It sounded like something I might say. “People change. Times change. I’ve done three years in two different startups, and I know how business works. I want to strike out, and it’s either do it at Voss, or start my own company doing something else. If you need help, it makes sense.”
“I don’t just need help. I want out completely.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
I hadn’t expected that.
“Yes, oh,” Margot replied. “This was never my dream, and I think you knew that. My life was going along just fine and then my mum died, then my sister, and I had to be there for my grieving nieces while picking up the company and making every single decision on my own.
“I’m tired, and I don’t want to run myself into an early grave. I don’t want you to do that, either. Selling is a kindness to everyone. It’ll set us all up for life, and then you can open whatever business you want. Voss Watches will carry on, but it won’t be a millstone around our necks.” She took a sip of her bubbles. “I think after dying of stress, even your mother might agree.”
She doesn’t, she told me herself.
But that wasn’t something I wanted to bring up right now. I wanted Margot to take me seriously, not banish me from the business for being kooky.
“I know I haven’t been much use up until now, and I can only apologise. I want to be a better niece, as well as a better support to you business-wise.”
“I’m selling, Poppy. You don’t have a say until you’re 30, which is a year away. As the only other family member who does have a legal say, Katy agreed to stand by whatever I decided. She doesn’t want to run the business either, and neither do you really. This is a knee-jerk reaction that you’ll regret, given time. I’m saving you the bother. Being a good aunt.
“It’s getting harder and harder to sell watches. The competition is fiercer than ever. Go into supplements or be an influencer. Young people don’t want watches anymore.”
“They don’tthinkthey do, but they do.” I was two-thirds certain that was true. “All my friends want to get away from their phones. We all want to carve out more time for us. We want to buy less, but buy better. A Voss watch answers both those needs. We just need to make them more visible.” I’d thought of that in the shower this morning. It wasn’t a fully formed idea, but it was a germ ofsomething. “I can reach the youth market if you give me a shot.”
“I have a buyer lined up.”
“Who is it?”
Margot looked down, considering the question.
Was it someone I knew? My mind rattled through my contacts list, but it came up blank.
“Remember Max Carpenter?”
Warmth flooded my system, and I immediately rolled my eyes at my traitor of a body. I remembered Max Carpenter well. Mainly because I’d been best friends with his daughter, Eliza. Until she turned 18, and I was only 14. Then, she dropped me like a hot brick when she went to university, and I was far too young and uncool.
“I do.” The last time I saw Eliza was two years ago, on a skiing trip in Les Gets. She’d elbowed ahead of me at the bar, and kissed the woman I’d been working up the courage to say hi to. She was not in my good books, hence neither was her dad.
“Max is interested; he confirmed it this morning.”
“On a Saturday?” I frowned. Max might be keen, but I was pretty sure he didn’t do business at the weekend. I distinctly remember he made his ex-wife a golf widow at weekends. Between that and sleeping with his numerous assistants, his extra-curricular activities were legendary.
Unless Margot was now one of those activities?
The dots joined right before my eyes, and Margot saw it.
“Did he tell you over coffee?”
She didn’t deny it.
“It’s best all round if he takes it off our hands. Max is skilled at buying companies and selling them off.”
“Not what I heard. Max is a friendly, familiar face, but he’s a corporate raider. Buys companies cheap, guts them, makes staff redundant, sells off the properties, and drops the quality. I can’t do that to our family business. Not while I’m alive.”
She leaned forward and shook her head. “You know, even though Voss is successful, it wasn’t always easy. I lived through the ups and downs with my mum and yours. Plus, runninga business is very different to working at one. And Max has promised to keep Goldloch as it is. I know your reasons are worthy, but is this really what you want to do?”
She was making me doubt myself now. But still, I nodded. “I want to give it a try. If it’s not what I want or if it doesn’t work out, I’ll accept it. But I have to try. Plus, I’m not going to run it how Mum and Gran did. I won’t let it consume my life.”
I had to try, if only because of yesterday’s weirdest lunch in the world.
