Page 31 of The Estate
Rachel thought about the riot of blue hydrangeas and the delicate colors of the stained glass dancing across the wide plank antique flooring. White Hall Estate boasted beautiful ocean views and interesting architectural elements around every corner.
Covertly wiping her sweaty palms against her pants, she nodded. “The physical buildings and location are not to be undersold.”
“You’ve been there before, right? A wedding, I think you said?”
“Yes,” she replied. “While I haven’t gotten a complete tour yet, what I have seen of the grounds is striking. The renovations were done well and preserved or even enhanced the many original architectural details. The projects were also chosen with care, obviously with long-range planning considerations.”
“How so?” Seth asked.
Rachel tried not to dwell on the fact that this was feeling more and more like a test.
“In the main house, they installed more bathrooms than strictly needed for the capacity of the ballroom. So future growth can be accommodated easily. The chapel entrance was constructed to allow for zero-step entry, as were the bathrooms that were put in that building. Unique elements like stained glass, pocket doors, and historically accurate chandeliers were either refurbished or created. That attention to detail adds interest and makes the venue stand out from competitors.”
Seth smiled. “Very insightful, Rachel. Especially for not having a complete tour. I look forward to reading through your progress notes.”
Rachel’s shoulders lowered as she relaxed a bit. It was easy to get wrapped up in her head about how important this project was—for her career, for the firm’s business, for Cal and his family—hearing Seth approval on even just a tiny piece of the project, helped ease her stress.
“You’re saving everything in the project folder, correct?” he asked.
“Yes. I just added my notes and put some other materials out there today.”
“Excellent. You probably haven’t had time to review, but I put in the latest golf course industry revenue forecast along with some golf case study material that might be useful.”
Rachel frowned, forgetting for a hot second that she needed to school her speech and her reactions.
Seth’s brows furrowed. “You disagree with the golf course option?”
Damn her reaction. When he mentioned the golf course, she inevitably flashed back to her disagreement with Cal. Not that she intended to share that with Seth. But it brought up something she’d been contemplating.
“No, I don’t disagree with that option,” she responded slowly. “It’s occurred to me, the Fitzgeralds came in with three specific options for us to evaluate,” She paused, wondering how much she was comfortable sharing.
“Yes,” Seth prompted. “That’s not unusual for our clients to do.”
Maybe it was safe to test the waters and see his reaction?
“But they also said they wanted what was best for the estate,” she cautiously reminded him. “What if the best option is something they haven’t thought of? Something outside the predetermined list they gave us?”
“Why do you ask? Have you come across something that stands out as a solution?” he asked. She questioned whether Seth’s tone sounded slightly harder or more aggressive or if she imagined it, but it was enough to have her retreat a step.
“No,” she assured him. “I don’t have information on another possibility. I was simply curious.” What she wanted to add was that since Cal had mentioned a distillery, she’d been pondering it as an option. Cal also referred to the five-year business plan he’d created. Given the impressive job he was doing so far, she wondered why his parents weren’t using that.
She was curious about his plan, specifically about the feasibility of a distillery. How did that change the earnings projections? She didn’t know enough about the distillery business to even harbor a guess.
“I see,” Seth responded. “Well, the three options Jay and Celeste came in with are all strong contenders.
“Besides the golf information, I created a file in the project folder with information on some local developers. I know the Fitzgeralds already have some names, but it doesn’t hurt to have some additional ones, along with the sort of projects in their pipelines. Who knows? There may be something that dovetails nicely with developing this property.”
“I will definitely review the materials,” she assured him.
Seth got up and smiled. “Excellent. It’s clear to me the project is in excellent hands.”
Rachel’s spirits soared. She knew this was just the project she needed to show Seth her potential. Finally, it felt like she was finding solid footing on the team. That was until Seth finished his thought.
“I’ll be sure to tell management you’re doing a great job bringing this home for us,” Seth added as he left.
With that stressful reminder, she plummeted back down to earth with a resounding thud. Despite her mind wanting to panic, she knew her time was better spent focusing on the project. She grabbed a fresh cup of coffee and powered through her remaining to-do items so she could get going to the estate.
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