Page 60 of Reaching Gavin

Chapter Twenty-One

When I gothome from Friday Harbor, I gave Olive the cat my vibrator.

“I won’t be needing this anymore,” I told her. She seemed distinctly less interested in it, now that it wasn’t taboo. Still, she carried it off. I wasn’t certain that Lillian would be thrilled with her new toy.

Thanks to the arrival of Gavin’s parents, who had come by ferry, we’d been able to swap modes of transportation. It had taken us longer to get home in Richard’s Land Rover. But, at least, I wasn’t going to spend the whole evening throwing up. His parents planned to fly home later this week. I made them promise to tell me as soon as they had made the journey safely. Richard had just laughed, with a questioning look in his eyes. Apparently, I was the only one who had a healthy fear of small aircraft.

It was late, so I didn’t bother to call the girls with an update. I was ready for my bed. Gavin had hinted at me coming over to spend the night at his place, but this weekend had been emotionally overwhelming—in the best possible way.

Still, I needed time to process what had happened between us. I suspected that a night apart now might be one of the last I spent alone. Our relationship wasn’t about to slow down. So, knowing that, and with the Majestic Theatre presentation in the morning, I’d chosen my place. I told him that I wanted to pour over my notes. Part of me felt guilty for not thinking about the presentation much while we were gone. Maybe Gavin and I would be good for each other—save one another from our workaholic tendencies.

But when I finally conceded that I couldn’t be anymore ready, I found it was hard to sleep without him. Between that and the looming presentation, I tossed and turned all night. I decided I’d take him up on spending the night in the future.

The next morning I chose an ivory wrap dress that was polished, but not too professional, since I tended to feel overdressed in the office. I gave my reflection a pep talk as I finished my makeup. Dusting on the slightest bit of bronzer, I told myself, “You’ve got this. You’re a badass. No one is more prepared than you.”

I wished I believed any of it.

Danny, who remembered I had a presentation, ran out after me on my way to the building and handed me my coffee. “Good luck!”

I made it a few steps away before I remembered the last time I had seen him. “Did you ask her?” I called to him.

“She said yes!” He practically bounced back into Sound Coffee.

That was a promising omen.

The second good sign was waiting for me inside the lobby in a charcoal gray suit and a blue tie that brought out his eyes. I resisted the urge to walk over, grab hold of it and drag him into a dark corner.

George shot me a knowing look as Gavin greeted me. I hadn’t told my office friend about my romance, but it was clear he had guessed something was going on. I winked at him as Gavin and I walked toward the elevator, still carefully keeping a professional distance between us. I’d asked him to keep us hush-hush until I felt ready to share. With the presentation today and my intern status, now didn’t seem like a good time to let everyone know that we were romantically involved. No matter what his dad said. We’d deal with it later.

“Are you nervous?” he whispered as the elevator arrived. The doors slid open and we stepped inside.

“No,” I lied.

Gavin punched the button impatiently as we waited for the doors to close. Once they did, I was in his arms. It was a short elevator ride, which made the urgency of the kiss even more pronounced. I almost wished he’d hit the emergency stop. Gavin stepped away as a chime announced that we had arrived on our floor.

“I missed you,” he said with a quick squeeze of my hand before the doors reopened and deposited us onto a chaotic, office floor. Everyone who worked for the company seemed to be here. Some I’d never seen before.

“That’s the rest of the preservation committee,” Gavin said in a low voice as we walked toward our workspaces. I considered following him into his office, but the presentation was in less than an hour and while the distraction was tempting, I needed to focus. Gavin seemed to understand. He ducked down into my cubicle, where no one could see, and gave me one more swift kiss. “I’ll see you in there.”

The hour passed like someone had sped up the clocks. Before I knew it, I was standing in the conference room, which was packed full of people, and nervously preparing my PowerPoint. Gavin sat on one side of the table and Imogen on the other. I recognized most of the people sitting next to Gavin and the ones crowded behind him. Most of the people that were with Imogen were strangers. They had to be the rest of the preservation committee. It was like a really tense wedding where people were actually taking sides. Some of Imogen’s contingent looked a bit grouchy, but she gave me a bright smile. I wasn’t certain if that was to encourage me or because her parents had told her that the weekend had gone well. This weekend I would see if she wanted to go to Skee-Ball just the three of us. I assumed the presentation would go well enough that would be a good idea. I’d definitely be ready to blow off some steam either way.

Since both Trevor and I were preparing project proposals, all questions were saved until the end. I walked the audience through my carefully thought out proposal.

“The Majestic Theater is a Capitol Hill landmark,” I began. “NorthWest Investments wants it to continue to be for a long time.” I hadn’t bothered to go into the state of disrepair the building was in or the squatters who’d occupied it until we took possession. Instead, I focused on everything it had to offer the neighborhood already. “Our vision is a theater that will serve as a community gathering place, not just for classic films like Bringing Up Baby,” I couldn’t help but shoot Gavin a glance. He grinned, “but also for community events, concerts, graduations.” I clicked through a variety of stock images that I had gathered for the presentation before pausing on one of our architectural renderings of the restored space. “Concerns that the restoration process will be a burden on the community should be taken seriously. It’s our goal to work with the people who live in the surrounding areas during that time to make the process not only seamless but fun. We want the Capitol Hill community to know that we are part of their family.”

This part of the pitch had come to me late in the night, inspired by my time spent with the Sounds. “We’ll be hosting a variety of movie nights and community events. There will be fundraisers, which aren’t necessary to our budgets. Instead, they will foster a communal sense of ownership—that sense of unity is what we hope to achieve with the newly-restored Majestic Theater throughout are very long relationship with the theater and its patrons, past, present, and future.”

More than a few people clapped when I wrapped up. Since there were no questions, I grabbed my stuff to get out of the way so that Trevor could make his presentation. Gavin gave me a discreet thumbs up as I squeezed past him. I found a spot toward the back of the room, more than a few people scooting out of the way to give me some space.

“Great job,” the guy next to me said. A few others smiled. Until the question and answers portion allowed the preservation committee to respond, I wouldn’t know how everyone felt. Right now, I was soaring though. Not in a terrible, stomach-turning Cessna way, but rather I felt lighter than air. There had been a lot of great nonverbal feedback from the audience during the presentation. People were smiling and nodding. I had to take that as a good sign. Past any of that, it was over.

The room fell silent as Trevor began his presentation. He hadn’t opted for a simple PowerPoint like me. Instead, he had come up with some type of strange, movie-style trailer. It flashed images of the theater in its current state of disrepair while playing ominous music.

“The restoration of the Majestic Theater shouldn’t be seen as a blight on the community,” he said, and I cringed. He already sounded hostile. “Instead, it should be seen as what it is: the gentrification of a dying landmark. NorthWest Investments is its savior.”

Even from the back of the room, I saw Gavin’s shoulders go rigid. I was going to have to give him a back rub later. He might have to give me one, too. This was getting intense.

Trevor’s presentation didn’t get better from there. Somehow, he managed to insult our company, the preservation committee, the neighborhood, even the historic trust that oversaw many of the nation’s landmarks. He ended with, “This isn’t a question of if, but when. Without us, the Majestic Theater will be nothing more than a memory.”