Chapter 56
‘Are you sure about this, Boss?’ Back in the office, Ruby leaned back in her chair and regarded Noah curiously. ‘It’s quite a leap you’re proposing. Are you sure you’re doing it for the right reasons?’
‘It might not even happen at all,’ Noah conceded. ‘It depends if the landlord’ll go for it, and Mollie, of course.’
‘Don’t get me wrong, Noah, I can see what’s in it for Noah Hathaway, but I’m struggling to see the benefit for Noah Hathaway Estates. Why would you move out of London to the back end of beyond? Is there going to be a market down in the arse end of Somerset for our particular clients?’
‘More than you think,’ Noah replied. ‘For the past five years, people have been moving out of the capital to rural areas. I’d gamble that’s not going to change any time soon, with so many people choosing to work from home.
What I’m proposing is a medium-risk leap into a market that’s still going strong. ’
‘And I don’t suppose this has anything to do with your granddad’s cottage being in the West Country?’ Violet chipped in wryly. ‘I mean, you could make that argument about anywhere north, east or west of the capital right now.’
‘My grandfather’s cottage would make a good test project,’ Noah conceded. ‘I have to sell it, and rather than hand it over to a local estate agency, it makes sense to handle it under the Noah Hathaway Estates banner.’
‘But you don’t need a satellite office to do that,’ Violet replied. ‘You could just as easily add it to our books here in Fulham. No offence, Noah, but I don’t think you’re going to be inundated with viewings. You could probably do them all in a single weekend if you popped down there.’
‘True, but it’s not just about Grandpa’s house.
’ Noah paused. ‘You know I trust you both. You’ve proven to me again and again that I was right to hire you.
So, I’m levelling with you now. I’m bored of selling houses in London.
And I’m tired, too. A lot of things have been put into perspective for me this year, and I think the time is right to expand the business, but in a way that will give me a bit of distance from here.
I love what we do, but I want to do it somewhere else now.
I need a new challenge, but on my terms. This is the way for me to do it. ’
‘So have you run the numbers?’ Ruby, ever the financial pragmatist, asked.
‘I’ve made a start.’ Noah stifled a yawn. ‘I couldn’t sleep last night. There’s a way to go, but theoretically, it could work.’ He paused. ‘The real question is, if I do decide to go ahead, are the two of you up for running this branch between you?’
Ruby, who’d been briefed by Noah the day before, nodded. Violet, to whom this was all decidedly new, looked shocked. ‘Us?’
‘Well, Ruby would take over my role, and you’d be second-in-command, if you want to be.’
Violet’s expression went from excitement to apprehension and back again in half a second flat. ‘Do you think we can handle it?’
‘I wouldn’t be offering it to you if I didn’t.’
Violet grinned. ‘Consider me in. When do we start?’
‘Well, I need to talk to Mollie Wakefield and her landlord first, but I’d like to get things moving within the next few months, if possible.
It should be a bit easier because the premises is already set up for retail, but if we can be up and running by Christmas, that would be the best present I could have this year. ’
Violet grinned. ‘Mum’ll be over the moon when I tell her I’ve had a promotion!’ Glancing at Noah, she got up from her chair and walked to the door. ‘I need to get ready for my ten o’clock viewing, but I’ll check back in later.’
Ruby lingered after Violet had closed the door behind her. ‘I’m going to ask you again, now we’re by ourselves. Are you sure about this?’
Noah took a breath. ‘You and I have known each other a very long time. You’ve always trusted my instincts. Trust me now.’
‘It’s not that I don’t,’ Violet said. ‘It’s just that, by your own admission, you’ve had a hell of a year. Are you sure that opening a second branch is the right thing to do, on top of everything else?’
‘Honestly?’ Noah steepled his hands together on the table in front of him.
‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.
These past few months have made me reassess everything I thought was important.
Grandpa’s death has forced me to think about what I really want in life.
For the past five years, it’s been this place, this business, being here in London and making a success of things.
You and I both know the hours we’ve needed to put in to make that all happen.
Now it’s time to take things in a different direction, to take the risk and branch out.
And you can’t tell me you’re not itching to get me out of here and run things the way you want to? ’
Ruby’s eyes gleamed mischievously. ‘Well, when you put it that way…’ She rose from her chair and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ve made a great team, the three of us, and I appreciate the trust you’re putting in me and Violet when it comes to growing the brand. We won’t let you down, Noah.’
‘I know.’ Noah gave her hand a squeeze where it lay on his shoulder. ‘You’ve had a great teacher!’
Ruby chuckled. ‘And such a modest one, too.’
As she left, Noah settled back into number crunching.
He’d spent most of the previous night setting up a spreadsheet with estimates of costs, timeframes and other considerations, and while he still had a long way to go, he felt cautiously confident that he could present a good case to Mollie and her landlord.
That aside, he thought as he started to enter more figures into the Excel document, the only thing he had to worry about now was whether or not his brothers would give him the opportunity to sell Jack’s cottage as Noah Hathaway Country Estates’ first property.
The way he’d left things with Joel the last time they’d spoken, it would take all of his tact, diplomacy and salesmanship to make that proposal fly.