“Everything okay?” Maggie asked.
“Things have sort of blown up at work.” Kyra massaged her shoulders.
“Oh, that stinks.”
Kyra shrugged. “We’ll work it out.”
It was just a setback. Her job was sometimes stressful, but ultimately, Kyra reminded herself, she loved her career. This was just a challenge, a chance to prove herself capable of problem-solving.
She grabbed her phone and texted Meriter back.
I’m on it.
She grabbed her laptop and got to work.
The next morning, Marcus arrived on time to the board meeting. He’d set his alarm the previous night, making sure he had time to spare in order to be punctual.
As he settled into his spot at the table, he noticed the room was buzzing with heated conversation. He approached the woman to the right of him.
“Hey, Arlene,” he said. “What’s going on?”
She looked at him strangely. “Didn’t you read your texts last night? The site fell through for the shelter.” She rolled her eyes. “Back to the drawing board, I guess. We have to figure out a new location.”
Marcus nodded silently, not bothering to correct her assumption. It wasn’t that he hadn’t checked his texts, it was that no one had sent him a message. Marcus surveyed the room and noticed that several small groups had gathered. Everyone was discussing the problem at hand, and he hadn’t even known there was a problem until two minutes ago.
Nobody had bothered texting him, because nobody took him seriously. He was only here to serve penance for his lifestyle.
The Kingdom’s Playboy Prince was in detention. It was humiliating.
Marcus was about to take a seat when Kyra sailed into the room, looking less than chipper. Her beautiful brown eyes had dark circles under them, as if she hadn’t slept. Marcus approached her.
“Are you alright?” he asked, then remembered that her guests had arrived yesterday. “Everything okay with your sister and niece?”
She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m just stressed about losing the shelter site,” she said. “There’s a lot riding on this project for me. If things go sideways, I stand to lose a lot.”
Marcus nodded. “I hear you.” A lot was riding on it for him too—his reputation, his father’s approval…
“And, this project means something to me personally,” she said. Her eyes took on a faraway look. “Something more than just what it will do for my career.”
Marcus wondered what she meant by that. He found he was curious about Kyra’s past. What made her tick? Why was this project important to her? He noticed her twirling a curl around her finger incessantly, an adorable nervous habit. He laid a hand on her shoulder, carefully as not to step over the line they’d agreed upon.
“Look around, Kyra,” he told her. “Everyone’s bouncing around ideas. Something will click.”
“I hope so,” she said.
Meriter called for everyone to take their seats, and the meeting got underway. As members tossed around ideas for new locations and suggestions on how to make them work, Marcus watched Kyra, whose face was painted with worry. She continued to twirl her hair and bite her lip. Marcus wished he had some way to reassure her.
“What about the green space behind the library?” Arlene suggested. “It’s at least five acres, right?”
John Jacobs piped up. “It’s protected land.”
A man whose name Marcus couldn’t remember stood excitedly from his seat.
“I’ve got it!” he said. “The old casino! On the river.”
“That place is a total nonstarter,” John argued. “Too much fire damage. It would have to be torn down completely and rebuilt.”
Suddenly an idea came to Marcus, a solution that just might work. The other day his brother was talking about a historical estate home he was interested in saving. Edward’s fiancée, Clementine, was obsessed with old things. Her family owned an architectural salvage business, and ever since she and Edward got together, they’d been heading up repurposing projects left and right.
Maybe the estate home could be repurposed as a shelter.
The property was a bit out of the way, in the middle of nowhere really, but that could be an asset. An out-of-the-way location with sprawling grounds could be an escape for women and children who needed to get away.
As the discussion continued around the table, Marcus mulled over the idea silently. The estate could really work! But would anyone even listen to him? He had to at least give it a try. He cleared his throat and addressed the board.
“I have a suggestion,” he said. Suddenly all eyes were on him.
“There’s a historic estate home an hour and a half from the city center,” he began and told them all about the wooded estate in Havershire.
A stiff man with slits for eyes was the first to respond. “It’s too far out,” he said simply.
“Residents will feel displaced,” echoed a woman with tight red curls and lipstick on her teeth. He thought he remembered her from a charity ball his mother had organized. He couldn’t for the life of him remember her name.
“Actually,” Kyra piped in, “somewhere a bit further away might be a good sanctuary. Remember these women and children are typically running away from their lives.”
Marcus’s heart swelled at her words. Those were his sentiments exactly.
“True,” Meriter said. “But how livable is it?”
“You said historic, right?” Arlene asked and Marcus nodded. “Historic typically means poor condition.”
“Not always,” Kyra replied and glanced at Marcus. He noticed the hope in her eyes. “Historic sites can have just the right feel for someone in need of asylum.”
Arlene scoffed.
“The last place we looked at ended up having a lot of problems, which is why the deal fell through,” she said. “An old estate home could have a lot of problems too.”
“It could, but we don’t know for sure. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions when it might be just fine,” Kyra said. “Let’s hear Marcus out.”
Kyra’s positivity lit up something inside of Marcus. He suddenly felt a surge of energy, a motivation he’d never really experienced before. Maybe he hadn’t originally been dedicated to this project, but now he was committed. In a moment of emotion, he stood from his chair and addressed the board.
“Look, I’ll be honest. The place hasn’t been inhabited in years which means maintenance isn’t up to date,” he said. A collective groan met his ears, but he was undeterred. “I’ll get a crew to work on making it habitable. We can send a few people to check it out, maybe even stay there for a few days to get a feel for the building.”
Chatter filled the room, until Meriter announced, “Let’s have a vote.”
As the votes were counted, Marcus’s eyes met Kyra’s. She smiled warmly at him, her dark brown cheeks showing hints of rose. Fantasies of ravaging her voluptuous body again began to play out in his mind, but he shook them away. He wished they could share something more than professional friendliness.
Marcus was grabbed from his thoughts by Meriter’s loud voice.
“Well, it looks like the board has voted to approve your proposal, Your Highness,” he said tightly.