Page 117 of The Romance Library

‘It does.’ Edwin nodded.

I smiled at him softly. I was glad that Candace had shared that information with me and Theo. I wanted Edwin to know that I understood how important this place was to him.

‘We don’t want to tear this beautiful building down. We want to restore it. It’s an important part of the community and we want to honour that. And because we won’t be bulldozing it, there’ll be minimal disruption to the town. The renovation time will be limited.’

Edwin nodded encouragingly.

This was only the tip of the iceberg. I had so many other ideas of what could be done with this space. But hopefully I’d given Edwin enough to seal the deal.

After I talked through the design library layout plan the original architect I’d liaised with had sent over, I clicked on to the last slide.

‘That’s the end of my presentation. Thank you for listening.’

I smiled as I scanned the room.

Theo was beaming, pride shining from his eyes, and the sight made my stomach flip. I’d hoped it went okay, but the look on his face told me I’d done a decent job. My shoulders loosened, especially when I saw Edwin was smiling too.

George, of course, was scowling like I’d just presented a seminar on how to commit murder. Then again, he struck me as an evil man, so he’d probably have enjoyed listening to that much more.

The main point was I’d done my best.

Time would tell whether that was good enough.

37

Theo

‘Thank you, Jessica,’ Edwin said.

As Jess took her seat, I beamed with pride.

She’d knocked her presentation out of the park, and I was so fucking proud of her my heart could burst.

Right now, I wished I could scoop Jess up in my arms, spin her around and tell her how brilliant she was.

Although I was happy with how my presentation went, I had to be honest. After spending time in Sunshine Bay, deep down I knew Jess’s library would be a much better fit for the town. Especially as it’d mean Edwin could keep the building intact.

Ever since Candace had shared that info about this school being part of Edwin’s family history, I’d felt guilty about the fact that a company I worked for wanted to tear it down.

I’d lost count of the number of times I’d considered whether I wanted to go ahead with this pitch. If I removed myself from the race, Jess and I would no longer be competitors and the building’s legacy would remain.

I wanted Jess to win. And in that moment, everything became clear. I knew exactly what I was going to do.

Father wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t care. I was tired of the way he treated me. When he’d turned up unannounced to check on me, my blood had boiled hotter than a volcano. I’d already told him I had it handled. But, yet again, he didn’t trust me.

And the way he’d interrupted both our presentations was unacceptable.

‘So I trust you’d like to move forward with our proposal?’ Father stepped towards Edwin and I cringed.

‘Thank you for your time, Edwin,’ I jumped in. ‘We’ll leave you to gather your thoughts. Father, I need speak to you,’ I said sternly. ‘Now. In private.’

‘I’ll be in touch either later today or tomorrow,’ Edwin replied, his expression neutral.

‘Bye.’ I turned to Jess, who was packing up her things. I was desperate to stay and speak to her, but I had something important to take care of first. ‘Follow me.’ I gestured to my father, leading him to the back of the building.

‘What was all that nonsense about voluntarily providing affordable housing?’ he snapped the second we stepped out into the corridor. ‘That would take up a considerable amount of land and will cost us millions!’

‘Not everything’s about money,’ I fired back.

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