Page 3 of A Kickin' Karate Christmas
Ok.
I looked at the two letters. I wanted to know what else he’d been wanting to say, what other rebuttals he’d offered before agreeing, but it was the end result that mattered the most, wasn’t it? It mattered that Mateo agreed to let me help. I wanted to save Emerson’s dojo.
Getting to spend more time with the sexy sensei was just a perk, even if it was a line I refused to cross.
Chapter two
Mateo
Icouldn’tbelieveI’dagreed to Jake Porter’s offer to help. He was a client, a customer at my dojo. It would be one thing to hire him, if I’d been able to afford that, but it was something else to allow him to do it for free. Swallowing down my pride to agree had left a bitter taste in my mouth, one I was all too familiar with. I’d tasted it every time someone offered to help me, even when I was younger.
My dad had always said that my pride would be my downfall, and I didn’t want to prove him right. Not when it came to the dojo or the children I taught. The karate school and the children were two of the most important things in my life. I’d given up a lot to take over the dojo when my old sensei retired. Some people thought I was too young, and I wanted to prove them wrong, too.
I sighed as I looked through the glass doors to the empty parking lot.
The dojo was quiet, and the chemical smell of cleaners lingered in the air. Normally, we were closed today, but I hadan important meeting. Jake was coming by so he could discuss marketing. I wondered if the rush came from desperation to save the dojo or worry that I might change my mind. The latter might hold water, because I was already struggling against the urge to text him and tell him that none of this was necessary. I’d figure something out, and he could have his Saturday night to himself.
I reached for my phone just as I saw his car pull into the parking lot.
Too late.
I stood up and unlocked the door, opening it just as he reached it so he could come in. It was strange to see him without his little blonde shadow. “How jealous is Emerson going to be that you went to the dojo without her?” I asked.
He gave me a crooked smile and shook his head. “I haven’t decided if I’m telling her or not,” he admitted. “Luckily, she’s with her mother this weekend, so I don’t have to worry about it until Monday.”
I didn’t know the arrangement between him and Emerson’s mom. I’d met her only once, at Emerson’s belt test where she’d gotten her yellow belt nearly three months ago. Emerson was almost a spitting image of the woman, and the woman was my polar opposite. That was not a thought I needed right now. I wiped the palms of my hands on my black sweatpants and motioned toward my desk.
He took the same seat he’d used two days prior, and I sat in my usual chair behind the desk. I watched him as he pulled a laptop out of the slim black bag he carried. “I’ve got a few thoughts on where to start, based on research I’ve done about other karate schools,” he started as he opened the laptop and began maneuvering it around. “Most of it is the marketing, but there are a few things I thought we could try in-house as well.”
My eyes drifted down to the computer screen. When he’d saida few, I thought maybe he’d have a list of three to five items. Ihadn’t expected to see a long list—each item laid out with points and sub-points, bulleted with links and explanations. I skimmed the list before bringing my eyes back to his. “That’s a lot.”
“This?” His eyes drifted down to the laptop, and he shrugged. “This wasn’t a lot of work, really. About an hour or two of research and writing down thoughts. Not all of it will work for your dojo. Some of the suggestions might even be things you don’t even want to do.”
I studied Jake for a few moments, wondering what was on the list that he thought I might not want to do. I wanted to save this dojo. There were very few things I wouldn’t actually do to accomplish that. “Let’s go over the list and figure out what will work and what won’t.”
He started small. He suggested a revamp of the website, something to make it look more modern. I didn’t know the first thing about redesigning a website, and I couldn’t afford to hire someone. I mentally put it in the maybe list, but he said that it would be a big one. He told me about drag and drop design options, and after a few minutes of him trying to convince me, I told him I’d look more into it. He started talking about social media and paid advertising options, listing out the ones he thought would work best. Some of the terms he tossed out confused the hell out of me.
Like SEOs. I didn’t know what they had to do with advertising a small dojo. “I don’t want to give someone else control of my school,” I told him after he pounded on about the importance of good SEOs for about five minutes. Wasn’t he supposed to be there to help me save the dojo, not give it to someone else?
He looked confused for a moment before he burst out in laughter. “That’s a CEO. I’m talking about SEOs. Search engine optimization. They’re terms that get more hits online.”
Oh. I was a dumbass. “Maybe explain that better next time? You’re used to dealing with people who already know this stuff, aren’t you?”
It was his turn to look sheepish. “Fair. Sorry.”
He kept going, and after an hour, we had a list of things we wanted to try. Social media marketing and the new website were his biggest priorities. We couldn’t keep depending on word-of-mouth marketing and taking information to the local schools. While it worked to get some people in the door, the scale wasn’t large enough. It wasn’t bringing in enough students, and we needed more registrations to stay afloat.
This all sounded overwhelming, but Jake assured me that it wouldn’t be. He even said he’d have a mock-up of the website done by the next time Emerson came to class. He walked me through the steps of giving him the proper permissions on the site I used so that he could get it all going. It had only been an hour, and even if I was overwhelmed, I was also optimistic. He was a professional, and that gave my dojo the best possible chance.
I was just finishing my workout a few hours later, long after Jake had gone home, when my phone rang. For a moment, I hoped it was Jake. Maybe he had other ideas. Maybe he had thoughts on how to really get this thing started. Or maybe he just wanted to chat. I didn’t like the way that made my stomach turn. He was a parent of one of my students, and while I’d been crushing hard from the moment he stepped foot into my dojo, I knew he was offlimits. I had a few personal rules for myself, and that was one of the biggest.
I didn’t shit where I ate.
But the butterflies in my stomach swooped and dived as I reached for my phone and then withered away when I saw Sophia’s name on the screen. It was stupid. I hit the accept call button and put the call on speaker, because no way was I going to put that phone up to my sweaty ear. “What’s up?”
“Where are you?” she called out, her voice echoing in the empty dojo. I could hear people in the background shouting and laughing.
“The dojo,” I answered back, wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. “Where are you?”
