“Lauren?” Asa was saying now, his voice gentle. She realized she’d been staring at his animated face while he was talking without registering most of his actual words. They’d rehearsed their presentation a few times, so she knew basically what he’d said, but still. She cleared her throat.
“These outline estimated expenses, as well as projections for ticket sales adjusting for the discounts and deals we came up with,” she said, passing the report she’d prepared to Dolores. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daniel make a face, as if she’d literally pulled his work off the printer and tried to hand it off as her own. She gave him a placid smile and was gratified when he broke eye contact first, looking down at his pointy-tipped leather shoes.
“This looks fantastic,” Dolores said, scanning down the first page before flipping to the next. “Truly, I’m impressed by the attention to detail here, and the creativity.”
Lauren allowed herself a quick glance at Asa, who looked about two seconds away from an actual fist pump. “Thank you—” she started, but Dolores cut her off.
“I’ve been in touch with a potential buyer for Cold World, and they have such a vision for how they can modernize the place. It’s the same group behind that boutique hotel on Orange, the one with the iron gate, what’s it called . . . Anyway, this report is going to be so helpful in showing them all the possibility here.”
That dip of dread was back, but this time it was a full plummet. Lauren almost didn’t know what to say. A potential buyer? Had that been the plan all along? To come up with ideas for Cold World only to have them . . . used by someone else?
If she was stunned by this news, she could only imagine how Asa must feel. And yet she couldn’t even look at him. She didn’t want to see the look on his face. She didn’t want to see his heartbreak, knowing that on some level she was responsible for it. Why had she let them dream at all? Why had she thrown herself into this, instead of practicing caution the way she normally did?
Surprisingly, it was Daniel who spoke up first. “You’re selling Cold World?” he demanded, his familial relationship with Dolores allowing him to openly say what they were all thinking.
Dolores hesitated, looking genuinely regretful. “I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t decided yet. But it would make sense to do it now . . .” Finally, she seemed to remember who she was talking to, the circumstances that had brought them all into her office. The meeting she had called—and then completely changed the rules for. “Of course, any contract will have clauses about retaining key employees. Lauren, the business will always need someone to handle its accounts, no matter what it turns into . . . there might even be a promotion in it for you. Vice president of finance. Something like that. I don’t know how these investment groups handle these sorts of things, but it would be a great opportunity. And Asa—”
Dolores broke off abruptly, dabbing a manicured finger delicately under one eye. “You’re the heart and soul of this place,” she said. “You have been from the day you first arrived, all bony elbows and that uneven hair, like you’d taken a Weedwacker to it. You walked into the Snow Globe and started singing ‘White Christmas’ like you were Bing Crosby himself, even though you couldn’t carry a tune to save your life—” She reached out, even though she was too far away to put her hand on Asa’s arm like she clearly intended. “—I’m sorry, my darling, but you know it’s true.”
Lauren did risk a glance at Asa then. His jaw was tensed, his Adam’s apple working as though he was having difficulty swallowing. “I remember,” he said.
“I know you’ve always said you didn’t want to be in management,” Dolores continued, “but I could recommend—”
“What if I went to part time,” Lauren cut in. She couldn’t stand to see that look on Asa’s face anymore, couldn’t stand the idea that Cold World would be run by some soulless corporate overlord. “I could do the most important parts of my job in twenty hours a week. I know I could. That would save you half of my salary.”
Dolores frowned. “But your benefits—”
“You’d save on those, too,” Lauren said, taking a deep breath. “I applied to go back to school to get enough credits to sit for the CPA exam. I’ll be eligible for cheaper health insurance through that program, anyway. And we can also—”
“Wait, you applied for what?” Asa said, and when Lauren turned to face him, he didn’t look any better than he had before. If anything, he looked worse.
“Well, technically I already got in,” Lauren said. “It’s a master’s in accounting, half the program’s online, I don’t think it’s that competitive so it’s not like—”
“You got in?” Asa’s expression was completely inscrutable to Lauren. She could see a flash of something familiar, a hint of pride or joy or another emotion she might’ve expected. But then that fell away, and she couldn’t interpret what was left.
Dolores interrupted before Lauren could say anything more. “That is very generous of you, Lauren, and I do appreciate the thought. But it wouldn’t be enough. The truth is that Cold World—”
She broke off as Asa turned and, without saying another word, left through the office door, shutting it quietly after him. She looked up at Lauren, seeming more bemused than upset by his sudden exit.
Lauren just stared at the closed door. She knew how much this place meant to Asa, could only imagine what he must be going through thinking that it might be sold. But couldn’t he see that was why they had to keep working, come up with another idea, find some way to convince Dolores not to do it? She couldn’t shake the fear that he was upset about more than just Cold World. That it had something to do with her.
“Good riddance,” Daniel said, breaking into her thoughts. “Like some paint on the wall is going to completely revolutionize this place. But Mom, listen—”
Lauren couldn’t stand to hear another word that came out of his mouth. “I don’t know how much you’re paying him,” she said to Dolores, indicating Daniel with a dismissive gesture, “but there’s another line item you could cut from the budget. Not to mention untold legal fees and the amount of any future sexual harassment settlement.”
“Hey!” Daniel said, but Lauren didn’t bother sticking around to see what he could possibly have to say for himself. She had to go after Asa.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Asa didn’t know where to go. He found himself turning toward Lauren’s office as if by habit—she was the person he most wanted to process this with. But then he remembered that she’d been there, that she was part of what he needed to process in the first place, and he headed in the opposite direction instead. He kept going until he found himself in the “scary back room,” as Lauren had once called it, sliding down the wall until he was sitting on the floor next to a pile of broken ice skates.
Cold World was closing. Or being sold—as far as he was concerned, it was the same thing. This place—the place he’d considered a second home for the past ten years, the place where he’d found some measure of security and peace—was ending.
And Lauren was planning to leave. Just like she’d said she would, if the presentation didn’t go well. She’d gotten into a master’s program—a program she hadn’t even told him she’d applied to—and he knew part time was only a gateway to her moving on.
He was still sitting on the floor when he heard the door creak open, and Lauren stood in front of him, her face in shadow as she looked down, before she folded herself into a sitting position next to him on the floor. It wasn’t easy for her to do in her pencil skirt, and she apologized when she knocked her knee against his thigh. The soft “sorry” made Asa close his eyes.
“That could’ve gone better,” she said finally, her voice deceptively light.
He swallowed. “Yeah.”
“I actually thought our presentation went great,” she said. “Dolores seemed into our ideas. It’s just—”
“When were you going to tell me?” he asked. “About the master’s program.”