Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
“What do you need?” Avery asks.
This seems like a good opportunity to broach my idea and see what my sisters have to say. The majority rules stipulation might be the one thing standing in my way on this, but I won’t know if I don’t at least put it out there.
“I know that we said birthday parties for kids were a no-go, but I was hoping we could host one for Peyton. We could do it on a Sunday afternoon, that way we’re not interfering with our own events.”
Avery and London exchange a glance.
“Do you have time to organize something like that?” Avery asks.
“Yeah, I already know what Peyton wants, so it would be easy. And I wouldn’t expect you guys to help. I would organize it on my own, so it won’t interfere with anything else we have going on.”
“I think it should work, but it would be good to check the calendar and make sure it’s not going to conflict with the events we’re already hosting,” London says.
“I can run it by Gavin and see what weekends would work, since I know we’re basically booked out for the next eighteen months.”
“Two years, actually,” Avery says.
“Right. Yeah, I’ll ask if something during the week would work, just in case. Hopefully we’re planning out far enough in advance that it should be okay.” I flip a pen between my fingers. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay, what’s going on?” London flips a puffy star between her fingers, probably trying to read my expression.
“I have an idea, and I’m not sure what it would look like in the grand scheme of things, but I wondered if maybe for one of the upcoming weddings, we could offer in-house daycare for parents with young kids.”
Avery frowns. “How would that work? We’d need to hire extra staff for that.”
“I would be the person in charge of running it, and maybe I could see if there’s anyone in my program who would be interested in helping out.”
“That seems like a lot of work and planning.” London folds one of her paper stars and tosses it on the table.
“I just figured that sometimes parents with younger kids have to leave the reception early, so it might be cool to offer a play space for a couple of hours. Nothing extensive, or permanent, just something we could try out for the events where the little kids wear out early.”
London and Avery give each other another sidelong glance.
“This all sounds great in theory, Harley, but if you’re running a daycare during the event, who’s going to take the photos?” Avery asks.
“I think this is a much bigger undertaking than you realize. We’d have to have a room safetied, and we’d need licensed professionals. You still have at least a year or two before you’ve finished your degree. This might be something we could consider in the long-term, but we’re in the middle of setting up a franchise and that needs to take precedence,” London says gently.
“Right. Yeah. Okay. It was just an idea.”
“I don’t think it’s a bad one,” Avery says. “But I think there’s a lot more planning that we’d need to do, and we have other things happening that take top priority.”
“Just forget I said anything.” I’m frustrated, and I don’t want to lash out or say something I’m going to regret. While majority rules works for the most part, it’s times like these I wish it were more than the three of us making decisions. I get what they’re saying, that maybe the timing isn’t the best, but every time I try to create a place for myself that might make me happier here, it’s either shot down or taken away.
“We’re not saying no forever, Harley,” Avery says. “Only that we need to put a pin in it for now. I think it’s a great idea. But we’ve all got enough on our plates without adding another thing to it. Plus, now you’re going to plan a party for Peyton, so that should be good, right?” Obviously she’s trying to smooth things over.
“Yeah. It’ll be fun,” I agree.
“I’m still sorry that we had to take the birthday parties away,” Avery says.
“I knew they weren’t helping our bottom line at all, though. And they were a lot of work for something that wasn’t lucrative and took away from planning time on the other, bigger events, which is where we want our focus.” They sound like words with no real emotion behind them.
“Exactly.” London seems relieved. “I know all the changes haven’t been easy, but this is what we’ve been working for.”
“I know it’s for the better of Spark House.” And it is. We’ve turned a family-run business into a burgeoning franchise over the past five years. It’s an accomplishment, and Spark House has been Avery’s passion for a lot of years, so seeing it flourish is amazing.