I’m watching this fall together like the easiest puzzle in the world, with the people I love most, and nothing ever felt so right. Nothing but loving Levi.
Levi.
My gaze darts toward the bar, but he’s gone. The wings on my stomach retract, and it falls back into place, heavier now.
I return my attention to the girls. “I absolutely love this idea. Nothing has ever felt so right, and there’s no one I’d rather do it with.”
KT’s grin is big and bright. “So, it’s a go?”
“Don’t you want to think about it?” I ask.
“I have,” KT says.
“I’d follow you both to the ends of the earth,” Chloe says.
Inside, yeah, I’m freaking out. “Then I guess it’s a go.”
“It’s a go,” Chloe says.
Our waitress appears with a round of drinks we didn’t order.
“These aren’t for us,” I say. “We didn’t order—”
“A birthday round from an anonymous source.”
“What are the
y?” KT asks.
“Ladybugs.”
Levi. He is so damn…just…Levi.
We thank the waitress, I tell the others what’s in a Ladybug because they’ve never heard of the drink, and KT and Chloe play a round of guess-who-sent-the-drinks. But when the attention refocuses on our previous conversation, Chloe lifts her Ladybug with a big grin. “To our birthday deal!”
KT and I meet her glass with our own.
After we drink, Chloe asks for her purse and rummages inside, pulling out a blank notepad. “Who’s ready to brainstorm?”
8
Laiyla
It’s been three days since my loan request was denied by the bank. Three days since I’ve seen Levi.
KT, Chloe, and I have split up areas of the business to research. We meet every night over wine and takeout, deciding what aspects we want to include in the initial rollout of the resort.
After six years in college and two decades in my parents’ hotels, I’m feeling a passion for my work for the first time. Long damn time coming. I have yet to tell my parents I’m not coming back to the company, but the way I feel about this project will make that so much easier than it would be otherwise.
We still have a ways to go before we can say this project is viable without an outside funding source, but we all agree on what we’d like to see. Bringing those ideas to fruition will depend on the contracting price and our budget. I don’t want to tell my parents until I’m 150% sure everything will fall into line.
I’m in my bed, using the internet to scope out similar houseboat rental facilities within a three-hour drive of LA. I want to know that what we’re building will exceed any facility already out there.
A knock on the wall signals KT standing in the doorway. There are no doors and absolutely no privacy, but I’m surprisingly okay with that.
“Hey,” I say, returning my gaze to the screen. “I’ve found more totally doable ways to bring in passive income. Launch ramp fees, dry storage, slip rentals, Jet Ski rental, pleasure boat rental, and you can charge separately for services rendered on visitors’ boats. Chloe can charge for retreats she leads.”
“Awesome.” She seems a little subdued.