“Maybe not,” he admits. “You can probably talk him down some.”
“I could cover half the cost. But I need investors for the rest.”
“Ah,” he says. “So you’re willing to sink, what, seven months of income into this place?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Come on, Lora. That’s nuts.”
“If we talk him down a lot, we might be able to do better.”
“How about this. You agree to sink in half a million, so about four months of income. I’ll drop $200,000, which is no big deal, because our production studio is going great.”
“Wow, really?” I ask him. “No kidding?”
“Seriously. You don’t even need to pitch me. If you need the money for a project you’re excited about, I’ll put in the money. I have faith in you.”
I laugh, feeling stupid. “I was so nervous about this conversation. I thought you’d grill me.”
“Nah,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many breaks over the years. Now it’s your turn. I’m happy to help.”
“Do you think the others will feel that way too?”
He hesitates. “You mean… our siblings?”
“Yeah. I planned on asking Jacob, Brent, and Delia to pitch in, too.”
“Hm,” he says. “I think they’ll be a harder sell. Brent will probably throw money at you just because you’re the baby and he’s never spent any time with you. But Jacob and Delia might be tougher.”
“I have to try, right? If they all go in for two hundred, I’ll have a decent proposal for Uncle Ron. It won’t be two million, but it’ll be good.”
“Tell you what. I’ll get them all together on video chat, and you can do a little presentation. Think you can handle that?”
“Sure,” I say. “When? A week?”
“How about tonight?”
I frown. “Seriously?”
“Yep. Tonight. Get everything together. Make it nice.”
“Uh—”
“Good luck!” He hangs up the phone.
I stand there staring at it for a long moment before I call Dean.
He picks up right away. “Hey,” he says. “You just can’t get enough of me.”
“No, I really can’t,” I say. “You’re gorgeous and smart. God, you’re just the best.”
“Uh oh. You want something.”
“Do you know how to put together a business proposal?”
He sighs. “I do.”
“I need one by, like… tonight.”
“Lora.”
“Yes?”
“That’s a lot of work. And I have a job, you know.”
“I know.”
He sighs. “Should I come to you?”
“Yes, please.”
“See you soon.”
“You’re amazing!” I hang up the phone. I feel a pit of nervous excitement in my stomach. I love that Dean’s coming over to help, but this is a business meeting, and we’re doing something serious. We’re not just going to sit around and kiss each other all day… I mean, unless he wants to, then we can totally do that.
I pick up my laptop and start doing research as I wait for him to show up.Dean comes twenty minutes later, and we instantly dive into work. There’s no bullshit, no joking around, he’s all business and it’s actually kind of hot.
“First thing’s first, we need financials,” he says. “So start searching for that stuff.”
“Financials?”
“Sure, projections of what you think we can make. Guesstimates, really, but base it on other numbers.”
“Okay, right. Sure.” I hesitate. “How do I do that?”
He laughs. “Just do some Googling, you’ll figure it out.”
For the rest of the day, we barely speak. He gives me data to find and tasks to complete, and I go ahead and get it done as fast as I can. Meanwhile, he starts building a presentation.
We take a short break for lunch, but we dive right back in. I get a text from Shaun around three.Shaun: They’re all in and all excited. So how does 4:30 your time sound?
Me: That’s an hour and a half.
Shaun: Yep. You can blame Jacob for that. Apparently he’s busy tonight.
Me: Oh, god. I won’t be ready.
Shaun: Do your best.I show Dean the conversation and he only nods. “Better skip ahead,” he says, and we get back to it.
By the time 4:30 rolls around, I’m exhausted. I’ve never worked so hard or so fast on something in my whole life. We spent all day scouring numbers, researching markets, getting pricing on equipment, hourly rates benefit pay, state laws around minimum wage earners, liability insurance, everything. It’s more data than I’ve ever collated before, more data than I even knew I could put together.
But it looks good. I mean, not perfect. There are gaps here and there. But for a single day… it’s pretty solid.
“So, okay, before you get on the call, one more time. When do you project you’ll be profitable?”
“Two years,” I say. “And then I’ll be profitable. From there, we’ll hire more full-time staff with better benefits. I’ll only upgrade equipment as necessary and keep overhead as low as possible.”
“Good,” he says and grins at me. “Okay. I think you’re ready.”
“Dean, I’m terrified.”
“Don’t be. They’re your family.”
“That’s why I’m so scared.” I shake my head. “The Lofthouse clan isn’t exactly friendly when it comes to business.”