Page 72 of Cherry Picked
Simon pointed to his screen again. “As you can see, the resort design includes a quaint spot on top of Glassy Ridge where guests and visitors can stop to enjoy a one-of-a-kind local dining experience with world-class views. Right now, we’re calling it Panini Jack’s Aerie Grotto, at least internally, but we’re open to ideas about that.”
“Panini Jack’s…” I swallowed, staring at the screen despite myself.
Sure enough, the design showed a tasteful, open-walled chalet nestled right on Glassy Ridge in a spot where Hawk and I had picnicked more than once. Its single-story expanse was surrounded by deep, wide decking featuring tables with umbrellas, comfortable chairs, and potted planters overflowing with colorful flowers. The stylized illustration even showed a few elegant patrons enjoying their fictional luncheon, and a few people stood propped behind easels on the edge of the deck, painting en plein air.
My breath caught. I didn’t even know where to begin.
“I… don’t understand,” I said, mostly to buy myself enough time to determine how I felt about the ridiculous offer. On the one hand, I was flattered and couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to expand my business in partnership with a well-funded, high-end resort concept.
On the other…what the actual fuck?
It was a week before the town vote. Whether Simon knew about my relationship with Hawk or not, for him to suddenly be approaching a local vendor when he’d never mentioned such a thing before meant that he was running scared, just as Crys had said.
Simon turned the impromptu presentation over to Nick, who began explaining the details of the offer. I didn’t even bother trying to make sense of his words when all I could think about was the betrayal Hawk would feel at this move by Simon and his cohort.
“Why me?” I asked, interrupting their pitch. “Why now?”
Simon clicked another few keys on his laptop and pointed to a spreadsheet complete with colorful graphs, but Nick was the one who continued the pitch. “Our team back in Boston crunched the numbers. You can see here on the first graph the overlap of the resort’s target audience and Panini Jack’s client demographic profile is significant. Which led us to this next assessment, which shows the profitability of our existing alpine restaurant concept menu items in comparison to your existing offerings. What this shows is the high likelihood of your existing menu dovetailing nicely with what we’d organically be searching for in this ‘alpine lunch concept.’” He beamed at me.
Alpine lunch concept? Much like Hawk had at the town meeting just a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to say, “But that doesn’t answer my question.”
“Obviously, our legal department would need to have proof of some of our usual concerns,” Simon went on smoothly, “such as financial stability, management organization commitments, including the plan to create a seamless expansion, and willingness to adapt your packaging to take into consideration Aerie at Fogg Peak’s existing branding—” His phone buzzed on the table, and when he turned it over to check the display, his face fell. “Pardon me. I need to check this out. Nick, could you…?”
Nick took over the presentation again while Simon tapped out a message on his phone. Though I listened with half an ear to Nick’s speech, most of my attention was on Simon.
“As Simon was saying…” Nick tapped another key on the computer, and the screen changed. “This is an initial proposal, not a legal offer…yet. We are confident from the backgrounding we did, though, that we can come to a mutually agreeable contract and move forward with a beneficial and profitable concept—”
“Just to be clear,” I interrupted, “you’re saying you want Panini Jack’s because this is the type of restaurant concept you’d like to place inthatparticular position in the Aerie plans. Only in thealpineconcept.”
Simon set his phone down and nodded. “Exactly right, Mr. Wyatt.”
Nick tapped the folder in front of me. “Inside, you’ll find a summary of our proposal, as well as a list of action items we’ll need your input on. In addition, you’ll see Evola’s partnership one-pager outlining the reasons why we find partnering with local vendors to be a mutually beneficial scheme, as well as a way to strengthen our commitment to invest back into the communities that entrust us with their land.”
I nodded slowly. That part sounded fine. Excellent, really. The timing was suspect, but this was a generous mission for a company like Evola and would mean even more money for the Hollow.
“Impressive,” I admitted reluctantly.
Simon seemed to relax a fraction. “Good. I’m glad you—”
“I have to ask, though…” I cut in. “There’s been a lot of concern in town about the prospect of clear-cutting up on the Ridge. What will happen if the vote doesn’t go through next week? If Evola has to submit a revised plan, is there a possibility for…” I consulted the paperwork. “Panini Jack’s AerieGrotto… to be located elsewhere on the mountain?”
Nick opened his mouth to respond, but Simon stopped him with a touch to his arm. Simon’s expression hardened, though his voice remained friendly and open. “Unfortunately not. If the plans need to be changed, we will have to rescind the offer. Not because we don’t value you as a partner and want your concept to be part of the resort offerings, but because the remaining acreage left for the resort footprint wouldn’t allow as many dining concepts in the plan.”
He closed his laptop and folded his hands over it before lowering his voice. His phone buzzed again, but this time, he ignored it. “Listen, Jack. I know you’re close with a lot of people in town, and I know you’re most likely going to be between a rock and a hard place in the vote next week. Nick and Ipersonallyunderstand if you need to abstain or even vote against the development. But unfortunately, our upper management won’t sign off on partnering with a vendor who doesn’t fully support the development.” He shrugged apologetically. “They feel it shows a lack of trust, and what’s a partnership without trust, am I right? I’m not saying this in any way to coerce or impact your vote, but as someone who’s been in the Hollow long enough to feel a certain kinship with the people here, I wanted to give you a heads-up about what’s at stake. That’s not coming from Evola. That’s coming from me as afriend. Do you understand?”
Nick frowned but kept his mouth shut, letting Simon lead the show.
Oh, I understood, alright.
I understood that Betty Ann was right when she said Simon was way more charming than any one person ought to be. I almost believed that he was genuinely worried for meas a friend.
And I also understood that there was absolutely no way I could voteyesto the proposal the town was currently considering. Not anymore.
To tell the truth, I’d already been wavering, mostly out of loyalty to Hawk. But after seeing Nick’s schematic of Glassy Ridge without its thick, sheltering trees, I’d felt a tug of the same cold wrongness in my gut that Hawk must’ve been feeling about this project all along. And after listening to this mafia-style unconditional-support-or-else pitch, I couldn’t imagine allowing Evola to come in and build so much as a tool shed unless the town was guaranteed a much higher level of oversight.
Hawk had been right all along. Our beloved wilderness area and the pristine views we all seemed to take for granted would never be the same.
Before I could open my mouth to politely decline, Simon’s phone buzzed again. His face showed a flash of anger before he wiped it away and his pleasant smile was back in place. He leaned over and whispered something in Nick’s ear that made Nick’s forehead crinkle in concern before he caught me looking and shot me a smile meant to reassure me.
