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Once I’ve finished my first cup of coffee and started into my second, I reluctantly pull last night’s suit back on, thankful I have a spare in the office. Deciding I might as well get the groveling over with in the privacy of my hotel room, I pull up Caroline DuPont’s contact information and wait for her to answer my call.
“Mr. Clarke, I thought I might hear from you.” Her tone doesn’t sound irritatedper se,but she doesn’t exactly sound pleased to hear from me either. Then again, I am calling her on a Saturday morning.
“I’m so sorry to bother you during your weekend, Mrs. DuPont. Unfortunately, I found out that there was a problem with the courier yesterday and our proposal has been delayed.”
There is silence on the other end of the line, so I decide to continue.
“I wanted you to know that Clarke Hotels doesn’t make a habit of this kind of thing—”
“I should hope not,” she huffs across the line.
“Would you be open to accepting a proposal from us past the deadline? I realize it’s not standard business practice, but I believe ours will be the best you receive, not just financially but with your outlined stipulations. I’m sure there’s something that we could work out.”
I rub my hand over my face, trying to bring down my blood pressure a few notches. Caroline DuPont wasn’t exactly my biggest fan even before I missed the deadline. Another thing I have to thank Patrick Shaw for. If he thought I was a pain in the ass before, he doesn’t know the hell he’s brought down upon himself.
“This is highly unusual, Mr. Clarke. All the other interested parties submitted their proposals on time. You’re the only one that seems to think it’s alright to disrespect my deadline.”
“That’s not it at all. I can promise you. You’ll find that I don’t play those kinds of games.” I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to lay it out for her. She’s not buying my brand of bullshit. “To be quite honest with you, we think there was a problem with the employee that was supposed to send it out. That’s not an excuse, it’s an explanation. Now that I’m aware of the issue, I can assure you something like that will never happen again.”
There’s a tense silence between the two of us for another few heartbeats before she continues in a considerably lighter tone, surprising me.
“Hiring an employee like that should make me question your judgment. However, I got to meet your lovely assistant, Hollie. Now that one’s a keeper and the person you should entrust such an important task to.”
I almost choke. It’s all I can do to not sputter into the phone. My hand is squeezing the delicate device too tightly, I can hear the plastic creek under the pressure. I have to make a conscious effort to loosen my grip before I have to get a replacement.
“Yes, I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind in the future.” There’s no way I’m telling her that Hollie is the employee in question. She seems to have some affection for my former assistant. Of fucking course.
“You know, you’re really going to have to give that young lady a raise.”
The last thing I want to do is talk about Hollie but I’m curious why she would have such a ridiculous notion.
“And why is that?” I ask.
She lets out a chuckle that I can barely hear over the miles that separate us before continuing. “I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Clarke… I decided to sell the property to you after I spoke to Hollie earlier in the week.”
“Excuse me?” the question comes out in a little squeak that would have wounded my male pride if I had any left at this point. “You spoke to my Hollie?”
She doesn’t even bother to hold back her laugh this time around. “She called me a few days after our meeting and asked about obtaining some of the old Village memorabilia I have sitting around. Wouldn’t tell me what exactly it was for, but I figured if there was someone that wanted to keep something of the old place, they probably deserved to be entrusted with the whole thing. Few people care about preserving the past anymore and if either your company or even Hollie in particular wants to do so, with something so small as even a room key, then I think they’re the right people to protect my city.”
Well, fuck.I wondered where Hollie found that key. She had gone straight to the woman herself. She did that for me. But why? She had no reason to do something like that for me when she was only trying to get close enough to me to fuck up this deal for her father.
Now I find out, because of that one kind gesture she made for me, I’m going to get the property I’ve had my eye on for months. Years, if I’m honest. What am I supposed to do with that kind of information? The Village was all I ever wanted until I thought I had Hollie. Then all I wanted was her. At least I’ll get out of this with one of them.
“You’re sure?”
“Don’t try to talk me out of it. Yes, I’m sure. Unless whatever you send me is outrageous, you officially have a site for your next Clarke Hotel. Just do me proud Mr. Clarke… or I’ll come back and haunt you.”
Laughter bursts forth from my chest. When this woman isn’t actively hating my guts, she’s rather amusing. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I think we’ve got a lot of years to come before I have to worry about that problem.”
“Flatterer.”
An idea is circling my head, one that was planted there by my wayward assistant and is being stoked by Caroline DuPont herself. It’s not what I presented to the board, but the past day has been such an emotional shit show that I don’t care. This is what I want. If I have to use my own money, then I will.
“Mrs. DuPont, I have an idea I want to run by you.”
∞
By the time I make it to the office, it’s already past eleven. I’m ready to put on a clean suit and get to work on the new proposal for the Santa Cruz project. It’s nice to not have the pressure of competition at this point if I believe Caroline DuPont. And surprisingly, I do.
