Chapter 6
Breakfast With an Exit Plan
Theo resigned from the Lantern assessment over poached eggs.
He typed the letter at the cafe while Nora read Daniel's memo for the fourth time. Daniel had wanted a lower valuation because it made his restaurant loan easier to secure. He had not ordered demolition, but he had helped make preservation look impossible.
"Malcolm will freeze your partnership income," Nora said.
"For ninety days."
"Can you afford that?"
"No."
It was the first answer he gave that did not sound engineered.
Priya arrived with campaign figures and no sympathy. Small pledges had reached £76,000. The balcony plan might unlock a heritage grant, but they needed a registered cooperative by Friday.
"You," she told Nora, "have a radio date tonight."
"I have a company to form."
"The dates are why strangers care about the company. I don't like it either."
Theo signed the resignation and slid his laptop away. "Who is tonight?"
"A history teacher named Ben."
"Good profession."
"You sound disappointed."
"I sound unemployed."
At noon Daniel joined the cooperative meeting and admitted the memo was his. He offered to reverse the share pledge if Nora guaranteed his restaurant debt.
She refused. "I will not move your risk back into my name."
He nodded. She had confirmed what he had hoped not to know.
That evening Nora entered the radio studio for date three. Ben was clever, kind, and holding a copy of Theo's original closure report.
"Before we start," he said, "you should know I taught Malcolm Mercer's daughter. He asked me to give you this on air."