Page 58 of Coffee Break with the Billionaire

“What do you want to use it for?”

I think quickly. “A party. A birthday party—for me.”

Chapter twenty

Silas

I’ve never heard Fenellaspeak so quickly. And with so much excitement.

Fenella doesn’t show much emotion, other than the odd bit of disdain but suddenly, she’s bouncing like a teenage girl at a Taylor Swift concert.

She thinks I should open a bar?

It’s overwhelming how ideas and plans are pouring out, some fully formed, some sounding—pink cocktails made with local products? Bachelorette and birthday parties? Underage nights?

A Battle of the Bands?

But then—a birthday party?

“When is your birthday?” With all the time I’ve spent with Fenella in the last few days, it seems impossible that I don’t know this fact.

“Two days before Halloween. We can—”

“That’s in a week. You want to plan a party in a week?”

“I’ve done it before.”

“But you had peopleto help you.”

“You won’t help?” The surprise in her voice cuts through me. “I can do it myself,” she adds quickly, her voice chilling. “I would like to rent the place to have a party here.”

The place has been empty for years. My parents bought the building as an investment property. It used to be pizza place but closed when the owner passed away. They thought someone would open a bakery or a café because of the tiny kitchen, and they would rent out the apartment upstairs.

It worked out just as they planned, except it was a sleazy insurance broker who wanted it and ended up scamming the people of Battle Harbour by getting them to invest in plans that would protect them from storms.

And when the first storm hit, he vanished, along with all of their money.

Since then, I haven’t had the heart to make much of a push to find someone else. And Dad hated the idea of selling it because he’s always full of ideas, just like Fenella.

Once or twice over the years, I’ve had the idea of an after-school learning centre where kids could get tutored or learn about science. But I hadn’t done anything about it. The shop and Wyatt take up most of my time, and what I do have left, I give to the stars and my dreams about starting an observatory. I don’t have the energy for something new.

But Fenella seems to. She seems to have a lot of energy for this.

She starts pointing things out; a bar would gothere, a couch and chairs would be goodthereby the window, and would adance floor be perfectthere? A good paint job would do wonders, and the right lighting, plus a cocktail menu that would rock my world.

“It’ll be a new place. And it’ll be fantastic.” Her words bubble out like a pot boiling over.

I finally manage to get a word in edgewise. “You want to have a party here?”

“Yes, Silas, that’s what I’ve been saying,” Fenella says patiently. “And if it’s a success—which of course it will be—I think you should think about opening it as a bar.”

“I don’t know. I mean we don’t really need another bar in town.” Fenella stares at me. “Do we?”

“A place where a woman can get dressed up, have a decent martini, and dance until her feet hurt? Yes, you do.”

She sounds very convinced. And convincing.

“I don’t even live here, but I know what you need. Or at least I know what the female population needs. I’ve visited every drinking establishment around here, and The King’s Hat is the only one where I felt remotely safe to show up on my own. But there’s nowhere to dance.” Fenella spins around and does a little shimmy that I watch with entirely too much interest. “It would be perfect. Small, exclusive… you could rent it out for parties, like mine. No sports paraphernalia, no obnoxiously drunk fishermen groping and grabbing—”

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