in her mind, she hoped that’s not who Emily was considering partnering with.
The other column on the slide listed cost-cutting measures. Highlights included decreasing off-season offerings and cutting back on the associated staffing, outsourcing ride maintenance and landscaping, and converting most of the office staff into part-time employees instead of full-time employees with benefits. Charlotte didn’t think any of it was concrete but it did perversely amuse her to see adding events and cutting staff mentioned in the same place. That made no sense.
“Some of this doesn’t make sense.” It’s like her aunt read her mind. “We’ve discussed many of these ideas in the past.” Here, Marianne stopped to serve Emily with a pointed look. “But we’ve dismissed them.”
Gregory nodded. “I hear you, but we have to put everything back on the table in order to see the kind of change Ever Fund needs to gain back our investment. And respectfully, doing more of the same hasn’t made a difference.”
Charlotte’s eyes couldn’t get wider. Her aunt’s face was wrought from steel, sharp and ready to cut if Gregory kept talking. Part of Charlotte wanted to egg Gregory on toward a verbal lashing, but the two million dollars on the table flashed through her mind.
“You know,” Charlotte cut in, “I have a list of ideas, too. Ones that could increase revenue while supporting the park’s values.”
She kept her face angelic as she looked at Gregory and then Emily.
“As I said, I think everything should be on the table. From our discussion this morning, I look forward to hearing what you have in mind.” Gregory gestured toward her.
“Oh, right now?”
“Ideally, yes. I know we’re all eager to decide if we’re going to be working together.”
“Sure, Gregory.” Charlotte stood up and thumbed open her phone. “Pardon the casual delivery, I was going to run these by you, Aunt Marianne and Uncle Frank, this morning, and I know you prefer to chat through ideas instead of making it all formal. But here we go.”
It wasn’t that Charlotte didn’t have confidence in her ideas. They were solid and didn’t work against what her aunt and uncle wanted. But with the pressure of the setting, Gregory’s scrutiny, and Emily literally yawning, anxiety tightened across her throat. She cleared it and referenced her notes on her phone.
“First, we draw attention to our incredible restaurants and food stalls with a food-and-beverage pass that people buy in advance with tear-off tabs or something for them to use while they’re here. It will offer a slight discount over buying each item individually, so they’re still getting value, but will give guests a reason to commit to a potentially larger amount than they would otherwise spend on food. Second, we apply for an alcohol permit so we can serve beer and wine; it would be new to the park so we can set a nice markup from the beginning—marked-up alcohol is something people already accept because of sporting events and concerts, anyway. Also, we do add events but themed to go with the park and with plenty of staff to support it.
“And my favorite, we introduce an annual passholder program. This is—”
“An idea that will cause people to spend less money in the park,” Emily interjected.
“No, it’s an idea that will give us predictable, repeatable revenue and one that would be excellent to implement with the opening of Under the Waves. It’s the type of added value that will tip people’s decisions toward making the purchase.”
Charlotte assessed the room. “That’s only a start, but I believe all of those are doable and will be lucrative.”
Gregory was sitting, writing notes in his paper notebook. “Thank you for sharing those, Charlotte. Sounds like there’s potential there, particularly if we pair some of those with the cost-cutting measures I have.”
The first part of Gregory’s response had made Charlotte preen as she took her seat again, but then he’d kept talking.
“I’m going to do my best to go with the flow here,” Frank said. “I know being a stubborn old goat hasn’t been raking in the dough. But can we draw the line at cutting staff? We’ve built a strong community around the park. We don’t want to set you and Ever Fund up to be the bad guys by making those kind of cuts, because we know everyone here will be so excited about moving ahead with Under the Waves. I bet if we asked the employees for ideas to increase profits, they’d be full of great ones like Charlotte’s.”
Her uncle gave her an indulgent smile. Charlotte beamed at the compliment but thought that Emily would probably add that compliment to her pile of grievances toward her cousin.
Frank then turned toward Gregory, eyes pleading in a way that Charlotte hadn’t seen before.
Gregory, whose stick-up-his-ass nature Charlotte had experienced throughout the morning, softened his whole posture. He folded his hands in front of his face, wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows. “We don’t want to be the bad guys. We almost never operate that way. I know it doesn’t sound genuine to say we’re here to help, but we wouldn’t give you money otherwise. It is a business, however. But how about this? I will first consider every opportunity to make money without affecting the livelihood of the park’s employees. Maybe we can shuffle some folks into Under the Waves to prep that land to open? I think we can figure it out, Frank.”
Charlotte knew her family wouldn’t leave employees hanging, but Gregory’s comments were like a warm hug. Everyone at Lands, even the seasonal staff, knew each other. Most of the people in leadership positions had been with the company for years. She was glad they wouldn’t be left in the cold.
“All right, then. Can we add into the contract that you will talk with Marianne and me before making any significant staffing changes?”
“Absolutely, Frank.”
Her uncle gave Gregory a firm nod.
“That’s most of what I have, but while we’re all here,” Gregory said, “Charlotte, could you share a little more about the annual passholder idea? I didn’t realize people would return to the same theme park multiple times a year.”
His voice made it sound like that was the most bizarre choice a person could make. Charlotte again questioned Gregory’s research methods. Then again, “annual passholder” wasn’t a phrase he would have come across without specifically searching for it.
“Oh sure. Remember how I told you ‘theme park adults’ were a demographic?”
“I do.”
“They make up a large percentage of annual passholders. In places like Orlando where theme parks are condensed, locals will go once a week. Maybe only to have dinner.” If Charlotte didn’t already spend so much time at theme parks because she worked in them, she would totally have an annual pass for Dreamland in Orlando.
But the concept was hard for Gregory to grasp. His perplexed expression was comedic. “Because that’s fun?”
“Yes, Gregory. Fun. People have it all kinds of ways!” She noted Emily giving her a “cool it” look, and she schooled the exasperation in her voice. “Anyway, I’m happy to hear you’re interested in this idea. I have a full proposal for the program. The community aspect is invaluable. Passholders may not spend buckets of money on every visit to the park, but we shouldn’t count them out.”
She’d watched DreamUs leadership push their annual passholders around. Company leadership would never say it outright, but DreamUs continued to try to discourage passholders from renewing with continually increasing prices and more limitations on the various passes’ benefits. Social media, parks news sites, online forums—a passholder discussion blew up at least once a month.
“Okay, we’ll make it a welcoming environment for them.”
“And you’ll work with me and the family to define what ‘welcoming environment’ means, right?” Charlotte prompted, hardness in the question. She would throw down for their potential annual passholder community, much like Frank with the park’s staff, and Gregory needed to know she could hold her ground, despite their earlier hand-holding.
Gregory bit his bottom lip in frustration while tilting his head back ever so slightly. Charlotte felt that small movement in her goddamn toes, but she refused to let it knock her off course. She willed her eyes to bore through his skull until he answered.
“Sure,” Gregory replied. “We can discuss the finer points.”
Charlotte sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Excellent. I look forward to it.”
“With that, I think we’re done, unless there are any questions.” Gregory looked around the table.
“Yes, I have one.” Marianne pointed at the screen, bracelets rattling with the movement. “Please go back to the slide before this. Yes, that one. I know we talked about this stake in ownership for Ever Fund, and I’m not contesting that, especially since we plan to step away and retire after Under the Waves is up and running, but building on what Frank said about talking to us about staff, what kind of guidelines are there about Ever Fund—you—making decisions without consulting us?”
“On paper,” Gregory answered, “Ever Fund does have the freedom to manage the business as we see fit, but we will consult the family whenever possible. In all my years with Ever Fund, we haven’t bulldozed over anyone.”
The phrase “whenever possible” was nebulous. Charlotte heard the words as a loophole that Ever Fund could exploit to do whatever they wanted, whether it aligned with the park’s themes, or the family’s values, or anything. She opened her mouth to further define that “whenever possible” but Emily gave her a look and jumped in.
“Yes, Gregory, we appreciate that,” Emily said. “We know what we’re signing up for if Ever Fund moves ahead with this deal and that you won’t entirely shut the family out of decision-making. If this is going to work, we have to trust you and your company to make calls for the best interest of the park to keep it open. Does that work for you, Mom?” Emily turned pointedly toward Charlotte for the last sentence despite directing it to her mother. Charlotte nodded at her cousin. She got it, truly. Charlotte didn’t want to see Lands of Legend close either. But she also didn’t want it to become a shadow of what it had been for the last three-plus decades. Didn’t want Ever Fund to cut corners when Gregory only learned about the difference between an amusement park and a theme park today.
“It does,” Marianne said.
“Good. Anything else?”
Emily replied, “I don’t think so. I’m confident about everything you showed us, and I’m looking forward to moving this along.”
“Yes, thank you for the thorough review, Gregory,” Frank said. “I think it’s time we all take a break to process everything.”
Gregory closed his laptop, relief on his face. “Thank you all for meeting today. I have no doubt Ever Fund can take Lands of Legend to its next successful phase and beyond. And you all have my email address if you have more questions. Charlotte, you can get my contact information from Emily if you need it.”
“We’ll be in touch soon,” Emily said, walking out of the meeting room with her dad close behind.
“We will,” Marianne echoed, lingering in the room. She turned away from Gregory gathering his things and looked toward Charlotte. “By the way, I have something for you and I cannot wait any longer to give it to you.”
Her aunt reached into her bag and grabbed a brown gift box stamped with white ferns; she thrust it toward Charlotte. “You’re the worst at keeping surprises, Aunt Marianne,” she said. Aunt Marianne was known for giving gifts year-round because she was too excited to save them for special occasions.
Fingertips under the edge of the lid, she paused to ask her aunt, “I can open this now, right?”
“Yes, that’s why I gave it to you, honey.”
Charlotte pulled the top from the box, unfolded tissue paper, and pulled out some fake leaves—you never knew what kind of wrapping material you’d find in a present from Aunt Marianne—and finally uncovered a picture frame. She brushed off the last of the faux leaves to reveal the picture and put her hand over her mouth. Her aunt had gotten hold of one of Charlotte’s childhood drawings of Flossleaf the faery and framed it. The mat board surrounding Charlotte’s rudimentary art had information about Flossleaf and the World of Faery in her uncle’s tidy cursive.
“Aunt Marianne! This is perfect!” Charlotte said, sniffling.
“You like it?”
“Love it!”
“Your mom came across your drawings last week and we thought it would be nice to do something special with them,” Aunt Marianne said. “And you’ve been back since . . . what, September? Consider it a very late housewarming present.”
Charlotte was so moved she lost the ability to form words.
“Can I see?”
Charlotte had been so taken by the gift and all the memories it represented she hadn’t noticed Gregory was still in the room. He was standing behind her so Charlotte lifted the picture up enough for him to see it, and it was like putting her tender heart on a platter for him to examine.
“This is a faery I met here at Lands when I was little. Probably the moment that I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up: make magic. And be best friends with a faery.” Embarrassment caught Charlotte off guard so she added, “Obviously Flossleaf isn’t real and a few different performers play her and—”
“I hope I get to meet Flossleaf. This is precious,” Gregory said. “Thanks for showing me. I’ll get out of your way.”
Charlotte stepped over to her aunt to hug her as Gregory left, noticing he had that wistful aura about him again.