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As we turned the corner, the property came into view.
"This is fabulous," Kimberly said. Right now, it was a huge field that sloped upward as the terrain of the mountains started. "And the view is absolutely breathtaking. How are zoning regulations?"
"You can't build close to the mountain."
"We could have most of the rooms look over on that side, and the spa area could open up directly to the mountain." Kimberly smiled widely. "This place would make people happy."
"What?" I asked, sure I misunderstood.
"I always say that I like my work to make people happy. I think it's one of the reasons I went into the travel industry—I loved finding the best destinations for my customers and imagining them coming back from their vacation relaxed and happy. I do the same with the hotel. Every time we’re considering an event or, well, any decision, I first try to imagine, on a scale of one to ten, how happy it would make the guests. Why are you so perplexed?"
"Oh, I'm glad it shows. It's because I am. You do make decisions based on numbers, too, right?"
She rolled her eyes. "Drake, I'm not a doofus."
"You're not. I'm sorry. It's just that I've never seen anyone in business talk with....”
"Heart?" she asked, shrugging and then smiling big. "I wear it on my sleeve, not buried under a pile of rubble like yours." She patted my shoulder. "No worries. I'll help you shovel some rubble away." She turned to look at the property.
Vlad, my contact, approached us a moment later.
"Hey, you two. It's so nice to meet the both of you." He first shook hands with Kimberly and then with me. "Obviously, there isn’t much I can tell you. Everything you see is everything we've got."
"How is this still available?" Kimberly asked. "Drake told me there was an inheritance fight."
"Exactly. It took years for it to process, and no one knows it’s available yet."
She looked at him sharply. "We'll decide by mid-next week."
He glanced at me. "I promised Drake until Sunday."
"That's impossible. Our main shareholder is flying in on Monday morning. Then he’ll need forty-eight hours to make an offer. Surely after so many years of fighting for the inheritance, they can wait for a few days?" She turned on her most charming smile. The poor idiot was practically melting at her feet.
Kimberly said she'd misjudged me, but I’d done the same with her. From her emails, I'd assumed she was difficult to work with and a person who liked to disagree with others on principle. I'd been wrong. The truth was, she had her very own principles, and she wasn't malleable. She couldn't be tamed.
She was fun when she wanted to get her way. And when she threw in that unique charm, it was hard to tell her no.
"I'm sure we can wait until Tuesday morning, but we’d need a decision very quickly," he replied.
"We’ll do our best. Thank you so much for being so accommodating. Now, walk us through every zoning requirement," Kimberly said.
I gave her an appreciative nod. We’d both read the document with zoning restrictions, but it was a good idea to double-check if there were any hidden ones. We had a better shot at finding out by grilling Vlad in person. In my experience, people tripped over their own words whenever they were lying.
We walked around the property, talking it over, for about an hour.
I looked over and saw Kimberly shivering. "Kimberly, you’re freezing. I think we have everything we need."
She nodded, holding her arms over her chest, looking at Vlad.
"Yes, we do. Vlad, thank you for everything. My cousin, and possible owner of this property, is going to fly in on Monday. My recommendation already is for him to make the move and buy, and I'm very confident that he'll do so, but he does need to see it first."
"Understood," he said. "Where are you staying? I can give you a lift back to the hotel."
"Oh thank God," Kimberly exclaimed. "If I stay out a second longer, I'm going to turn into an ice cube."
She folded her arms even tighter around herself, and I put a hand on her lower back while Vlad led us to his car. She straightened up, peeking at me.
"Just warming you up, Kimberly. I don't have a hot chocolate on hand, but I think I'll do the trick."
