Page 7 of Make Her Mine

Immediately, she sensed that this had been the wrong thing to say, but she didn’t know why. Esme was quick to let her know her mistake, though. “This is not a gay bar,” she snarled, her hands curling into white-knuckled fists. “This is a lesbian bar. A sapphic hot spot. It is also a café. It is a safe space for queer women. It is one of only thirty-three bars in the entire United States that is a women-centered queer space. You don’t even know the basic stats of the community you claim you’re part of?”

Never in her life had Nora felt so unprepared and wrong-footed. “I…” she began, unsure how to respond. No, she hadn’t known that.

“Gay bars are great! I’ve been in dozens of them. But they’re not a space that is specifically centered around the experiences of queer women. Of course, everybody is welcome here, but I want to shine the light on those who get pushed aside.” Esme’s face worked in a combination of what Nora thought might be anger and sorrow and who knew what else. She clearly had a lot of feelings on the subject. “You truly have no idea what damage you’re going to do. How many people you’re going to hurt. You’re selfish, ignorant, and not welcome here.” With a noisy smack of her hands on the tabletop, Esme got to her feet and glared down at Nora. “This conversation is over. Enjoy your nachos and please leave.” She turned and stalked off, leaving Nora sitting in shock.

The chef walked over with a brown cardboard box in her hand. “Want me to box those up for you?” she asked, gesturing to the untouched plate of nachos. Although it was couched as a question, Nora got the distinct feeling that it was, in actuality, an order. She sighed.

“Yeah, go ahead,” she said, slumping back in the booth, feeling like she’d been hit by a freight train, and not knowing what she could do to fix anything.

5

“We can come down to twelve million. No lower.” Alexandra Fairchild crossed her arms over the lapels of her tweedy red Chanel blazer. Nora got the impression that Alexandra thought she was a tough negotiator. In that suit, which hadn’t been tailored for a perfect fit, she just looked like a petulant teenager. Veruca Salt came to mind. Daddy, I want it now!

Nora stifled her grin at the thought, hiding it behind her mug of coffee. God bless Laurie for suggesting they get the oversized mugs for the office. She drained every last drop of her French roast before she felt calm enough to put the mug down and smile at the trio of siblings sitting in front of her desk. “You’re getting warmer. That’s not a bad number.”

In fact, it really was the best she could expect for the Fairchild Building. She and her team had crunched numbers, gone over inspection data, the rental history, the likely prospects of the building and the neighborhood… twelve million was a great number for a historic building in Downtown LA. And she was 98% sure she was going to take it.

The thing was, she just really liked annoying Alexandra Fairchild. Nora watched with glee in her heart as the woman exchanged glances with her brothers. The men shrugged. Alexandra looked like she wanted to chew through sheet metal. “It’s the final price tag,” she spat, shooting up to her feet. “Take it or leave it.”

Nora remained seated and looked up at Alexandra with as bland as an expression as she could muster when all she wanted to do was laugh in her face. “All I said was that it’s not a bad number. I’ll have to discuss it with my team.”

“See that you do.” Surprisingly, Alexandra didn’t actually flounce out of Nora’s office, and that was a good thing. Nora wasn’t sure she’d have been able to control herself if she had.

Oliver and Matthew had also stayed seated during Alexandra’s display. “I don’t want to keep apologizing for Alexandra’s behavior,” Oliver began, and Nora waved him into silence.

“You don’t have to. I’ve met a hundred Alexandras and more in my lifetime.” She shrugged. “I can assure you that her personality is not going to be a factor in whether or not I purchase your building.”

“Just the price?” Oliver raised a dark eyebrow.

“As I said, I need to talk to my team.” Nora got to her feet, prompting the men to get to theirs. “Thank you all for coming in again. We’ll be reaching out to you soon.”

Matthew picked up their copy of the Fairchild Building file from Nora’s desk and gazed at the photo clipped to the front of it. To Nora’s surprise, he actually spoke for the first time since entering her office an hour and a half ago. “I’ll miss the building when it’s not ours anymore. It’s been in the family for two hundred years.” He looked up and met her eyes. “Do you think you’ll keep the Indigo Lounge?”

Nora hesitated. “I don’t know. Probably not, to be honest. I believe in fresh starts. I also just don’t think it’s a good fit for the neighborhood. Shouldn’t a place like that be out in West Hollywood?”

She’d done some research over the last couple of days, lying in bed with her laptop propped on her chest, eating some of the frankly incredible leftover nachos from the Lounge. Now, Nora knew more about the LA gay community than she ever had before. And she was curious as to how Esme Bloom had ever picked downtown LA for the location of her lesbian hangout.

Oliver looked at her in surprise. “The Indigo Lounge would never work out in WeHo. That’s not the vibe. Esme wanted somewhere away from the typical scene, not a dance club, something more intimate.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his khaki slacks. “There was a purpose behind everything she did when she created that space.”

“You sound like you admire her a lot,” Nora remarked.

“We’ve known her since we were kids.” Oliver gestured back and forth between himself and his brother, who nodded in agreement. “She came from nothing and nobody, but she wanted to give everything she could to the community. To queer women especially. Other lesbian spaces in LA have come and gone. Esme persevered. And she’s done so many fundraisers, given so much money to aid orgs and non-profits.”

“We thought she’d be there forever,” Matthew said in a low voice. “She’s done a lot of good in that little corner of our legacy. It doesn’t feel right to think of the Lounge not being there.” He sighed. “Selling the building is really Alexandra’s pet project. But we can’t afford to buy her out and keep it for ourselves, and she’s been relentless about offloading it.”

“And I hate that us giving in to her is going to hurt Esme like this.” Oliver was visibly unhappy. “Closing the Lounge is going to be a huge, huge loss, Nora. I know we can’t stop you, but I urge you to consider not evicting her. The office tenants can operate from anywhere in LA, and Shirley who runs the little accessories boutique has been talking about retiring for the last two years. But Esme and the Lounge…” he trailed off. “Esme doesn’t deserve to be booted out on her ass. Not after all she’s done.”

Nora took in a deep breath. “Well, nothing’s set in stone. The fact is, though, that the businesses opening in that neighborhood in the next year or two are nothing like a café-bar-performance space, whatever the Lounge is. I’ve seen the plans that have been filed. Upscale restaurants and retail shops, for the most part. A boho little bistro like the Indigo Lounge will not only stick out like a sore thumb, it may face serious opposition from its new neighbors. And it’s going to struggle even more to turn a profit than it already is.” She gazed steadily at the Fairchild brothers. “It’s not personal, boys, it’s business. And honestly, it may breathe new life into the Lounge if it moves to somewhere more suitable.”

Oliver’s gaze back at her was just as direct. “You know, when I suggested something like that to Esme, I could see it upset her, but I didn’t know why. Now I see what an asshole thing it was to say.” He looked at his brother and jerked his head towards the office door. “Let’s get going, Matty.”

Matt nodded and followed Oliver out, not even looking at Nora.

A business deal had never made her feel so shitty before. She sat back down at her desk and pulled up the Indigo Lounge website. Laurie came in. “Want your lunch, Boss?”

“Yeah.” Nora rubbed her head and clicked around to find the events calendar for the Lounge. “Can you order me a veggie supreme pizza?”

Laurie bent down to get eye to eye with her. “You okay?”

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