I frown. “How do you mean?”
“I mean,” he says, looking strangely shy, “would you be interested in partnering with me on this? Take a big role in making this happen with me? Because I think you’d be brilliant.”
Wow.
It fully hits me that Leo has total and absolute confidence in me and my abilities. I already knew that, really, but when someone offers you a partnership, a serious role within their business, it underlines that point like nothing else ever could.
“What would that look like to you?” I want to make sure I fully understand what he has in mind before I jump all over him squealing ‘yes’ at the top of my lungs. Well, not jumping, I’m much too galumphing for that these days, but I’d get my point across.
“Whatever you’d like to do, I’m sure we can brainstorm together and make it happen. I think you’d be terrific at teaching them, and I also know that I want you in the interviews. You’d be able to suss out who’s a genuine contender and who…isn’t.” He grins. “With one notable exception, you’re a great judge of character, and you won’t tolerate any arrogant shit from some young upstart punk.”
I give him a wry smile, knowing exactly who the exception was and totally unable to refute it. “I don’t know how much money I can contribute towards this, especially after the investigation, but I can try - ”
“It’s not about that,” he cuts in smoothly.
“No, but as a point of pride - and common sense - I want to putsomethingtowards it.”
He considers my words. “Common sense. OK, I’ll have a chat with my lawyer, and see what she recommends.” He stops in the street, holding both of my hands. “Are we doing this?”
“I think we are.”
His face breaks out into an almighty beam, and he somehow manages to lift me a few inches off the ground in one of his trademark bear hugs that I never want to do without. “Fuck yeah, Sadie Stewart is my business partner!”
Leo
“Fuckno?!”I can’t believe what I’m seeing here.
It doesn’t seem at all right to me that ante-natal classes, sessions forpregnant women, are being held in this dusty, dirty old classroom with plaster crumbling away from the walls as we speak. This old primary school has been scheduled for demolition for over a year now, but nothing has happened yet, and I guess it’s cheap enough for the local health authority to use it while it still stands.
I can appreciate the need to keep the costs low, but there are limits, and this is one of mine.
“Leo,” Sadie warns me in a low voice, but I see her biting her lip as she looks at the plastic chairs they’ve provided. And she’s not the only one, uneasy and disgusted expressions passing over the faces of the other people here. There’s barely enough chairs for everyone, and many of them have broken backs or uneven legs.
It smells like bleach and dust in here, and the floor is covered in thick scuff marks and what looks like old black gum sticking to the tiles. It’s unacceptable, and I’m not prepared for my Sadie to continue having classes here. She deserves better. Everyone heredeserves somewhere at least clean and tidy, and without parts of the ceiling missing.
“‘Scuse me, Pumpkin,” I mutter, and walk over to the two women at the other end of the room sorting out paper handouts and setting up a projector. I give them a big smile; it’s not their fault. “Hi, are you both running the class today?”
One of them, a middle aged woman who reminds me of Eli’s mother to look at, gives me a big beam. “We are. Hello, there.”
“Hi, Leo Mills,” I introduce myself, shaking her hand. “I was just wondering, are classes here every week?”
The other woman, who looks a bit harassed, presses her lips together. “Unfortunately, yes.” She gives me an apologetic grimace.
“Well, I think we can do better than that,” I say, whipping out my phone. “I’ve been looking at a few commercial lots in town. There’s one in particular I have in mind. If you like, you can use it free of charge.”
“Free?” They look at each other warily. “I mean, we’d have to run it past our manager, but…”
“Are you sure you’re definitely planning on buying one?” The second nurse seems sceptical, like she’s been let down too often to blithely accept things on face value.
I grin. “Give me your contact details, and I’ll get it sorted. You both deserve a nicer place to run classes than this.” I hand her my phone, and she gapes at me.
“You’re serious.”
“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t,” I assure her. “It might take a month or two to organise, but it’ll happen.”
I’m not sure which one of the two of them has the bigger smile, but it makes me more determined than ever to do something. The National Health Service could use it for anything they wanted, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll get a place up to spec and they can have at it. If nothing else, the room can be acommunity resource for the town. Classes, meetings, anything, all for free or with the most minimal fees.
I head back to Sadie, who’s watching and grinning, shaking her head fondly. “You, Mills, are the kindest soul I know.”
