"This is going to be so cool!" Hazel said, her eyes lighting up when we saw the cleared path for the art walk.
"It's actually a really nice amenity for my workers," Mace said. "There have been several requests to make all the green space and woods around the company more usable. People are really excited about the path."
We gathered on the roof with Mace's other employees and my brothers. "You survived cleaning the windows," I said to Otis.
"At least they aren't jumping around," Hunter said. "Though they did have enough energy to insist we come watch the earthmoving equipment."
"They aren't tearing down any trees," Hazel asked me, "right?"
"No, the landscape architect has the path going around them," I assured her.
My little brothers cheered as the bulldozer cut through the dirt. The path started to take shape. Svensson PharmaTech was on a hill, and from the roof, we could see across town to my future convention center.
"This is going to be perfect," I said. "I don't even care that McKenna owns the strip mall site. Garrett's going to fix it."
"He will?" Hazel sounded doubtful. "A lot hinges on her acting like a rational person. I have my doubts."
"I told you not to worry about McKenna." I pulled her close to me and nuzzled her hair. It felt nice just hanging out with her and my family.
45
Hazel
"Ithink beautification day went well," I said at the committee meeting that Monday. I had decided to just give up on the café. Aside from making sandwiches for Ida, I didn't have time to sit in an empty café and wonder if a customer was going to wander in. My last Hail Mary shot was winning this art grant. I had to be firing on all cylinders—hence the multi-hour meeting scheduled for today.
Pulling up my spreadsheet, I said, "The art walk has the remainder of the concrete getting poured today," I said. "I have the sculpture artists meeting this afternoon. They're bringing in their sculptures. The boxes of lights to string up arrived in the mail yesterday."
"The buildings are mostly all cleaned," Olivia said. "Edna has sentenced several teenagers who were caught underage drinking to community service. They will be finishing up any remaining cleaning in lieu of fines or jail time."
"The flowers are all planted and looking awesome. The muralists are out right now, working," Jemma said.
"The bikes are done and decorated and out," Olivia added. "There are already people using them, which is great. I have the historic-building tour ready to go. I even made little booklets about the buildings of Harrogate."
"These are nice," I said, flipping through a little square book with glossy pictures.
"I have the gallery walk itinerary," McKenna said. I hated that she was in the meeting. Archer obviously didn't want her there either. "Obviously mine will be last, to leave a good impression. I hope you have that rickety café cleaned up, Hazel. I have half a mind to scratch it from the tour."
"It's going to have my art retreat paintings up," I said to her. I was going to try and ignore how terrible she was for the good of the Art Zurich bid.
"How's the gala planning coming?" I asked Archer. "You're supposed to be in charge of hotels, meals, hospitality, and the gala."
"I have a block of the nicest suites in the Corentin Hotel reserved—that's the art deco hotel on Main Street and Tenth. I even had some of the more prestigious artwork moved there from one of my other hotels in Manhattan for the occasion. The judges won't pay a dime. I have all the meals, and alcohol, of course, covered. The work crew is in the Mast Brothers' chocolate factory cleaning and starting to set up. We have hundreds of tickets sold. It should be a great event. I have Zoey from Weddings in the City planning the event."
Now there was a boss babe I wanted to emulate. She had her own wedding-planning business and did weddings for the wealthy and elite in Manhattan. Her Instagram was amazing.
"She just dropped everything and planned a party?" I asked.
Archer shrugged. "She said she was happy to not have to deal with bridezillas for once. But that's not all!" Archer continued. "I have a really cool surprise. Get this—I convinced Chloe to come do catering! Isn't that awesome? I have to pay her out the wazoo, but rumor has it that one of the judges' wives who is coming along is a huge fan of theGreat Christmas Bake Offand of Chloe. So this will be perfect. She's doing all the breakfast catering and a couple of the lunches. The other lunch and the dinners will be local farm-to-table restaurants, which are already booked. Zoey's going to be doing some decorating there too."
Archer was rambling on about the upcoming festivities, but all I could think was thatChloe was coming. She and the Grey Dove Bistro were going to put me out of business.
"Well isn't that great?" I said faintly. Jemma looked at me in concern.
"She's coming this afternoon," Archer said. "She needs a place to cook. I told her she could use your café."
"You did?"
"Yeah and she might need some help. I told her you were a great cook," he said. "Isn't this awesome? We're so going to win!"
