Jana immediately sat on one of the armchairs, deep in thought. Kamila sat at her desk. While she was here, she might as well grab the Ink Girls file so she could work on their balance sheets after the prom tomorrow. She’d wanted to do it yesterday, but her broken-heart situation prevented her from coming into the office. She opened the file and started flipping through the paperwork inside, making sure it was all there.
“This is impressive,” Jana said finally. “I had a motive for bringing you here—I thought I could convince you to join HNS and grow Emerald while you were in your office. But…honestly? I love it here, too. You look like you belong here. Don’t let them turn this place into a corporate cookie-cutter chain. Don’t give up on what you’re doing here, either. Don’t let them close it, Kamila.”
Kamila looked up at Jana. She was right. Being here, at Emerald, it was so clear—she couldn’t give it up. Restarting somewhere else wasn’t an option. And Emerald would lose its personality if it was expanded into a chain.
“I can’t work at HNS. Even with Emerald as my own division, even keeping this space, a giant firm is the opposite of what I want.”
“What would be your perfect solution?” Jana asked.
“Keeping things the way they are.”
“But you said yourself that your father retiring is a good thing.”
“It is a good thing.” She sighed. “There is no happy solution. I can’t run Emerald alone, and I don’t want to work with HNS.”
“Why can’t you run it alone?”
Kamila looked at Jana, blinking. “I can’t because…”
“Because people like that Marlene lady think you can’t?” Jana asked.
“Yeah, people like her, and my mom, and even my dad. And probably Rohan, and definitelyyoudon’t think I could do it.”
“Okay, but Kamila, why the hell do you care what any of us say? Doyouthink you could do it?”
Kamila didn’t have an answer to that.
“The Kamila I’ve never liked always got what she wanted,” Jana said. “From anyone.”
“A girl like Kamila can have whatever she wants,” Kamila whispered.
“Who said that?”
“Rohan.” Kamila put her hand on the desk, the cool glass giving her strength. “You’re right. Why can’t I do it alone? Let Dad sell his HNS shares—I don’t want them. But why can’t I buy Emerald from HNS? The clients, the space, the name. I could do this.” It would be a lot of work—even more than she was already doing—but it was doable.
Jana grinned. “Exactly.”
“Actually”—Kamila couldn’t believe she was about to say this—“I can grow it alone. Offer more services. Financial literacy classes, estate planning. Hey, maybe partner with Aim High to teach classes to the incubator clients. Turn the boardroom into a classroom. Sorry, not incubator. What are you calling it now?”
Jana frowned. “You’d want to work with me?”
“I would. Our fathers created something from nothing years ago—maybe it’s our turn.”
Jana snorted. “Now who’s a renegade? But how are you going to convince Rohan to sell it to you? Now he’s talking of expanding Emerald.”
Kamila bit her lip, thinking. Then she smiled. “It’s not Rohan I have to convince. It’s Dad. What are you doing tomorrow, Jana?”
Jana grinned. “I’m there if you need me.” She paused. “By the way, did you know that Bronx Bennet is now a professor of South Asian religions?”
Kamila blinked, then laughed loud and long with Jana Suleiman for the first time in her life.
Chapter 26
Kamila had been looking forward to the puppy prom for months, and she really needed to be rested for the big day, but with everything going on, she simply could not quiet her brain enough to fall asleep. Instead of tossing and turning in her room, though, she went downstairs, made some tea, and pulled her computer onto her lap to do some research. If she was going to make a case to Dad for keeping Emerald for herself, she needed to have all her ducks in a row.
After a bit of market research, she drafted a business-expansion plan and target-income statements. It all came together easily. She could see growing Emerald to offer more financial services, like classes for sole proprietors on basic bookkeeping and budgeting, plus debt-reduction strategies. And classes for new business owners, both for Aim High as well as for her own prospective clients. She could even do more personal finance work, like offering workshops for new couples on how to deal with the money bits of a relationship. And add seminars on nonprofit governance. This was an exciting idea. In fact, she wished she had taken more control of Emerald’s future before now.
After finishing the business plan, she knew she still wouldn’t be able to sleep, so she put on the next Bollywood movie in her queue and snuggled Darcy on the couch. The movie wasDear Zindagi, and she had originally put it in her queue because Alia Bhatt was so luminous in it. But watching it now was eye-opening. The story was about an impulsive but driven young filmmaker who sees a psychologist to help her come to terms with how her abusive upbringing was affecting her life and her choices. Add a stunning beach in Goa, and Shah Rukh Khan with a beard, and it was no wonder it resonated with Kamila tonight. Clearly Asha was right that her subconscious was being a bit nefarious in its movie choices.
