Make a Wish (Spark House #3)(18)
Chad and I have fun, but I don’t think we’d be the kind of partners who would work together. We’re more opposites attract. He’s an IT and gaming nerd, and I’m a kid-loving, Disney fanatic who enjoys glitter crafts, bakes when the mood suits me, and still prefers family movies to any other kind. I don’t think we need to be in each other’s pockets for us to date.
“We’re going to have so much fun planning this one!” London tosses one of her stars in the jar she carries with her everywhere. Probably even to the bathroom. Those stars are the entire basis for Starry-Eyed Treasures, her Etsy store. She used to make them when she was nervous, and now she makes them so she can keep up with her online store. It’s pretty cool.
She’s cut back on her hours at Spark House over the past few years, in part because she travels with Jackson and Ella. But since she also loves working with me and Avery, and putting an innovative spin on everything, she spearheads the artistic planning and design for every event, even if it is virtually. I usually fill in for her when she’s away, following her plan, because I enjoy the creative stuff too.
“And you know what the best part is?” London taps her fingers together excitedly, and she and Avery exchange a look.
I take the bait. Obviously whatever it is makes them both giddy. “What’s that?”
“The birthday girl is a huge fan of that movie with the guy who says inconceivable all the time. What’s it called again?” London is practically vibrating with her excitement.
“The Princess Bride?”
“That’s it!” London nods vigorously.
I glance between them. “Seriously?”
“Super seriously.” Avery nods.
“I love that movie. I can totally get on board with planning a party around that theme.” Obviously there won’t be an arts-and-crafts component, but it will definitely be fun to plan with London, who I haven’t had enough time with. Understandably so, since she’s a new mom and married. But any opportunity to work on an event with her is a good one, so I’ll take it.
We chat a bit more about the party and toss some ideas around before we move on to the bigger picture items.
“Next week we’re having a conference call with Bancroft and Griffin Mills to discuss their franchise proposal. Obviously nothing is definite, and at this point we’re just hearing what they have to say, but we’ve all done all our research and made our plans, so I think we’re ready. This could be an amazing opportunity,” Avery says.
“What exactly would that mean for us? From what I understand, other locations would carry the Spark House name, right? Does that mean we’d be split up? Would we have to move to one of the new Spark House hotels to help run it?” The thought alone makes my throat tight. I’ve been hesitant about this whole thing right from the start, but Avery and London are all in. I know I should probably say something, but my sisters are so ex cited about this, and I don’t feel that anything I say is going to change our trajectory. Making waves and creating conflict isn’t something I wanted to do, but maybe I should’ve.
It’s hard enough as it is to find time to spend with my sisters outside of work. If we’re all split up, what will that look like? And with Grandma Spark in Italy, all the people I’m closest to could be scattered across the country.
London puts her hand over mine, maybe sensing my unease. “We won’t be split up. We’d continue to run Spark House here, just like we always have. But Mills Hotels would like to invest in us. They want to use the Spark House name and our model and open boutique-style event hotels in other locations, and they’ll pay us a cut to do that.”
“So they won’t own Spark House?”
“No.” Declan shakes his head. “They’ll be able to open new hotels in other states, but since they would be using our name, we would need to give approval before they can move forward with proposed sites. It’s like a joint venture.”
“Okay. That makes sense. Just as long as we stay together.” Lately it’s started to feel like I barely know what my role is here. I want to be able to go with the flow, but the things I’m good at keep being taken over. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to go somewhere else. I’d feel like a fraud. Both Avery and London have very defined roles, and me … well, I’m kind of a floater. A jack of all trades, master of none. Or at least that’s how I’ve felt ever since the Teamology initiative streamlined our social media accounts, leaving me to manage “supplemental content.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Avery assures me. “All it means is that there will be more Spark Houses in the world.”
“They’d like to start small to build on exclusivity and make sure the boutique hotels are meeting the same standard of care and attention as the original Spark House,” Declan explains. “They have five prospective sites: two in California, one in upstate New York, and two in Vermont. They want to start with Cali and New York, then move on to Vermont. After that, they have three additional proposed sites in the Pacific Northwest.”
That seems like a lot of expansion, going from one to six, and then adding three more after that. “What does the timeline look like on that? How quickly is all this going to happen? How are we going to run this place and manage these franchises?” I can feel the panic rising, and I’m surprised London is so calm in the face of all this change. Usually she’s the wired one of the three of us. Apparently this is one of my new Spark House roles—resident panicker.