Page 106 of Brighter Together

Ella

Idrop another sugar cube into my black coffee and try to stifle a yawn.

We’re halfway through meeting two of three, and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open.

This is entirely Tommy’s fault.

He woke me at six with his face between my legs, and somewhere between that and deciding we apparently needed to continue last night’s research, breakfast stopped being a realistic possibility.

I’m not complaining.

Much.

Across the table, Tommy looks almost as exhausted as I feel. He is quieter than yesterday and has spent most of this presentation leaning back in his chair with the expression of a man trying very hard to remain professionally polite.

“This was all very interesting. Thank you.” He closes the folder in front of him. “As I said, we’ll take all the proposals away and discuss them with our sales and legal teams before making a decision.”

I have to press my lips together.

Our sales team is Frank.

Our legal team is the local solicitor we occasionally send contracts to when something looks complicated.

The architects opposite us nod solemnly as though Tommy has just described an entire department of people waiting in Fellside to analyse their proposal.

A few minutes later, we escape onto the pavement.

Tommy’s hand settles automatically against the small of my back as he guides me through the stream of people.

“They were worse than yesterday.”

I glance at him.

He looks genuinely offended.

“Did anyone read the brief we gave them?” he continues. “Greenview is Victorian. I don’t want it turned into something that looks like an airport lounge.”

I laugh loudly. “Airport lounge is harsh.”

“They gave me glass, chrome and furniture that looks uncomfortable on purpose.”

“That’s called contemporary.”

“That’s called paying a fortune to sit on something shaped like a plank.”

Normally I would keep winding him up.

Instead, my stomach tightens.

Because the next presentation will not be glass and chrome.

It will be warm timber, stone, sympathetic extensions and exactly the kind of understated luxury Tommy wants.

Because I designed it that way.

I know Tommy.

I know what makes him pause over an idea instead of dismissing it. I know which part of the hotel he wants to protect and where he thinks it can grow. I know he hates anything that feels too corporate and wants the expansion to look as though it has always belonged there.