AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh-huh. Speaking of… back to business. How are we making this happen?”
“I don’t know. I guess we just try to brainstorm this week and come up with some ideas. Then we’ll reconvene and formulate a game plan. Hope that the place doesn’t sell in the meantime.”
“But what if it does?”
“Then I guess we find another place.”
“But this one is so perfect…” I stare down at the pictures again spread out over the table.
“It really is. So… Where there’s a will there’s a way. You work your connections, and I’ll work mine. We’ll figure it out.” Bea gives me a determined smile, and I return it.
We can do this. Somehow, someway, this is all going to work out for us. Even if it means some sacrifices along the way. After all… what thing worth having in life doesn’t require at least one or two? Eventually, there’s always a fork in the road.
26
Quentin
“She won’t ask you,so I am.” Bea looks at me, brushing her curly brown hair back over her shoulder.
“Okay. What’s the big ask?” I smile, thinking it must be some sort of sponsorship Madison thinks I’ll hate and is sending her softer-hearted emissary in her place.
“It’s for the place in the mountains. The one we’re trying to buy. Has she shown you the pictures of it yet?”
“No. Didn’t know she was looking to buy at all.” I get a sinking sensation in my stomach.
“Oh. I thought she might have mentioned it by now, but maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it.” Bea frowns.
“Well, you can’t leave me hanging.”
“I mean, it’s not really a secret. Everyone knows we’ve been working on it for a while. Our first set of plans fell through in Colorado. Then we lost our investors. That’s how she ended upon the team here instead. How I ended up kind of jobless myself.”
“I’m sorry. I know it hasn’t been easy for either of you.”
“Well… growing pains when you’re trying to figure this business stuff out, you know?”
“I can imagine.”
“We’ve been planning to put together a sort of PR retreat. It’d be a place people could go when they’re having trouble—going through a divorce, long-term recovery from an accident, rebranding, whatever the case may be that they’ve suddenly been thrust into unwanted limelight. Not a rehab facility or anything serious like that. We’re not qualified if they need medical interventions, but after—if they want help with the next steps when they’ve finished with the medical professionals, they’d come to us. Somewhere to get away from the flashing lights for a bit and rethink things. We’d be available to strategize and then they’d have resort facilities where they could relax and recenter.”
“Huh. Not a bad idea.”
“Yeah. Madison came up with it last year when her brother was going through it. The bad press was making him spiral while he was trying to recover from the accident, and he really just needed a place to escape. She wanted to make sure people didn’t have to go through that in the future.”
“Makes sense.”
“We’d specialize in athletes too since Madison and I both have experience in that realm. Would have been perfect for someone like you during your transition from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati. You know?”
“Right. I can see that. I could have used a resort.” I laugh. “So would you oversee it from here or?”
“No. We’d move to head the place up. We might be able to hand it off eventually. Start a second one out west, but we’dneed to be onsite initially. We’d be the main draw, obviously, with our experience as far as brand and PR strategy.”
“And where is this place?”
“Mountains of Virginia. It’s a gorgeous place. Former B&B.” My heart sinks hard.
“And you’re buying this place? Or you’ve already bought it?”
“That’s where the ask comes in. We’re looking for investors. We don’t want to ask family, and our brothers have all been investing in their own charities and projects. So we’re looking elsewhere for someone or someones who can see the benefit of this kind of place. We’ve got numbers all drawn up if you’d like to see the portfolio our business manager put together.”
