Page 26 of Make Her Mine

Total silence reigned. Mia’s arm fell away from her shoulder and she leaned back to look at her with incredulity written all over her face. “Say what, girl?”

Well, that cat was well and truly out of the bag now. “Normally, I wouldn’t involve you all in my personal life, but this…” Casting her gaze heavenward, Esme blew a big clump of her bangs off of her forehead. “I don’t regret it, although it was crazy?—”

“An understatement, honey,” Harper chimed in. “You two were at loggerheads that one time I saw her come in and ask to talk to you. Sleeping together? How’d that even happen?”

“Yeah, Esme, how’d it happen?” Sasha asked with narrowed eyes.

Surveying the array of her employees and friends all focused on her, awaiting her response, Esme squirmed again. “It just did. And it didn’t end well, as you’d expect, since she wanted to close this place down and I didn’t… but I went too far, said one thing wrong one too many times. So even if we had a chance to stay in the Lounge, I don’t think she’d be interested in hearing me out after the way I’ve acted.” She picked at her cuticles. “Anyway. I think we have to close. I haven’t decided what to do next. I’m sorry, so sorry that I’ve caused all of this, that I don’t have any answers for you. But you did deserve to know about the mess I’ve dropped you in, and I promise I’ll try to figure things out so that?—”

A noisy pounding at the Lounge door interrupted her. Everyone craned their necks to see who it was. Esme stood and leaned over the stairway railing to catch a glimpse, and she gasped.

Nora.

Nora, and she wasn’t alone. Oliver and Matthew Fairchild were standing behind her, and all three of them looked excited. “Please, Esme. Let us in.”

Sasha had begun to walk to the door when Esme leaped down the stairs and pushed past her. Fumbling with the locks, she eventually got them all unlatched and yanked the door open. For a moment, she just stood there in the doorway, staring at Nora, and she knew she had a big dopey grin on her face.

Oliver waved a hand, peering over Nora’s shoulder. “Are you going to let us in?”

“Oh! Um. Yes. Sorry.” Esme stood back and gestured for them to come in. But as Nora passed, she grabbed her hand and held her in place. Their eyes met, and it made Esme’s heart hurt to see the shuttered, closed-off indifference in Nora’s. “I’m so sorry, Nora,” she said in a whisper, hoping Nora could see the sincerity in her face.

Perhaps she did. Nora’s face softened just a bit, and she squeezed Esme’s hand. “We can talk later.” She looked at everyone gathered there. “I’ve got something more important to discuss now. It’ll affect you all.”

“Jesus, not more,” Cam muttered, running a hand through her hair. “Esme’s already told us we’re gonna have to shut down, are you here to rub salt in that wound?”

Nora looked at Esme, startled. “You’re shutting down?”

“I’m not fighting you on the eviction, I won’t try to convince you to let us stay open.” Esme clarified. “And I told them about us.”

“Oh.” Nora blinked. Then she shook her head. “We’ll talk about the second half of that later, too. For now, let’s talk about not closing the Lounge.”

Chatter and babble erupted around them, but Esme just kept staring up at Nora, frowning in confusion. “We’re not profitable enough to stay here. You’ve said that. For you, it makes better business sense not to have a struggling café in this building.”

“I also said I didn’t think said café was a good fit for what this neighborhood is growing into.” Nora raised an eyebrow. “I’ve said a lot of surprisingly ill-thought-out things over the last couple of months.”

Esme’s jaw dropped. “You didn’t say that to me!”

“She said it to me.” Oliver stepped forward. “Esme, I want to apologize for telling you there was no hope or future for the Lounge. I’ve thought hard about it for the last few weeks.”

“I’ve been giving him hell about it myself,” Matt volunteered as he leaned against a wall, arms crossed over his chest. “Asshole thing to say. The Lounge belongs here.”

Now Esme was more confused than ever. She looked at each of them, swiveling her head as she sought understanding. “Ollie, you said even expanding wouldn’t help us. And Nora, what even is this about us not fitting in?”

“I’m glad you put those two thoughts together.” Nora tugged her through the crowd of employees and friends and up the staircase to the mezzanine. Dropping Esme’s hand, she clapped for attention, three quick sharp rifle reports echoing through the nearly-empty cavern of a dance hall. “Folks, I’ve got some ideas to save the Indigo Lounge.”

Nora reveled in the shock, cautious delight, and hopeful confusion on the faces around her. It wasn’t a series of reactions she’d had reason to cause before, and she rather liked it.

She didn’t revel for long. There was no time to. For her plans to work, they all had to hit the ground running tomorrow morning when the banks opened for the day. Nora clasped her hands and addressed the group, aware the whole time of Esme’s trembling presence beside her. “All right. I’ve been doing some research the last few days, trying to find a place for the Lounge to relocate to.” At the start of disgruntled mumbling, she held up a hand. “Hey, I don’t normally get involved with the post-eviction life of the businesses that were in my buildings. I did this time because of Esme.”

At the sound of a tiny gasp from Esme, Nora turned her head and smiled. “Your spirit and the clear love you have for the Lounge, the love everyone here has for it and for you… that got to me. You got to me in a way no one has in a long time, Esme. Even though you really have done a number on me emotionally these last few weeks.” She grinned at Esme’s blush, then turned back to the crowd. “It’s become clear to me that the Lounge really does belong here, where it is. It was founded on hopes and dreams and sheer good fortune thanks to Leonard Fairchild. Moving it to any other location would just… kill all of that. I don’t think it would recover. It certainly wouldn’t be the same.”

Next to her, Esme let out a tiny whimper before asking, “But how can we survive here?”

“You can’t, the way you are. But I think I need to take a leaf out of Leonard’s book. I remember the story you told me, Esme, about how he took a chance on you. It’s stuck with me.”

“Go on,” Esme breathed.

“I would like you to expand into the empty space next door. Oliver says you’ve been trying to get them to rent it to you for years. Take and make a new Indigo Lounge. Same heart and soul but bigger. Room for more clientele, a stage that can fit a goddamn symphony orchestra.” Nora nodded at the chef, who was glowering at the two of them. “The gourmet kitchen of your Michelin star dreams, Chef.”

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