Page 82 of Unmatched

Henry’s offer is open on my laptop. I still feel bad about our meeting in my office on Wednesday. He was being pushy, but I hadn’t meant to snap at him. He could probably sense I’d been impulsive about the decision and was just trying to get me to reconsider. Well, I guess it worked after all because here I am, reconsidering. But I can’t bring myself to make the call.

I wish I could talk to Anton about it.

Except I already have.

“Anton never insisted I quit,” I say quietly, more to myself than my sister. “I think his point was I’m over-committed.”

“Anton’s never been a female in business.” Celia sniffs. “Who is making the offer, by the way? Is it anyone you know? Think they might consider a counter of some kind?”

I pause, trying to process her suggestion. “What do you mean?”

“It’s kind of a long shot, and might not be something you’re interested in, but you could see if they’d be willing to hammer out some sort of compromise. Maybe not a full acquisition, but more of a partnership?”

I take a sharp breath. And it’s like something clicks in the back of my mind.

I scroll through the offer again. To the section where Henry specified that he wanted me to stay on for a limited time as a consultant. Meaning, stick around and run things because he knows nothing about dog care. And, I’m willing to bet, he really doesn’t want to know either. Henry’s goal is purely to improve the business and make money.

“Celia...thank you.” My heart races to keep pace with my mind, but I force myself to breathe, slow down, and extend genuine praise to my sister. “You really are good at what you do.”

Charlotte gives me a brief hug as I walk through the reception area of her office. “You look like someone who’s been weighing big decisions.”

“You could say that,” I mutter, following her to a small conference room. “Thanks for working on this so quickly.”

She waves her hand in the air as we each take a seat. “This is how these sorts of deals happen. Lots of overthinking and back-and-forth, then suddenly, it’s done.”

I fidget with my paw print necklace. “We’ll see about that.”

I ended up being too chicken to contact Henry myself. If Anton had been here, we might’ve managed it together. Approached him as a team. He could’ve smoothed out all the things I’d handled badly. But since we still haven’t spoken, and because I’ve already screwed up enough to nearly ruin things, I felt more comfortable letting Charlotte handle the delivery of my counter-proposal.

The door opens, and in walks Henry Hill, followed by another man in a suit and glasses. Presumably his attorney. Charlotte greets them both like the cool professional she is, and I’m grateful for her. I haven’t actually spoken to Henry since I essentially stomped on his offer and threw him out of my office. Maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but I do wish I’d handled it differently.

Charlotte gestures for the men to sit, then turns to me. “Lydia Richie, this is Mr. Hill, whom I understand you already know, and his attorney, Mr. Lunter.”

“Yes.” I extend my arm to shake their hands. “Nice to meet you. And good to see you again, Henry.”

He takes my hand with a bright smile. “Glad you were willing to give the deal some more thought.”

I blush a little, sure we’re both recalling the impulsive way I last spoke to him. “Yes, well, this is a bit different from the deal you originally proposed.”

“True.” He cocks an eyebrow. “But this might actually work out better.”

I exhale a little, hearing him validate my own hopes. Not just for the Pooches, but maybe all parts of my life.

“Mr. Lunter and I have already nailed down the financial details, and that’s all in order.” Charlotte puts on a pair of glasses, shuffling through the papers in front of her. “But before we move forward, we should discuss how you each envision this working. How do you see your roles as co-owners of Ooh La Pooch and the rapidly growing Pooch Park?”

I take a deep breath, again grateful for Charlotte’s wisdom and ability to think with her feet on the ground. All I’ve been able to do for the past forty-eight hours is rehash Anton’s words from the other morning. You put all you have into work, and there’s nothing left.

“I...I want to have more time to focus on certain things. I love the Pooches, and they’re both thriving, but I do have a number of balls in the air.” I pause at Henry’s confused expression. “Sorry, ‘The Pooches’ is Anton’s nickname for both businesses.”

“Ah. Cute,” he says.

“There are things I truly adore about running The Pooch Park and Ooh La Pooch,” I press on. “I love making clients feel their dogs are special to us. I love making my employees feel valued and important. And I love getting to play with the actual dogs.” Henry nods as he listens, the corner of his mouth twitching when I mention our canine clients. He carefully removes a hair from his sleeve. “The things I don’t love about running the Pooches? Processing payroll, staying up-to-date on insurance and employee benefits, figuring out anything to do with our taxes...”

Henry sits forward. “I have systems to streamline all of those things. And more.”

“I thought you might.” I offer a warm smile. “I think I’m ready to not wear every hat myself, but I love my businesses. I still want to be involved on a day-to-day level, but maybe not twenty-four hours a day. And I have specific ideas about possible expansion.”

“Mr. Hill,” Charlotte asks. “Does Ms. Richie’s description match up with how you’re envisioning this partnership?”

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