Chapter Fifteen

"So the only other thing left to discuss is the Madrid trip," Ange said, flicking a page in her notebook, pen in hand as she took minutes. Ange and Theo were sitting on the sofa, with Harry squished between them, and Mike and Lexie were in the two armchairs facing each other over the rug on the wooden floors. What did they ever do if there were more than five of them in a meeting? Lexie wondered. Apparently Harry often stayed downstairs to mind the shop, but they'd closed it up for this meeting so that he could join.

The flat was so tidy, it was almost like no one lived here. She thought she was a master at living light, but apparently Theo was too, if the sparse bookshelf was anything to go by. Unless he kept all his clutter somewhere else. In his bedroom, maybe. Not that she was thinking about his bedroom.

"Madrid?" she asked, pulling herself back to the room. Behind Mike, she could see the massive windows, typical of this Georgian style of building, and the glimpse of the city below, with the abbey in the distance.

"We've been talking about setting up a new trip there for next year," Mike said. He'd acknowledged her at the beginning of the meeting with a booming, "Lexie! Wonderful to see you sticking it out, good for you," which Lexie was trying not to hold against him. "There's a big cultural festival there in May," he continued, "the Fiesta de San Isidro." His put-on Spanish accent was just as bad as his French one.

"Yes," said Ange, "and you've just about got time to do a recce this year, if you get organized and decide on a strategy." Lexie noticed Ange tended to do this—refer to "you," rather than "we." It reminded her of what Theo had said, about her not taking enough credit for what she did for the company.

"I have no idea why Richard didn't ever get this one off the ground," Mike said, shaking his head. "Old boy was missing a trick."

Lexie saw Theo clench his jaw at that, though he said nothing. She wondered if he was upset about the slight on her dad. Did he feel he owed Richard something, maybe—for giving him a job, and now, for giving him a chunk of the company?

"We don't have anything else in Madrid, do we?" Ange asked pragmatically. "Nothing this will clash with?"

"Makes no sense that we haven't done Madrid in all this time," Mike said. "Seems obvious, doesn't it? Plenty of people will want to go there and we can sell the Spanish dancing and tapas and the like. Be perfect for anyone who imagines themselves a bit of a romantic and wants to dance the salsa or whatnot."

"I went to Barcelona once," Harry said. "But it was with a bunch of friends when I was eighteen, and I don't remember much about it, if I'm honest."

Lexie chose to look out the window rather than engage in the conversation. Her dad might not have set up an R it's more about watching it, isn't it?"

"And are you actually going to make time to investigate all the places, or are you just going to take Kate out to the best places for lunch?"

"Now, listen here, old chap, I've been part of the company longer than you have, and I've been on enough of these things without you stepping in to tell me what I can and can't—"

Lexie glanced at Ange, but she seemed to be doodling in her notebook, waiting for the argument to pass. Harry was swiveling his head back and forth between Theo and Mike as they argued.

"I'm not telling you what you can or can't do. I'm asking you if you think Kate will make things difficult, which you've mentioned before that she has a tendency to do on work trips."

Mike made a sort of blustering noise before saying, "Well, I'll go on my own, then."

Theo took what Lexie imagined was a calming breath, and Harry used that opportunity to pipe up with, "I would love to go to Madrid. Just in case that's useful for anyone to know."

Lexie thought Theo might shut Harry down immediately or point out that a comment like that wasn't helpful just now, but instead he just shook his head, and she saw the smile he tried to stop when Harry grinned at him.

"We'll get you out on a trip soon, mate, I promise, but it can't be a recce. I think for this one it might be better if I—"

"I'll go." Lexie hadn't fully thought it through before she said it, but now that the words were out, she found she meant them. She'd wanted to go to Madrid for a long time—why not now? And she wanted to prove she could do more than answer customer inquiries. She wanted to be able to prove, at the end of the year, that she'd helped the company turn a profit—and helping to set up a new trip was doing that, wasn't it?

Mike gave a tinkling laugh, while Ange looked up from her notebook and gave her an approving smile. "Lexie," Mike began, "I admire your enthusiasm, honestly I do, but you won't have the first idea what you—"

"I've got a good few weeks before I'd have to go," she pointed out. "That's loads of time to do some research, figure out what to check out, come up with a rough itinerary, and then see if it could work. I can talk to you and Theo about previous trips and figure out what I'm looking for. OK, I haven't done a ‘recce' for you before, but I have traveled a lot. I'm good at talking to new people, and I know how to throw myself into something."

Mike opened his mouth to talk over her, but Lexie cut him off. "Plus, I own half the business. Doesn't that give me the right to at least try?"

Mike blustered to himself, Ange gave her a wink, while Harry said, "Hear hear." Theo was looking at her, frowning slightly, but he didn't immediately shoot her down. She made herself face him.

"I won't mess it up," she said, trying to speak calmly and professionally. Technically, she knew, that wasn't something she could promise. She could try not to mess it up, though.

"I, for one, am all for it," Ange piped up. "She is good at the people side of it, after all."

"I know she is," Theo said. It surprised Lexie enough that she didn't immediately say anything. She thought of what he'd said in France, when he insisted he was trying to give her a compliment. Apparently he'd meant it.

"Right," she said after a beat. "And I can work with you on the business side of things before I go, can't I? Because I know you have more experience on that front." She spoke directly to Theo, knowing that, really, it was only him she had to convince. And although she wasn't sure about volunteering to spend more time with him, even if it was just for work, she could try to meet him halfway here—if he was admitting she was good with people, she could admit that he was probably better on the business side. Even though she would try to avoid the word better if she could.

Theo looked at her for another long moment, then nodded. "OK."

She blinked. "OK?"

"Yeah. You should go."

A smile spread across her face. "What, really?"

"Yes. Ange is right. And you're right. If you're going to stick it out for the year, you need to get involved."

"Yes," she said, nodding. "OK. Well, that's—"

"But I'm coming too."

She tried to stop her mouth from falling open. "I don't think—"

"Mike is right as well. You don't really know enough about the business yet to fly solo. So we'll both go, work together on it like you said."

"Yes, but I didn't mean…" She trailed off, distracted by the way he was watching her, waiting.

"Well, that's settled, then," Ange said, while Mike looked between the two of them, frowning. Harry was grinning, and nudged Theo in the ribs, apparently delighted. And Lexie saw no way out of it—not when it had been her idea in the first place. "So unless anyone has anything else they want to talk about, I think that's it for now?" Ange shut her notebook, then flapped her hand as they all started to stand up. "Oh no, wait! Theo, you wanted to talk about your idea, didn't you?"

For some reason, Theo's eyes flicked toward Lexie, then away again, before he answered. "No, don't worry. Maybe it's best we put that on hold for now."

"Well, we might as well talk about it while we're all here," Ange pressed, opening her notebook again.

"What idea's this?" Harry asked. "Oh no, wait, is this your local business thing?"

Theo pulled his hand through his hair. "It's not my thing, it's…" He looked around at all of them. "It was something Richard and I talked about, before he…" He broke off, glancing at Lexie again, like he wasn't sure whether to go on.

Mike frowned. "The investment project?"

Lexie felt like she should put her hand in the air, though she just about resisted. "So…What's the project?"

For the first time since she'd met him, Theo looked uncomfortable. "Well, the company already supports local businesses, with everything we do," he said, shifting in his seat, "but I figured—and Richard agreed—that we could go a bit further. Like, what about putting some of our profit back into local businesses—people who want to start something, in one of the places we run trips? So, for example, we have this Christmas trip in Belgium—"

"Lexie was talking that one up to a family just now," Ange said.

Theo glanced at Ange, then back at Lexie, seeming to take a moment to gather his train of thought again. "Right. Cool. Well, you know about it, then. But there's this woman there who makes the most amazing hot chocolate—with, like, actual chocolate, and she can do vegan hot chocolate too, in a way you wouldn't believe, and she has this idea for a chocolate café, but she hasn't been able to get the funds together to start it up. So we could support her, investing in the business—and make her café a part of the itinerary for the trip, so it all links together." He frowned, shaking his head at himself. "I'm not sure if I'm explaining it very well. But Richard got it, I think." The way he said the last part, like he needed to reassure them all that someone else had vouched for the idea, opened a little window into a side of him she'd not seen before.

"No, I think I get it," Lexie said. "And it's really cool. I think it's a great idea." And she meant it. She couldn't work out whether it had been Theo's or Richard's idea in the first place—she couldn't match the idea up to what she knew about either of them—but that didn't stop her from being all for it.

Theo looked at her like she wasn't quite getting something. "Yeah, it's just…Well, if we do that, then we risk the margins being quite close to the wire, profit-wise, at the end of the year."

She glanced at Ange for help as she tried to catch up. Then she realized. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

"So you mean, put all the profits back into local businesses?" Was it selfish, that she'd asked that question? But how could the company even function if it didn't turn a profit? She didn't know much about business, admittedly, but wasn't that the main point of them?

"No, not all of it. But we've had a rough couple of years recently, and we're not fully back on track yet, so maybe…" He sighed. "Maybe now isn't the right time."

Lexie hesitated. "Maybe we can see where we're at in a few months?"

He nodded, his gaze flickering across her face, like he might have been trying to figure out the truth behind her words. "Yeah. Yeah, OK."

"Excellent!" Ange clapped her hands together. "You'll have plenty of time to talk about it while you're in Madrid together."