Chapter 18
“A nd that’s the general idea. We could run the carnival for a limited weekend to make it more exclusive or stretch it across a few weekends. That would depend on performer and vendor availability.” Charlotte clicked back to the presentation title screen and looked around the room at Marianne, Frank, Emily, and Gregory.
It had been three weeks since she’d crafted the presentation and then been so distracted by Gregory wearing a V-neck T-shirt, sitting near to Gregory on his couch while he was wearing that V-neck T-shirt, and watching Willow enthrall him, that she hadn’t given it. And that wasn’t the only thing. Life had been a lot. She’d polished her DreamUs application, sent it in before the deadline, and had nudged Chad about it a few times with only a reminder from him that they’d be making a decision at the beginning of March. That was almost here, and she was starting to refresh her emails more than was strictly necessary. It didn’t matter that she’d set the Under the Waves opening deadline for herself; guilt over the application had made a home in one small corner of her brain. Charlotte’s gut swung like a pendulum between being eager about the promise of going back to DreamUs and sadness about leaving Lands, her family, and even Gregory.
On top of that, there was the looming Peak Fusion meeting. It had been moved a few times because of everyone at Lands being so slammed with Under the Waves business. It was a never-ending swirl of permits, codes, and construction materials problem-solving. At least seeing tangible results was so rewarding it helped keep them all going and gave them energy for the task list that had no end in sight.
Charlotte gained a whole other level of respect for her family because they did it all. They had to. No giant corporation with a dozen specialized departments was by their side to sort out, for example, environmental safety. Frank and Marianne were walking vaults of institutional knowledge, and they had a mile-long list of contractors and friends who wanted to help. The couple conjured a miracle almost daily, and Gregory deftly handled the logistics to make sure it all got done.
A highlight in the whirlwind was Gregory. Since their dinner date (whatever they’d called it) he’d appeared an ounce more carefree. Charlotte barely noticed him wearing a blazer anymore. And they had held firm on two aspects of their schedule: their daily construction site and park walks—they met by the carousel every morning at nine—where they talked about work; and a weekly trip to Dragon’s Breath for dinner where they agreed to not discuss Lands or look at their phone notifications. They’d even spent one Saturday afternoon there playing a board game (Charlotte had been delighted to discover Gregory’s fierce competitive streak as one game turned into the best two of three), and another weekend afternoon walking through the woods (Gregory refused to call it hiking). Their plan was to work up to an entire day off.
And while she noticed moments when Gregory’s gaze lingered or he needed to lean close to her for no discernible reason, she still wasn’t sure if the attraction was mutual. She was, however, certain that they had solidified the “friends” label for their relationship.
“What do you think?” Charlotte asked.
“I had no clue what you meant when you mentioned ‘faery carnival’ a few weeks ago,” Emily said, “but this is beyond what I could have imagined. My only suggestion is maybe we call it a festival since carnival can seem sinister to some people.”
“And some people are you because of that haunted carnival we went to as kids?” Charlotte asked. She remembered her cousin hiding the stuffed animal Charlotte won in the closet because Emily insisted it was blinking at her.
Gregory looked up from his notepad. “A haunted carnival?”
“Oh, don’t be silly, it wasn’t haunted,” Marianne said. “It was only a bit run-down.”
“I noticed we never went back,” Emily remarked.
“Only because the city didn’t approve their permit again,” Frank said.
“My point stands,” Emily noted. “But it’s the only one I have. Otherwise, I can see this bringing people in, and we can figure out how to leverage the festival to start Under the Waves promotions.”
Charlotte hoped it would be enough to stave off any moves from Peak Fusion for Heroic Patrol , while not truly believing it would be.
“I agree,” Frank said, standing and stretching his arms. “As long as we don’t think it’s too much to add on in addition to Under the Waves. We’re all on our last leg and we still have a lot more course to run.”
“That’s what I was going to say, Frank,” Gregory added. “It’s a masterful idea and an excellent use of that field before we turn it into overflow parking.” He beamed at Charlotte and she sat up straighter. “However, I’m hesitant to put more on anyone’s plate or take away any of the attention the new land needs.”
Charlotte rolled her chair away from the table and rubbed her chin. She knew getting the festival (not carnival) into place would be a comparatively light lift against opening a whole new themed land, but no one had time to spare except maybe some of the hourly seasonal employees they could bring back early. Maybe they’d like the chance to add something to the park’s story while getting paid, and she was sure she could work out a fair bonus. She shared her idea with the others.
“I love that,” Marianne said. “I always hate that we can’t keep everyone on year-round.”
“That’s settled then, yes?” Everyone nodded at Charlotte. “Okay, I’ll pull some more details together. And then we still need to come up with a reason for why the faeries are celebrating and why they would do it for more than one weekend.”
“Isn’t because we want to have a special event enough of a reason?” Gregory asked.
Marianne looked at Gregory with pity in her eyes. “Oh, sweetheart.” In this instance, the kind endearment could be interpreted as, “You’ve stepped in it now, buddy.”
Uncle Frank saved Charlotte from answering, sparing Gregory from what would have been a much longer answer. “We’re not the faeries, son. It’s their story and that story is part of Fairytale Land. Coming up with a faery holiday that they are beginning to celebrate again will make it more memorable and interesting than hanging up a banner that says, ‘Faery Festival This Way’ and calling it a day. We want it to fit in with the theming.”
Gregory wrote something down in his notepad. “That makes sense. Thank you for explaining.”
“Any time, Gregory. I have a whole book of faery lore I’ve built over the years and you’re welcome to borrow it,” Frank said. He’d made a lap around the table and patted Gregory on the back.
“I’d love to borrow it, Frank.” Charlotte hid her smile at the back-and-forth by closing her laptop and disconnecting it from the meeting room’s screen. If only she could hide that smile from her heart.
“We’re all good here, then, right?” Emily asked. “I have a call.”
“We’re great,” Charlotte said. “Thank you all. I’ll email you an update on the project by the end of the week.”
The room emptied, but Gregory lingered and walked out with Charlotte. He nudged her with his shoulder. “Genius upgrade for my terrible idea,” Gregory said. “You didn’t have to give me any credit given the whole terrible part of it.”
During the presentation, Charlotte had mentioned Gregory sparking the idea. “You’re right, it was a terrible idea at first, but look what it’s led to. I never would have come up with the festival otherwise, and I think it has potential to make a splash and to potentially expand in the future. It will be like attending a faeries-only version of a renaissance faire, and who wouldn’t love that? Perhaps it could tie in with your idea for the local renfaire partnership?”
“Ooh, good call. Maybe we could talk more about it on our walk? We need to head over to the construction site again this afternoon. I’d like to share some thoughts.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte said. “I’d love that. As long as those thoughts aren’t terrible.” She nudged him with her shoulder. They were high schoolers, actually. Every brush with Gregory was like a gentle tug testing Charlotte’s resolve to not repeat the Chad situation.
He smirked. “I’ll see what I can do. Catch up with you in a few hours.”