jacket to enter Nicolas’s overheated office, receiving a sweaty handshake and a beaming, hopeful smile. ‘This is a pleasant surprise! Coffee?’
‘Not for me. I’ve got a dog waiting outside.’ Dominic didn’t take the seat that Nicolas waved him to, but came straight to the point. ‘Nicolas, I’m afraid I don’t want to buy into your treatment centre. But are you prepared to sell your lease on the premises? I think this place would be brilliant for something else I’d like to do.’
Slowly, Nicolas’s face turned purple. ‘Sell
what
?’
It took five minutes. Dominic timed it on the wall clock. Five minutes for Nicolas to scroll through leaning-across-the-desk anger, ‘Who the hell do you think you are, strolling in here and trying to end my business?’ dull, hopeless sorrow, ‘I had a lot of dreams,’ slumped-into-a-chair self-pity, ‘It’s always the little guy that gets squeezed out,’ and hand-to-head regret, ‘I should have taken more advice before I took the place on.’
Dominic let Nicolas vent until finally reaching sour pragmatism. ‘I suppose we could talk about it.’
Then he stirred. ‘How long does the lease have to run?’
‘More than twenty years.’
‘OK, I’m still interested. I’m sorry if my proposal isn’t what you wanted to hear. But, if you’re prepared to consider it, I suggest you get some figures together. Maybe you’d like to have the lease valued? While you do that, I’ll make further enquiries about whether my idea’s likely to float. Then we could talk again.’
Nicolas wiped his glum face on his palm, hair lank, skin pink and stretched shiny. ‘We can talk now.’
But Dominic shook his head. ‘I need to speak to the hotel. I only want this place if I can rent some of the grounds, too. Without it, my idea will come to nothing.’
The word ‘nothing’ caused Nicolas’s colour to drain. ‘The lease is a valuable asset—’
‘Only if somebody wants it,’ Dominic said, with some sympathy. ‘I’ll understand if you want me to drop the idea. You could advertise the lease, if you can afford to wait …?’
‘What you don’t seem to realise is that I’ve got a thriving concern, here.’
‘If it’s a thriving concern, I’m wasting your time.’
Nicolas halted, blinking rapidly. His chest heaved. ‘You’re a chancer,’ he managed, tightly. ‘You think that me looking for investors means I’m in trouble and that you can get something for nothing.’
Anger flared suddenly in Dominic, but he clenched his teeth against the impulse to fire back a sarcastic reply that, in fact, he knew precisely how it felt to lose a dream and understood Nicolas’s distress – but that that didn’t alter the fact that Nicolas’s business was about to go belly up. Instead, he made his voice calm and reasonable. ‘What I think is that I might be able to get the lease at a fair market value. It’s a depressed market, but that’s not my fault. I’ve had a cursory look at your business and the lease is the only asset to interest me.’
Nicolas dropped his head back into his hands, staring at the desk. ‘Let me think.’
Waiting for Nicolas to chew the situation over, the heat of the room began to press its heavy hand across Dominic’s face and, with a sinking heart, he recognised a coming sleep attack. He opened the door in search of fresh air, wishing he’d put ProPlus in his jacket. He could use some caffeine.
‘I don’t know where it all went wrong,’ Nicolas muttered.
Dominic yawned, wanting to drop into a chair but not wanting to, because he knew that if he did, he’d be gone. He strove to stay in the moment. But he answered, unguardedly, ‘Sometimes we all need to be open to new ideas.’
The area around Nicolas’s lips whitened as he slowly raised his gaze. ‘Liza?’
Dominic was jolted back to wakefulness by the unhappy sliding sensation that went with saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. ‘What?’
‘Liza’s “new
‘Not for me. I’ve got a dog waiting outside.’ Dominic didn’t take the seat that Nicolas waved him to, but came straight to the point. ‘Nicolas, I’m afraid I don’t want to buy into your treatment centre. But are you prepared to sell your lease on the premises? I think this place would be brilliant for something else I’d like to do.’
Slowly, Nicolas’s face turned purple. ‘Sell
what
?’
It took five minutes. Dominic timed it on the wall clock. Five minutes for Nicolas to scroll through leaning-across-the-desk anger, ‘Who the hell do you think you are, strolling in here and trying to end my business?’ dull, hopeless sorrow, ‘I had a lot of dreams,’ slumped-into-a-chair self-pity, ‘It’s always the little guy that gets squeezed out,’ and hand-to-head regret, ‘I should have taken more advice before I took the place on.’
Dominic let Nicolas vent until finally reaching sour pragmatism. ‘I suppose we could talk about it.’
Then he stirred. ‘How long does the lease have to run?’
‘More than twenty years.’
‘OK, I’m still interested. I’m sorry if my proposal isn’t what you wanted to hear. But, if you’re prepared to consider it, I suggest you get some figures together. Maybe you’d like to have the lease valued? While you do that, I’ll make further enquiries about whether my idea’s likely to float. Then we could talk again.’
Nicolas wiped his glum face on his palm, hair lank, skin pink and stretched shiny. ‘We can talk now.’
But Dominic shook his head. ‘I need to speak to the hotel. I only want this place if I can rent some of the grounds, too. Without it, my idea will come to nothing.’
The word ‘nothing’ caused Nicolas’s colour to drain. ‘The lease is a valuable asset—’
‘Only if somebody wants it,’ Dominic said, with some sympathy. ‘I’ll understand if you want me to drop the idea. You could advertise the lease, if you can afford to wait …?’
‘What you don’t seem to realise is that I’ve got a thriving concern, here.’
‘If it’s a thriving concern, I’m wasting your time.’
Nicolas halted, blinking rapidly. His chest heaved. ‘You’re a chancer,’ he managed, tightly. ‘You think that me looking for investors means I’m in trouble and that you can get something for nothing.’
Anger flared suddenly in Dominic, but he clenched his teeth against the impulse to fire back a sarcastic reply that, in fact, he knew precisely how it felt to lose a dream and understood Nicolas’s distress – but that that didn’t alter the fact that Nicolas’s business was about to go belly up. Instead, he made his voice calm and reasonable. ‘What I think is that I might be able to get the lease at a fair market value. It’s a depressed market, but that’s not my fault. I’ve had a cursory look at your business and the lease is the only asset to interest me.’
Nicolas dropped his head back into his hands, staring at the desk. ‘Let me think.’
Waiting for Nicolas to chew the situation over, the heat of the room began to press its heavy hand across Dominic’s face and, with a sinking heart, he recognised a coming sleep attack. He opened the door in search of fresh air, wishing he’d put ProPlus in his jacket. He could use some caffeine.
‘I don’t know where it all went wrong,’ Nicolas muttered.
Dominic yawned, wanting to drop into a chair but not wanting to, because he knew that if he did, he’d be gone. He strove to stay in the moment. But he answered, unguardedly, ‘Sometimes we all need to be open to new ideas.’
The area around Nicolas’s lips whitened as he slowly raised his gaze. ‘Liza?’
Dominic was jolted back to wakefulness by the unhappy sliding sensation that went with saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. ‘What?’
‘Liza’s “new
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