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“That’s right.”
“We held a family meeting at lunch, and we have a proposition for you.”
A family meeting? Wow. That was superinvolved. How had they even managed it? Summer, Daniel, Max, and their families, plus their parents were in Australia.
“We’ve told you before that we’re interested in having our jewelry in Statham Stores.”
“Yes.”
“We’d only talked about you building a jewelry section before... but how about making it exclusive for Bennett Enterprises? In exchange, we’ll invest the necessary amount to even your liquidity ratio. We’d be silent partners, only getting involved in decisions regarding our products.”
Holy shit. They had actually gotten together today and discussed this.
I’d felt part of the Bennett family ever since my sister started dating Christopher, but never more than now. I had a sudden urge to hug everyone at the table.
“That’s a very generous offer. Thank you,” Winston said. He sounded stunned. I could see how that might seem perplexing to anyone who didn’t know the family as well as I did.
“Take your time and think about it,” Sebastian went on.
“I’ll get back to you quickly. I need to talk to the board first. Just to clarify, you’ve already got all the involved parties to agree to a partnership?”
Sebastian smiled, exchanging a furtive look with Logan and Pippa.
“Shares are distributed between family members. We debated it in the family meeting at lunch. Summer, Max, and Daniel participated via video calls.”
“You decided this... in a family meeting.” Despite still sounding perplexed, he was smiling.
“That’s how we do things in the Bennett clan,” Christopher said.
“Once we stop giving you shit,” Blake clarified. “See it as a rite of initiation. And now that we got business out of the way, let’s change the subject. Wouldn’t want to scare Winston into thinking that’s all we do when we get together,” Blake said. Everyone laughed, and there was a general hum of agreement.
The rest of the dinner was a leisurely affair. Business wasn’t mentioned again, though I suspected it was on everyone’s mind. It definitely was on mine.
I was really, really hoping Winston was considering it. I would have said yes in a heartbeat, but well, I was biased, of course. I was so full of energy I could barely sit still.
My euphoria kept intensifying, reaching a high point during dessert (chocolate chip ice cream with caramel and pistachio sauce).
I wanted to be alone with Winston and hear his thoughts on the proposal, but guess what’s the one thing you can’t get during a Bennett get-together? That’s right—alone time.
During after-dinner drinks, I managed to tone down my euphoria somewhat. I needed to be levelheaded and objective when Winston and I spoke about it, make a pro-con list, like we’d done this morning for all the other prospective partners. I started mentally making one. Honestly (and objectively!), this was the best deal of all. Sure, it would be an investment to add the jewelry division in the stores and include it in Statham’s branding, but the payoff was stellar.
And then there was me! Ha! I knew Bennett Enterprises, could make the whole process run much smoother than with a different company. I would definitely put myself in the pro list.
A dark thought popped in my mind. What if Winston didn’t? We’d been together for a short time. What if he thought that this offer came with strings, with expectations from my side? Oh my God.
Sometime in between dinner and drinks, I fell into a rabbit hole. My previous euphoria was completely gone. I was now trapped in the clutches of fear. Did he feel pressured?
By the time we left Victoria’s house, my heart was in my throat.
I fiddled with the hem of my sweater during the entire drive to my house.
“What’s on your mind?” Winston asked once we were inside.
“Just what Sebastian said.”
What was he thinking? I couldn’t tell.
The house was semidark. My pulse was so intense that I felt almost nauseous from the rhythmic pumping in my ears.
