“I had wedding stuff to deal with!”
“No offense, Avery, but you always have wedding stuff to deal with. It’s been damn well constant since you got engaged. You’re incessantly putting your personal issues before business. You dropped a business meeting to tend to your personal issues, which is exactly what I did.” I point to myself. “I know it’s not the same, but you can’t accuse me of being irresponsible without looking in the mirror.”
“Of course you try to turn this on me!” Avery snaps.
“I’m not turning it on you. I’m pointing out the obvious. Just because you don’t want to hear it, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. You’ve been MIA for months, Avery.”
“I had to drop one freaking meeting. It’s not like I do this all the time.”
“Are you serious with this? You’re turning into a control freak and it’s hurting all of us,” I tell her, my voice rising with my frustration. “I get it, your wedding is exciting and stressful, and you’ve got a lot on your plate, but we all do. Harley and I have been trying to pick up the slack as much as we possibly can, but it’s becoming unmanageable, and this is just another example of that.”
“We keep trying to tell you this, and you just keep shooting us down,” Harley says.
“Great. And now you’re ganging up on me. You’re the one who messed up, London, not me.”
I throw my hands in the air. “You’re missing the freaking point!”
“What the hell is the point? I try to schedule my wedding stuff around Spark House. And in a few months, it will all be over, and then I’ll have my time back and things will be normal again…” Avery seems to have lost her fight as she processes what Harley and I are telling her.
“But will they? You’re going to be newly married, and I know you and Declan have lived together for years, but you’re going to want time as a couple, as you should. And eventually you’re going to want to start a family. Which, again, is something you have every right to want. We can’t indefinitely juggle all of this on our own.” I motion between the three of us.
“That’s years from now though, and Declan knows how important Spark House is to me.” There’s panic on Avery’s face, the kind that tells me I’m right, and she just doesn’t want to see the truth. That we’re going to crack under the pressure if we keep going like we are.
“We are busier than we’ve ever been. When was the last time we had a day off, apart from the anniversary of our parents’ death? And what does that say about what we’re doing here? I know you love Spark House and it’s your baby, and I love that I get to be close to both you and Harley. You’re my best friends, and I don’t ever want to lose that, but I can’t keep going like this.”
“What are you saying? That you want out of Spark House? Is that what this whole thing with Holt Media has been about? You figuring out your exit strategy?” Avery looks shocked and horrified.
“No. That’s not at all what I’ve been doing and that’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that what you want and what I want, when it comes to Spark House, are two different things. And maybe we didn’t talk about it like we should have before we started down this path. I love working with both of you, but you know that my role here did not come naturally to me. I’ve had to work hard to figure it out and be comfortable with my job. And I thought that when we started to secure sponsorships, we’d be able to hire new people to help alleviate the pressure, but you don’t want to do that either. So we’re all suffering as a result.” I hold up a hand to stop Avery from interrupting.
“And I’m aware that I haven’t been in good form for the past few weeks, but it’s been months of this and there isn’t an end in sight. We’re fully booked out a year in advance. You have a wedding you’re trying to plan, and I have a relationship I’m trying desperately to make work and a side job that I love that I can’t spend any time on. I want a life. I want balance, and right now I have none of those things.”
“Spark House is where it is because it’s a family-run business,” Avery argues, but there’s fear lurking in those words.
“Spark House is where it is because we’ve worked hard to make it happen. I understand your connection to this place, and I know what it means to you. It means a lot to me too. But I can’t keep up this pace indefinitely, and I don’t think you can either.”