Unexpected Arrivals(19)
The moment we found a hotel and checked in, both couples forgot about the other in favor of each other.
***
By the time we finally made it to New York, we needed a day in the hotel to recoup before embarking on housing and businesses. The plan had been for Cora and Hannah to enroll in courses for the fall while Neil and I looked at a handful of companies. Until we saw where the physical locations of these places were, it didn’t make sense to find a place to live and end up two hours away because we hadn’t planned well.
The girls hadn’t been on their own longer than an hour before Cora called, hysterical about Hannah refusing to get on the subway. Cora had grown up in White Plains, so where being in the city wasn’t unfamiliar to her, Hannah was a small-town girl from Idaho. I swore it was the lost state. No one was from Idaho. Other than potatoes, I couldn’t think of a single thing Idaho had. Whatever it was hadn’t prepared Hannah for the city.
“James, she won’t go back down the stairwell to the subway.”
“Why? What happened?”
She didn’t have any phobias I was aware of.
“Some guy peed on her shoe.” Even though Cora was exasperated, I could hear the giggle in her tone. She thought Hannah was ridiculous, even if she hadn’t come out and said it.
The laugh that erupted from my mouth startled Neil who was already worried about his girlfriend being without him. He’d traveled the world before his parents’ bankruptcy. Hannah had not, and he only let her go because Cora was familiar with the city.
“What’s going on?”
He was worse than any girl. I shooed him off.
“Sweetheart, just take a cab. She’ll learn and get used to being in a new place. And keep her away from men with their fly open.”
I spent the next ten minutes calming Neil’s ass down. Jesus. He acted like Hannah had never made it a day on her own. She might have been sheltered, but she was a survivor, resilient.
We had an appointment with a business broker in Midtown, and the girls were going to have to figure this stuff out on their own. My concern wasn’t Cora. She could pacify Hannah by taking a cab—hell, she could afford to take them all over Manhattan if she chose to. The person who couldn’t afford that luxury was Hannah, and if she were smart, she’d use Cora’s knowledge as a resource while it was available to her.
My mind was swimming by the time we got back to the hotel. The girls hadn’t returned, but after the urination incident, they were only approached by a handful of other people asking for money or creeping Hannah out. All while Cora laughed at her na?veté. I had to give my girl credit—while she found humor in Hannah’s behavior, she was patient and grateful for her friendship. Those two had the kindest hearts of anyone I’d ever met. They made perfect friends.
“Neil, do you realize we have weeks’ worth of financial information and company history on three businesses that might potentially be ours?” It was mind-boggling. And even more so, that we were doing this without the help of our parents. Although, we weren’t dumb enough to sign anything without having a lawyer look at it.
This trip was for exploration. We had three viable options in front of us and now had locations to begin looking at housing.
“Do you think we’re making the right decision?” He’d gone back and forth. Not because he thought we were making a poor choice but because he stood to lose everything. And he was afraid Hannah had put her faith in him to provide for her while she went to culinary school.
“Dream big. You never thought you’d graduate from UNC without tons of debt. You didn’t believe you’d walk onto the basketball team. You did both…and you managed to do it while saving money and maintaining a job.”
“Yeah, thanks to you and Cora.”
“Cora and I didn’t go to work for you, or practices, games, or classes. We didn’t manage your money or your homework. Take credit for what you did, man. It’s fucking impressive. I’m not at all worried about our success. You shouldn’t be, either.”
I knew that was easier for me to say. If the business bombed out or we sucked as investors or financial planners, I had the resources to start over again. Neil didn’t have any mulligans.
Before he could respond, the hotel door burst open. I didn’t think I’d ever seen something so cute in all my life. Cora was decked out in Cornell Tech garb, and Hannah had on a chef’s jacket and a big hat on her head. Their arms were loaded down with bags, but it was obvious it wasn’t all from the schools.
I kissed Cora and took her things. “Where all did you two go?”
They glanced at each other and giggled. It appeared wherever they’d been, they had fun. I’d been worried this morning by the subway incident.
“Shopping,” they said in unison.
“How did your meeting go? Any businesses worth considering?” Cora’s enthusiasm made me happy. No matter what I did, she always supported me with her whole heart.
Neil and I started chattering away about all we’d learned and the information we had to go over in the next couple of days. Even though it was daunting, we had to go through all of it before we could move ahead with any of the ventures. And even if we identified one we wanted to proceed with, we would have to review it with an attorney. And the only attorney I knew was the one my parents used in Geneva Key—one of the few professions able to survive on the island.