Chapter 1

1

“ W ell, fuck me ,” Nora Hartley spat, taking in the spreading green mess on her white marble counter with no small measure of fury. Chunks of shattered glass and more green liquid were scattered on the pale birchwood floor of her kitchen in her Pacific Palisades beach home, surrounding her thankfully still-slippered feet.

It was a massive, awful mess, and worse, it was entirely her fault for being in too much of a hurry while pouring her breakfast power greens smoothie into her insulated cup. The blender, sweaty from the frozen vegetables and ice she’d filled it with, had slipped from her hands and crashed onto the countertop. Now she was out a blender, had no breakfast, there was a truly horrific mess threatening to stain her floor and her countertop, and she was definitely, definitely going to miss her morning debrief at the office with her assistant, Laurie.

“Call Laurie’s Work Cell,” she snapped into her cell phone, tapping her foot with impatience while the call connected. As she waited, Nora ripped a handful of paper towels off of the roll and started to mop up what she could of the smoothie. It was fortunate that her cleaners were scheduled to come in today, but she couldn’t leave this entire disgusting puddle for them to deal with. She paid them well, she thought, but nobody would be paid well enough to have to clean this up.

“Hi, Boss,” Laurie’s cheerful morning voice chirped through the phone speakers. “Everything okay?”

“No. I’m going to miss our meeting.” Nora dumped the sodden paper towels into the garbage can and tore off more. “And I’ll be very late. I dropped my blender.”

“Ouch.” Laurie made a sympathetic noise. “No worries. You don’t have any morning meetings besides ours, and I can debrief you over the phone if you call me when you’re in the car and on your way. I’ll have breakfast waiting for you here, and everything is going to be fine.”

Nora sighed and dumped the second handful of wet paper towels into the trash. “Bless you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Suffer,” Laurie replied cheerily. “Kidding! Slow down, take a deep breath, and you’ll be here when you get here.”

“Bye, Laurie.” Nora was smiling by the time she got off the phone with her assistant. Laurie was right, she would be suffering without the world’s best right-hand gal, and she was lucky she’d found her ten years ago. Laurie kept her organized and as chill as it was possible for a woman of Nora’s age and position to be.

It was an age Nora felt as she got down to mop as much green smoothie off of the floor as possible, her knees reminding her that she’d just turned 40. She grimaced. She could have as many weekly facials, blonde upkeep appointments, and personal trainer sessions as she liked, but nothing could permanently stave off the effects of hitting middle age. Still, she reflected as she stood and successfully tossed the final clump of towels into the garbage can, at least she could get down on the floor still, and back up again. She didn’t need assistance with that, not that there was anyone around to assist, and there hadn’t been for a while…

Nora shook her head to clear it and hustled off to her bedroom so she could slip into her favorite charcoal-gray Prada suit. She was going to be late for work, but she would be absolutely perfectly put together no matter what.

Thirty minutes later, she was sleek, polished, and in the back of the Lincoln Town Car that took her to her office every morning. She had a file folder in her hands with all of the information she’d intended to go over with Laurie at their morning meeting, and she flipped it open now. “The Fairchild Building,” she read aloud, clicking a pen in her free hand. “Downtown LA, six stories, corner lot. Office space on the upper five floors, retail on the ground.” She flipped to the specs pages. “Only two of the office floors are currently rented, both to the same call center. Of the four retail spaces on the ground floor, two were vacated this year. The small accessories boutique is struggling, as is the café-slash-bar, but…hm, to a lesser degree.” Nora tilted her head and clicked her pen. “Huh. It’s actually profiting, but damn, those margins are razor-thin.” She squinted. “Indigo Lounge. Now, that sounds familiar. Why?”

As she closed the file to mull over the café-bar, she felt something stretch and snap under her ivory silk blouse. Surprised, Nora reached up and felt around. “My bra strap? Seriously? The smoothie wasn’t enough of a disaster?” She sighed. At least she kept some spare clothing items at the office, and they were pulling up in front of it now. Nora shuffled the folder into her Mulberry briefcase and got out of the car, walking briskly up to the high-rise that The Hartley Group called home and heading upstairs in the elevator that opened out directly into their executive office floor.

“Laurie, help,” she called as she entered the spare, elegant space. “Wardrobe emergency. My bra broke.”

Cheerful, redheaded Laurie bustled out from the tiny kitchen, a green smoothie in one hand and a big mug full of delicious-smelling coffee in the other. “On it, Boss. Go to your office, I’m right behind you.” She set the breakfast goods down on her desk. “I’m waiting for DoorDash to bring some oat milk creamer for your coffee. Sorry, I didn’t realize that we didn’t have any.”

“No creamer? The universe really is targeting me today.” Nora sighed and walked into her office. “Thanks for ordering some, though.”

“Of course, I’ve always got your back.” Laurie leaned in the doorway with a smile, arms crossed over her crisp, white cotton Oxford shirt and black suspenders, then glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, it’s here now. I’ll bring you a bra from the closet and your breakfast. Sit down. Settle. Breathe.”

Nora sat down behind her desk, tossing her phone aside as she pulled the Fairchild file out of her briefcase again. “Indigo Lounge,” she muttered. She knew she’d heard the name before…

Fifteen-year-old memories hit her in a flood. Leah, her blue eyes bright with happiness, her brown curls flying as she’d come home to Nora from a night out with friends. “It was amazing, they took me out to this Indigo Lounge bar, well, it’s a café too, the food is incredible, and the music , there’s live music, and Nora, the vibes there… the community… what. A. Night.” Leah had flopped down into Nora’s lap and beamed up at her. “I’ll take you one day. You don’t get out into the community enough.”

But they’d never gone to the Indigo Lounge together. Nora had chosen to focus on her burgeoning corporate real estate career, and that didn’t leave time for going out to clubs. Eventually, it hadn’t left any time for Leah, either, and they’d parted ways. Amicably enough, Nora thought, no hard feelings between them. Leah was married now, she’d heard. That made Nora happy, because it was something Leah had always wanted, but Nora had never warmed to the idea of tying the knot.

For the second time that day, Nora shook her head, trying to beat back the memories she’d unlocked from a deep-held Pandora’s box in her psyche. She began to shuffle around the papers on her desk. All of a sudden, she heard a thunk . Blinking, Nora looked around to see what had fallen off her desk. It took a moment for her to register that her phone had vanished. “Fuck,” she muttered, standing up to peer over and around her desk.

Her phone was in a glossy red protective case. The flooring in her office was, like her home, pale birchwood. So the phone should be instantly visible, and yet… nothing. It had vanished without a trace. Nora lifted her head. “Laurie!”

“Coming. Sorry. I’ve got your breakfast, your bra, and your coffee with oat milk creamer.” Laurie trotted in and laid everything out on Nora’s desk. “I didn’t mean to take so long.”

“You didn’t, you never do,” Nora said. “No, I’ve dropped my phone somewhere, can you call me on yours so I can find it?”

“Consider it done.” Laurie pulled her phone out of the pocket of her sleekly tailored black trousers and speed-dialed. Nearly instantly, Nora’s phone chirped, and she got down onto the floor for the second time that day. Groping under her desk, she located her wayward device, grabbed it and stood up—only to nearly topple over when the heel of one of her Ferragamo stilettos snapped.

Panicking, Nora windmilled her arms to try and regain her balance. Laurie darted forward and grabbed her to steady her, guiding her carefully down into her chair. “You okay, Boss?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I think.” Nora put a hand over her heart and tried to get in some of those deep breaths Laurie was always telling her to take. It was a struggle. She closed her eyes and tried to relax into her seat.

In the next moment, she felt Laurie kneel down and get her broken shoes off of her. “I’ll get these to a cobbler this afternoon. I know they’re some of your favorites. Right now, I’ll go get one of the spare pairs out of the closet. Do you think you’ll feel up to wearing Manolos?”

“Sounds good. Thank you.” She sighed and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. “God, it really does feel like the universe is against me today.”

“No,” Laurie said, coming back almost immediately, black Manolos in hand. “It’s just getting all the bad crap out of the way so that your meeting at the Fairchild goes off without a hitch. Did you read the file?”

“Some of it.” Nora took the new shoes and wedged her feet into them. She flipped the file open again. “The location is amazing; this building is smack in the middle of some of the most up-and-coming development projects in Downtown LA. The office and retail spaces are being all but wasted. If they’re in good shape, I’ve got any number of contacts I can reach out to in order to fill them once I overhaul the whole joint.”

Laurie sat on the edge of her desk, swinging one ankle-booted foot. “You’re going to have trouble with that café,” she said, a note of warning in her voice.

“So you’ve already scoped it out.” Nora grinned. No surprise there, Laurie liked being organized and prepared as much as she did. It was part of why they made such a good team. “Now I really do wish I’d made it here for our meeting. Give me the bullet points.”

Pulling her phone out again, Laurie opened the Notes app. “The owner of the Indigo Lounge is a woman named Esme. She opened the place twenty years ago, and it’s always been in the Fairchild Building. It’s evolved from a little hole-in-the-wall lesbian bar into a real community hub.” She scrolled with her thumb. “They host drag shows, fundraisers, regular open- mic nights with local musicians—Mia Cortés, that singer who’s really hot right now, she was discovered there—lots of live entertainment showcasing local queer women. It’s also a brunch and lunch spot with a wide coffee and tea selection and a gourmet menu.”

“It sounds busy,” Nora remarked, flipping through the file folder again before returning it to her briefcase. “But that can’t be the problem? Because it definitely didn’t look profitable enough that this Esme could hold up the sale.”

“No, you’re right, she’s barely turned a profit the last ten years, and the pandemic really stretched her resources thin; she’s been able to get some of those small business grants to stay afloat, but that’s not going to last forever.” Laurie tucked her phone away. “No, the issue is that she seems to be a very stubborn and determined lady. And the place may not be very profitable, but it is popular within the community. You’re likely to meet with strong opposition.”

Nora was good with concrete details, valuation, location, but Laurie always had her beat with the real personal heartbeat of any building The Hartley Group bought. She couldn’t wait for the day Laurie finally decided to take her real estate licensing exam and join her as part of the firm. She really would make a formidable commercial realtor. “Got it. Well, you know me. I don’t think there’s any problem too big for money to solve. Any community hub can be relocated. That building is too valuable for a barely-profitable bar serving a tiny, marginalized segment of the city population to keep taking up space in it.” She stood up and slung the strap of her briefcase over her head. “Besides, after twenty years in one place, I’m sure this Esme person will find she’s itching for a change. It might breathe new life into the place.”

“Maybe so. If anyone can get past an owner standing their ground, it’s you.” Laurie smiled as they walked to the elevator together.

“We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again.” Nora clapped a hand on Laurie’s shoulder before she stepped into the elevator. “See you later. Thank you for the intel today. As always.”

“Anytime, Boss.” Laurie winked as the elevator doors closed. “Go get ‘em, Tiger!”