Page 112 of With Wine Comes War

“No, she’s taking the day off and going to see my mom.”

“I’ll be at the office all day tomorrow manning the phone and the computer, if that’s cool.”

That’s great. I’d hate it if I have to shut the place down for this crap.

“Yeah, that’s perfect. I feel like this is going to be a shitshow tomorrow and I wish so many people weren’t getting involved in it.”

“You know Harrison’s going to be there, right?”

“Yes, with my parents.” I rubbed my hands quickly over my face and tried to focus on something else.

“I’ll shoot Alex a text and let her know I’m thinking of her.”

“Thanks.” She closed the door as she left.

I had a few meetings about current projects and then at three I had the meeting with the architectural team about the winery. I invited Harrison to come to that meeting as well.

I met Harrison at the door. “Here we go. You’re stepping into the life.” He slapped me on the back.

“Shut up. I’m doing a renovation, that’s all.” I really wish he would quit even joking about that. I was in knots about it as it was.

“That’s what you think. You’ll become family, symbolically and then…you’re in.” I shook my head.

“You’re an idiot. Let’s go make some money.” I firmly pushed him on the shoulder and ushered us out the door.

The team I used to renovate all the breweries were the ones invited to this meeting. They were ready to get started on the winery. I talked to them about where it was and showed them some pictures I took. We talked about the initial idea of what the Santoros wanted. They all seemed excited about the project. I gave them the start date and an expected finish date. I called the Santoros while we were there andset up a time for the team to come out to talk to them, get a proposal together and see what we needed to get started on the work.

I asked Harrison to come back to my office to talk about some investment strategies.

“What can I do for you? By the way, that's going to be an awesome project. Mom’s gonna go nuts over that winery.” That’s exactly what I thought, too.

“I know, I mentioned to them that mom would love it and they’re very excited for her to come visit.”

“Are you trying to bring the whole family into their world?” He leaned back in the chair with his arms behind his head.

“Harrison, I’m not bringing anyone into any life, shut up already. Plus, you agreed mom would love it.” I let out a deep breath and threw my head back. I’m not trying to think about what or who I’m dealing with when it comes to this winery project.

“In all seriousness, what’s up?” He was relaxed and ready to listen.

“Alex wants to start a non-profit for renovating dilapidated neighborhoods.” I scrolled through my emails as I talked.

“Yeah, I heard about that neighborhood she chose for the relocation, and I about fell out of my chair. It’s a shit hole.”

I snickered a little because that was true. Even Alex said so.

“From what I heard, she left Shay and Darius thinking she lost her mind, but she has some amazing ideas, and we have a big meeting with the residents of Burrow Township to come in and hear what she’s got to say.”

I leaned forward and put my arms on my desk.

“Do you need me to pitch an investment to some investors about the non-profit then?” he asked.

I clasped my hands together and nodded.

“That would be great. I think after the hearing would be best, but if you can get some of your people together and set up that meeting, at least we’ll have that on the books.”

After Harrison returned to his own office, I finished answering emails and confirming meetings and saw a text from Alex.

ALEX: “Hey babe, I ordered dinner from the Chinese restaurant. I hope you don’t mind.”

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