Page 82 of Do It With Me

CHAPTER 36

HOLDEN

When the last of the students shuffled out, leaving coffee cups and confusion behind, I stayed exactly where I was. Pretending to organize papers. Pretending not to notice that Ellora was still sitting there in the back row with her arms crossed, watching me like she was deciding whether to stay or storm out.

“Hey,” I said finally, my voice rougher than it’d been during the lecture. It couldn’t be helped. The last few days had been long and difficult. I was so tired that even my tired was exhausted, but I’d finally come up with a plan. “Thanks for coming.”

She didn’t answer. Just nodded as those green eyes looked into mine like she was trying to develop x-ray vision. I took that as my cue to keep talking before she could tell me to go to hell.

“You want to know if this is really happening,” I said, my gaze never leaving hers. “It is. I just don’t have the approval yet, but I’ll get it.”

“How?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I thought you said⁠—”

“Most of the construction crews we’ve hired can handle renovations just as well as rebuilds,” I explained. “They’ll still have work. The only difference is that they’ll be restoring instead of destroying.”

I took a step closer to her. “It’ll actually be a lot cheaper this way. There will be fewer permits involved and less waste. The board won’t like it at first, but they’ll love the savings. The only people that will lose out on this plan is the demolition crew, but I’m paying them off myself. Out of my own pocket.”

“Does that mean…” She trailed off, her eyelashes fluttering as she blinked rapidly. “Does this mean that it all gets to stay?”

I nodded. “Nothing gets torn down. Not your shop or any of the others either. Some of the buildings need a lot of work. Yours is one of them. We might still need the demolition crew to knock down some walls and that kind of thing, but in general, it’s all staying. Exactly where it is. Just not exactly how it is.”

Her eyebrows lifted, disbelief flickering into something that almost looked like hope. “Why go through all this trouble now, though?”

I laughed, but it came out more like a sigh. “Because I was an idiot, and because you were right when you told me that talk is cheap. I couldn’t fix what I broke with words, so I’m fixing it with actions instead.”

Her gaze held mine, but I had no idea if she believed me yet or if she just thought I was pulling some kind of stunt. I wasn’t walking away until I made things right. This was my fight and I finally felt like maybe I had a shot at winning it.

All I needed to do was get her to stand beside me.

I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling like I was about to step off a cliff. “If we do it this way, renovating and not rebuilding, we’d still be fixing up the block, making it safer and prettier, which will also bring in more foot traffic. You’d get more customers and so would everyone else.”

Ellora was silent, but I was hoping she was thinking through my new proposal.

“Would that be okay?” I asked quietly. “I mean, is that something you’d actually be happy with?”

For a second, she stared at me like she was waiting for the punchline. Then finally, she nodded. “That would be better than just okay.”

The knot in my chest loosened. “Okay. Good. There’s, uh, there’s just one more thing.”

Her eyebrows arched with suspicion. “I knew this was too good to be true.”

“We still need the board to agree, which means I’m going to have to pitch it to them like my life depends on it.”

She tilted her head. “How exactly do you plan to do that?”

I grinned. “By cheating.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Cheating?”

“Yep. I want you there. Come be my secret weapon. You’re better at selling people on a feeling than I’ll ever be. You built a whole community out of thin air with Second Story Sunday.” I paused. “So, how about it? Show off some of those business skills I’ve been pretending to teach you.”

She huffed out a little laugh. “Are you seriously asking me to help you convince a room full of billionaires not to be greedy?”

“They’re not billionaires. I’ll be the only one of those in the room and I’m already onboard, but yeah. Who better than you?”

She looked at me for a long moment, like she was trying to decide whether I was serious or just hopelessly naive, but then she sighed, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. “Fine, I’ll do it, but if it goes sideways, I’m blaming you. I’ve never pitched a board before.”

“Deal, but if it works, I’m blaming you.” I exhaled a long breath, the first tendrils of relief snaking through me. “Jimmy set up a meeting with them for tomorrow morning. We had to get it on the books sooner rather than later. I hope you’re ready to go to work.”