Page 38 of A Winter Wish

“Right,” she said after a beat. “And I can work with you on the business side of things before I go, can’t I? Because I know you have more experience on that front.” She spoke directly to Theo, knowing that, really, it was only him she had to convince. And although she wasn’t sure about volunteering to spend more time with him, even if it was just for work, she could try to meet him halfway here—if he was admitting she was good with people, she could admit that he was probably better on the business side. Even though she would try to avoid the word better if she could.

Theo looked at her for another long moment, then nodded. “OK.”

She blinked. “OK?”

“Yeah. You should go.”

A smile spread across her face. “What, really?”

“Yes. Ange is right. And you’re right. If you’re going to stick it out for the year, you need to get involved.”

“Yes,” she said, nodding. “OK. Well, that’s—”

“But I’m coming too.”

She tried to stop her mouth from falling open. “I don’t think—”

“Mike is right as well. You don’t really know enough about the business yet to fly solo. So we’ll both go, work together on it like you said.”

“Yes, but I didn’t mean…” She trailed off, distracted by the way he was watching her, waiting.

“Well, that’s settled, then,” Ange said, while Mike looked between the two of them, frowning. Harry was grinning, and nudged Theo in the ribs, apparently delighted. And Lexie saw no way out of it—not when it had been her idea in the first place. “So unless anyone has anything else they want to talk about, I think that’s it for now?” Ange shut her notebook, then flapped her hand as they all started to stand up. “Oh no, wait! Theo, you wanted to talk about your idea, didn’t you?”

For some reason, Theo’s eyes flicked toward Lexie, then away again, before he answered. “No, don’t worry. Maybe it’s best we put that on hold for now.”

“Well, we might as well talk about it while we’re all here,” Ange pressed, opening her notebook again.

“What idea’s this?” Harry asked. “Oh no, wait, is this your local business thing?”

Theo pulled his hand through his hair. “It’s not my thing, it’s…” He looked around at all of them. “It was something Richard and I talked about, before he…” He broke off, glancing at Lexie again, like he wasn’t sure whether to go on.

Mike frowned. “The investment project?”

Lexie felt like she should put her hand in the air, though she just about resisted. “So…What’s the project?”

For the first time since she’d met him, Theo looked uncomfortable. “Well, the company already supports local businesses, with everything we do,” he said, shifting in his seat, “but I figured—and Richard agreed—that we could go a bit further. Like, what about putting some of our profit back into local businesses—people who want to start something, in one of the places we run trips? So, for example, we have this Christmas trip in Belgium—”

“Lexie was talking that one up to a family just now,” Ange said.

Theo glanced at Ange, then back at Lexie, seeming to take a moment to gather his train of thought again. “Right. Cool. Well, you know about it, then. But there’s this woman there who makes the most amazing hot chocolate—with, like, actual chocolate, and she can do vegan hot chocolate too, in a way you wouldn’t believe, and she has this idea for a chocolate café, but she hasn’t been able to get the funds together to start it up. So we could support her, investing in the business—and make her café a part of the itinerary for the trip, so it all links together.” He frowned, shaking his head at himself. “I’m not sure if I’m explaining it very well. But Richard got it, I think.” The way he said the last part, like he needed to reassure them all that someone else had vouched for the idea, opened a little window into a side of him she’d not seen before.

“No, I think I get it,” Lexie said. “And it’s really cool. I think it’s a great idea.” And she meant it. She couldn’t work out whether it had been Theo’s or Richard’s idea in the first place—she couldn’t match the idea up to what she knew about either of them—but that didn’t stop her from being all for it.

Theo looked at her like she wasn’t quite getting something. “Yeah, it’s just…Well, if we do that, then we risk the margins being quite close to the wire, profit-wise, at the end of the year.”

She glanced at Ange for help as she tried to catch up. Then she realized. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“So you mean, put all the profits back into local businesses?” Was it selfish, that she’d asked that question? But how could the company even function if it didn’t turn a profit? She didn’t know much about business, admittedly, but wasn’t that the main point of them?

“No, not all of it. But we’ve had a rough couple of years recently, and we’re not fully back on track yet, so maybe…” He sighed. “Maybe now isn’t the right time.”

Lexie hesitated. “Maybe we can see where we’re at in a few months?”

He nodded, his gaze flickering across her face, like he might have been trying to figure out the truth behind her words. “Yeah. Yeah, OK.”

“Excellent!” Ange clapped her hands together. “You’ll have plenty of time to talk about it while you’re in Madrid together.”