Shattered

by Jennifer K Thomas

  “I see. Well, to answer your question, yes, I think Luke seemed sad after the miscarriage. Actually, helpless may be the better word to describe what I saw.”

  Before I can respond Amelia bounces back into the kitchen wearing enough jewelry to add at least five pounds to her small frame. “Ready to watch a movie?”

  “Absolutely.” I catch my mom popping a cookie in her mouth out of the corner of my eye. I laugh when she sees me and stops chewing. “I wish your ability to follow doctor’s orders was as good as your advice-giving abilities.”

  “Can’t be good at everything.” She smiles with cookie still in her mouth.

  “Good morning, Linda.” I walk into the office and instantly get a whiff of chocolate. “You brought treats? What about fitting into your dress for the wedding?”

  “I brought chocolate croissants and they’re not for me. I thought you may need a little pastry therapy today.” Linda looks sympathetically at me, but quickly reads that I don’t know what she’s talking about. “An email went out this morning.”

  My face drops as I instantly know what she’s referring to. “Thanks, Linda.” I grab a croissant and go to my office. I stare at my desktop while my computer warms up. It’s impossible to prepare yourself for something like this, so I just focus on my heartbeat and breathing.

  When the computer screen lights up, I pause only a moment before opening my email. I only have a few unopened emails from this morning, so the one I’m looking for is easy to spot. I open the one titled “Baby Taylor” and rip the Band-Aid off before I can think about the sting too much.

  The email is originally from Luke, but it’s been forwarded to the winery by Aaron. The email indicates that everyone is doing great and that Finn Taylor arrived weighing eight pounds, three ounces and is twenty-one inches long. I scroll down to see two pictures have been included in the email. There’s a close-up picture of Finn. Even with his eyes closed and his little face still red and scrunched up, I can tell he’s a beautiful baby. The second picture is of Luke holding his son. Behind the tiredness in his eyes is an undeniable twinkle, something that says this is the happiest day of his life.

  I wipe away the tear that has slipped down my cheek and place my hand against my heart, as if that will somehow ease the ache there.

  Chapter 13

  “It’s a no from me.” Luke leans back in the chair after the young man leaves the conference room. “Not enough experience, plus his finances aren’t as robust as the business is going to need to properly execute the planned growth. Best case scenario, the winery is limping along in a year. Worst case it’s completely out of funds.”

  “As the new owner, he could decide to scale back the growth,” Aaron offers.

  “We’ve already discussed this, Aaron. Finding a buyer who will finish out the plans that have already been laid out is our goal.” Luke sounds slightly irritated. “I thought we both agreed that it was the right thing business wise, but also the right thing to do for the Bianchis.”

  Before the three of us started meeting with potential buyers, we sat down and discussed what we were looking for. I appreciated that Luke in particular had a strong interest in preserving the vision the Bianchis have for this place. It’s obvious that this isn’t merely another business deal to him. At first, I didn’t understand why the Bianchis asked Luke and Aaron to handle the sale, but their caring, personal approach to it became apparent early on.

  “I know, Luke, but we also need to get this place sold. We may have to compromise some of our ideals to make it happen. We’re never going to find the perfect buyer.” Aaron matches Luke’s frustration. Aaron cares about this deal, too, but he thinks the Bianchis would be better served by finding a buyer quickly.

  “I disagree. We’ll find someone.” Luke turns to me. “What did you think, Jessica?”

  “I agree with you, he’s too inexperienced for an operation this size.” Once again, I find myself agreeing with Luke, something I’ve been doing a lot lately. Working together the past few weeks has gone better than expected. He even sat in on a meeting I had with Nicolette, brainstorming different management structures we could go forward with after the Bianchi’s imminent departure. He was able to provide some valuable pros and cons for each scenario we ran based on what he’s seen at the variety of companies he invests in.

  For Nicolette’s part, she’s been nothing but professional and so far, seems to be a good addition. I look forward to spending some one-on-one time with her after she’s done shadowing Mrs. Bianchi.

  “Ultimately, I agree with both of you, but we may need to rethink what we’re looking for,” Aaron says as he answers a text on his phone. “I hope the meeting this afternoon goes better.”

  “The next one looks good on paper. Good experience, finances are adequate and in order.” Luke studies the packet in front of him.

  “I hope so, but we’ve had several who’ve looked good on paper and we always find fault with them.” Aaron looks up from his phone. “Sorry, I can’t be here for the next one. If it feels right, feel free to move forward without me.”

  “Okay.” Luke doesn’t look up from what he’s reading.

  “You need anything from me before I leave?” Aaron puts the folder in his bag.

  “No. I think we’re good here.” Luke still doesn’t look at Aaron, instead he’s intently focused on what he’s reading.

  “Let’s talk tomorrow after the meeting.” Aaron stands. “By the way, is Nicolette still pissed off?”

  Luke finally glances up at Aaron. “She’s fine.”

  “Good.” Aaron turns his attention to me. “Don’t let his crankiness derail the effort, we’ll find someone.”

  “Thanks, Aaron.” I begin to gather my papers as Aaron walks out of the conference room. “Why is Nicolette mad?” I ask Luke.

  He sets the papers aside and gives me his attention. “She was upset she wasn’t asked to be a part of this process. She didn’t understand why you were, and she wasn’t.”

  This is the first I’ve heard of this. “What did you tell her?”

  “That her time would be better spent with Mrs. Bianchi and that you were asked because of your knowledge of the finances and your familiarity with how the business has been run for the past several years.”

  “And she was okay with that answer?” I assume that she wasn’t.

  Luke shrugs. “If she wasn’t, she didn’t say anything else to me about it.” Luke pulls out the financial package I put together for these meetings. His eyebrows scrunch together.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “No, I was just thinking.”

  “About?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

  Luke looks up at me again. “Nothing.” He places the sheets back into the folder and stands up. “The meeting is at three?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’ll see you back here around a quarter to?”

  “Sounds good.” I reply, realizing Luke isn’t in the mood to discuss Nicolette or the deal at the moment.

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Harney. My name is Jessica Rogers, I’m the controller, and you’ve already spoken with Luke Taylor, one of our primary investors.”

  “Nice to meet you both. Please call me Jim.” He extends his hand to me and then Luke before we all take our seats at the conference table.

  “Thanks for coming out to meet with us today, Jim.”

  “My pleasure. I’m obviously here because I heard enough to pique my interest. I’m still not clear as to why a long-term owner would be trying to sell off a profitable business.”

  I give Mr. Harney a warm smile. He’s testing to see if I’ll spill something we didn’t previously disclose. “As I mentioned before, it’s simply a matter of the owners having some emergency personal issues to deal with, prompting their desire to retire. They simply want to move on to the next stage of their lives as quickly as possible.�
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  Mr. Harney smiles tightly back at me. “The financials you sent me look promising. Established business, solid revenue streams with growth possibilities. The debt is the only real concern.”

  “As we discussed during our earlier phone conversation, the debt is understandably a potential roadblock,” Luke jumps in. “My partner, Aaron Bennett, and I are the primary investors here and we feel confident the right owner can bring the full expansion of the winery to fruition. The current owners have nearly completed stage one in the projected growth model, but it’s the continuation of the expansion that will really generate the profits this business is capable of. We’ve mapped out projections on how we think, with a proper focus on building additional revenue streams, the debt would be a short-term problem, not a long-term one.”

  “Understood, but the debt will make it difficult to secure the size of loan that the large scale expansion you’re suggesting would necessitate,” Mr. Harney says.

  “Correct. As investors, Aaron and I are willing to work with the new owner to secure whatever funding is necessary to expand this business properly, potentially even reinvesting ourselves.” When the possibility for Luke and Aaron to reinvest in the company came up during one of our planning meetings, I was surprised that I felt relieved by the idea. I convinced myself the relief was for the business and not personal reasons.

  Luke takes over the meeting from here. His negotiating skills shine as he lays out the vision and what it’s going to take to make this deal work. He then highlights why he thinks Mr. Harney would be a good fit and how his experience in the restaurant industry would be valuable. I pay attention to what is being said as much as I pay attention to Luke’s charismatic presentation style. Mr. Harney listens intently when Luke speaks and asks a lot of thoughtful questions. He definitely came prepared. He smiles at me from time to time, even though I stay quiet for a good portion of the discussion. I offer financial information as necessary, but I have to admit the fast paced back and forth between the men is intimidating to me.

  After an hour of dissecting the merits and potential drawbacks of the deal, the pace slows.

  Mr. Harney pulls out his phone. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. Excuse me for a moment while I step outside to make a phone call.”

  “Of course,” Luke says. We wait until the conference room door closes to look at each other.

  “What do you think?” I feel like Mr. Harney could be our buyer, but I can tell by the way Luke’s tilting his head from side to side that he’s undecided.

  “I’m not sure. He has potential.” Luke stops and runs a hand through his hair. “I like that he’s onboard for putting some effort and money into the growth.”

  “But?” I drag the word out knowing Luke has more to say.

  “I can’t pinpoint it, but something feels off.” Luke narrows his eyes trying to focus and figure out what he’s missing.

  “He’s the best option we’ve come up with so far.” I try to think of what Aaron would say in this situation. Convincing Luke of anything takes finesse.

  “Maybe.” Luke studies Mr. Harney’s bio in front of him.

  “He marks all the boxes of what we said we’re looking for.” I remind him. Mr. Harney may not be perfect, but he’s certainly not a bad option at this point.

  “I can tell he wants it.” Luke smirks while still reading over the paper.

  “You think?” I sound too eager, too excited. I would make a horrible negotiator.

  Luke gives me a knowing smile. “He probably stepped outside to call his accountant to make sure he’s ready.”

  “Don’t be overconfident.” It’s more a reminder for me not to get my hopes up.

  “He’s going to make us an offer.” Luke leans back in the chair and steeples his fingers by his mouth.

  “And we’re going to take it?” I prod.

  “Maybe—” The door to the conference room opens, halting Luke’s thought.

  Luke maintains his relaxed posture in his chair as Mr. Harney walks back in and takes a seat.

  “You’re motivated to get a deal done.” Mr. Harney leans back in his chair and rubs his chin for a moment. “Buying a company with this much debt is risky. A risk most buyers are going to shy away from.”

  “Shyness has little place in business.” Luke leans forward slightly. “This company is solid and has growth potential you’ve been dreaming of since you heard about it. It’s an opportunity to build something big. You know it, it’s why you’re here.”

  I glance back and forth between the two men, neither of them giving much indication of what the next move is.

  Mr. Harney is the first to break the silence. “You sent me last year’s statements. Can I have a look at the current year to date financials?”

  “Of course,” Luke says. “They’re preliminary at this point, but you’re free to see them.

  “I’ll go grab them.” I rise quickly to retrieve them.

  Due to my heels slowing me down, it takes a few minutes to reach the office. “Hey, Linda. Do you still have the year to date financials through June that I just gave you to file?”

  “I already filed them.” Linda stops typing on her keyboard.

  “I’ll get them. You’re almost too efficient.” I laugh as I open the file cabinet.

  “How’s it going in there?” she asks.

  “I have no idea. I’ve never had this much trouble reading a room. Luke thinks he’s ready to buy.”

  “Well, Luke has good instincts.”

  “Honestly, it’s impressive to watch him maneuver through these meetings. I’d be completely outmatched in there by myself. I’m glad he’s here.” The words hang in the air. I look at Linda and she just raises her eyebrows at me. “You know what I meant.”

  “I know exactly what you meant,” Linda mumbles under her breath.

  I don’t have time to defend my comments as I leave in a rush, not wanting to take any longer than necessary. I take a deep inhalation to catch my breath before pulling open the heavy wood door to the conference room. I smile as I enter the rich red colored space, but it quickly fades.

  “Did Mr. Harney have to step outside again?” I ask as I return to my seat. Once I’ve lowered myself into the soft leather, I look at Luke. He looks tense.

  “No,” he says calmly, but this is a different type of calm. He must have misread Mr. Harney and he doesn’t look happy about it.

  “He wasn’t interested?” I ask, careful not to sound too disappointed.

  “He was interested.” Luke wears a wry expression as he loosens his collar. “I told him to fuck off.”

  “Luke!” I gasp, causing the corners of Luke’s mouth to turn up slightly.

  “Relax, I didn’t use those exact words.”

  “But you told him no? What the hell happened?” My voice comes out louder than intended.

  “We got to talking more about what direction he would like to take the winery and he said the first thing he would do would be to bring in some of his top people.”

  “He wanted to fire people?” I’m shocked. I didn’t pick up on that during the conversation at all.

  “Not everyone, the management team.” Luke looks straight at me.

  “Oh.” I stare at the table for a moment. When I open my mouth to speak again Luke interrupts.

  “Before you say it, I didn’t make this decision for you.”

  I turn my eyes up to his. “I was just going to say thank you.”

  Luke’s eyes widen slightly, surprised by my reaction, before he regroups. “It’s the right decision. No way in hell I’m selling this company to someone like that. Mrs. Bianchi would be heartbroken if we did.”

  I nod and let out a sigh. “Where do we go from here? When are you back here next?”

  Luke’s posture relaxes. “Not sure. We don’t have any other appointments set up a
s of now.” Luke looks at his phone. “I have to go, but we’ll talk sometime next week.”

  “Okay.” I let out another sigh, this day has been exhausting.

  “Don’t worry.” Luke says as he stands. “I have to get to the airport and I have an important phone conference this evening for another project, but I’ll give this some more thought over the weekend.”

  I walk to the door ahead of him but turn back around before I pull it open. “How’s the baby?” Luke and I haven’t talked about his son yet and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to bring him up. I sent him an email congratulating him and I’ve been around when others have asked about him, but this is the first time I have brought him up to Luke directly.

  Luke freezes and swallows hard. “He’s good. Claire has moved back into her apartment, so I don’t get to see him as much, but he’s good.”

  I nod and give a small smile. I internally congratulate myself for my maturity.

  Luke moves like he’s going to touch me, then lowers his hand back down. He gives me a half smile instead. “Thanks for asking.”

  “Have a safe flight, Luke.” I escape the conference room; my damp eyes not being detected.

  I spent the weekend with Amelia planning her upcoming birthday party. She insisted the theme be turquoise unicorns and after trips to just about every store in town we finally found party supplies she liked online. In between our search for the elusive unicorns, I worried about what is to come of Bianchi Winery.

  Luke didn’t contact me over the weekend. I typed out a dozen texts to him, each one deleted before being sent. They all sounded too panicked. The closest I got to not sounding fearful about the situation was still laced with neediness, looking for reassurance that everything is going to work out. I had to remind myself multiple times that Luke is doing his best, but ultimately it isn’t up to him to ensure everything with the sale goes according to the Bianchi’s plan. He’s already taken on enough of the responsibility without me putting additional pressure on him.

  My anxiety about the entire situation continued to fester into the work week. I was comforted by the fact that even with the increased stress I didn’t experience an attack, a fact that reassured me I’m coping a lot better than I was a few months ago.