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Instead she had spent two weeks in England, came back and said nothing at all. I was desperate for her to forgive me, but I knew I had to wait for the right moment. At least, I hoped there would be a right time to get her back and show her I was sorry and had misunderstood a situation.
No matter how much I thought about it, I knew there was nothing I could do right now. I just hoped she was okay and the rest of the team could handle the meeting for me.
A buzz from my phone made me jump. I’d put it down on Sarai’s desk in the hope that I wouldn’t keep checking the time and making myself more anxious. Now, I hurried back to it and checked what I was being told. There was a message from Henry.
They aren’t happy you’re not here. Even Kit is picking up on it. We might need you.
I frowned. Sarai had feared this, but the rest of us had reassured her. I hated the idea of being wrong on this one.
Are you sure? What are they worried about? Would Kit mind if I came in?
Although I wanted the answer to be yes, I had to assume it would be a no and try to figure out how to fix this another way. I’d keep my promise to Kit if I needed to. I had to try, at least.
As I considered the problem, I pulled a piece of paper toward myself and jotted down thoughts, as I always did in this sort of predicament. If the investors were worried, then I needed to reassure them somehow. And I had to put it into words the investors would understand.
I was still working on my proposal when I received another message from Henry.
They think you’re not taking this seriously. That you won’t be as involved as they want, and other minor concerns. They’re also not being very polite to Kit. Like they think she’s an amateur. I don’t know if she’d want you to be here. I think you might want to get in here, but I know you want to keep your promise. We were all wrong.
It was more information for me to go on in wording my proposal, but it was also a sign we were losing control. I knew I couldn’t break my promise, however. If Kit didn’t want to bring me in, then I was going to rescue it as best as I could from somewhere else.
I was most of the way through an email to Henry that would hopefully clear up why I wasn’t there, even if it was a lie, reiterate that I didn’t want to miss the meeting but I felt the people in the meeting presently were all very good at what they did and could be trusted to carry my voice.
As I thought about how to phrase a particular section and try to convince the investors not to pull out after all the effort we had put in, I was disturbed by yet another buzz.
We need you. Kit agrees. Even she is asking if we can get you in the meeting.
For a fraction of a second I couldn’t process what Henry was telling me. I was losing the project that would keep Kit in the US, and she was finally letting me into the room with her? I didn’t know whether to be happy or upset but I grabbed my notes and took a glance at myself in a mirror Sarai had by her door before I hurried through.
I wasn’t the most presentable I had ever been, but it would suffice. I could appear a little distressed and as if I had rushed.I wasn’t planning on letting the investors push anyone around and sometimes, even when they knew their money was needed, they had to be reminded this was our dream, and if they chose not to be onboard, they would only delay us, not stop us.
It wasn’t a huge threat. Some of them might be happy with leaving the project alone and not being involved, but given the press on the last project and Richard’s early figures, we were showing a good track record. They truly were getting their panties in a bundle simply because I wasn’t there.
Although I had hurried to get there, I slowed before I opened the door and walked into the room.
“My apologies for not being here sooner. I had an important matter to attend to with another client and assumed when Henry told you he was capable of speaking for me you would understand it to be true. I trust all the people in this room to do their jobs or I wouldn’t be working with them.”
“We understand you’re a busy man, but we believe this project deserves your time and dedication as well,” one of the women replied, crossing her arms.
“You misunderstand me. Sending Henry here rather than using him elsewherewasgiving you the best of my time that I could in the moment. This project will get everything it needs from me and the best of them. Either you trust my faith in them or you don’t. If the latter is true, then I suggest you leave now.” I also crossed my arms, making it clear their doubt angered me.
For a few seconds no one spoke, until Sarai stepped forward. “If no one else wants to complain about Lukas, perhaps we can get on with talking about how this will be handled. There are several stages we want to make happen at the same time to cut down on the length of the project and make sure we are delivering your returns as swiftly as we can.”
Sarai kept the investors’ attention for the next few minutes, but it was clear they were still upset about me not being here atthe beginning and the way they had been spoken to. I tried not to worry about it, and let Sarai continue her talk. I had no seat, however, and I knew Kit was in the room.
I wasn’t sure I dared to look at her, but when I finally did, I met her gaze. She gave me a half smile before she looked away again. It was a much kinder reaction to my presence than I had been expecting, and I relaxed a little more. I took it as a good sign and leaned against the wall, out of the way.
I had hoped just being in the room and present would have been enough to deter any more trouble from the investors, but when Sarai began talking about the interior design and how well it had gone with the previous project, she was interrupted.
“This is another matter we all have concerns about,” the same investor who had shown her anger at me spoke up. “We don’t understand why you would choose to use an inexperienced amateur from another country when there are many good interior designers we all know and trust. We’ve made a list of alternatives we’d like you to consider.”
Silence fell in the room, and even I didn’t know what to say. Sarai’s mouth fell open. No one had expected them to be so rude about Kit while she was present.
CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT
Kit
Being insulted during the investors’ meeting hadn’t been something I had expected. While I knew I had the least experience of everyone present, I’d felt like I had done a good job.
