be great.” Renee knew she could always rely on her vendors to pitch in, but she needed more help than that.
“I think we need another wedding coordinator,” Pallas said. “There are just too many weddings, and business doesn’t seem to be slowing down seasonally anymore. I’ve been keeping track of your workdays and there are weeks you’re here sixty and seventy hours. You should have said something.”
“It’s been a challenge, but you’ve been dealing with Ryan. I didn’t want to get in the way of that.”
“I’ll admit taking on another full-time employee scares me, but it’s necessary. If things keep going the way they have been, you’re going to burn out. Worse, I could lose you.”
Lose her? Renee wanted to blurt out that she had no plans to leave, but knew better than to say that. She loved working for Pallas, but she had to maintain a little bit of decorum. At least on the surface.
“I would like to work a bit less,” she murmured. “But I know hiring someone is a big step.”
“It is.” Pallas’s expression turned mischievous. “Which is why sharing the worry and pain is such a good idea. I’ve been thinking a lot about inviting you to be a partner in the business and I’d like to move ahead with that, if you’re still interested.”
Renee’s heart thundered in her chest. “With everything happening, I’d completely forgotten about that possibility. But I’m interested. Very interested.”
“Good. I’ve been talking with my lawyer.” Pallas wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe I even have a business lawyer but I do. Anyway, she has come up with several ways to bring you into the business. First I’ll have a professional business evaluation done so we both know what the business is worth. Then we’ll discuss options. You can buy in outright or over time with a percentage of your salary going to the purchase. We’d detail the division of duties, so there are no misunderstandings.”
She paused, drumming her fingers on the table. “What else? Oh, the profits. Right now they would be shared based on a percentage of ownership, but also a division of labor. That means if you buy in 50 percent, then obviously you’d get 50 percent of the profits. But if you have to buy in over time, then you’d get your percentage and an added amount because you’re working more than me.”
She frowned. “I hope that makes sense. The legal stuff and the accounting rules do not come easily to me. Oh, and if we move forward with this, I’m granting you 5 percent ownership as soon as we sign the paperwork, so you’d own that right away, regardless of how we move forward.” She leaned toward Renee. “What do you think?”
Renee’s head was spinning. Not only was there was lot of information to take in, she also couldn’t believe this was really happening.
Pallas trusted her with her business. Pallas wanted them to be fifty-fifty partners! The concept was so impossibly wonderful that she couldn’t take it in.
“I’m excited,” she managed to say. “Yes, of course I’m interested. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”
“I’m glad you think so. You’ll need to get a lawyer to look over everything. Nick says I can’t recommend one because it would be a conflict of interest.” She sighed. “He’s such a guy. I’d say ask Wynn for a name. I’m sure she uses someone and I don’t think she and I use the same person, so that would work.”
“I’ll text her today,” Renee promised.
“And I’ll get going on both job descriptions. For the part-time person and the full-time wedding coordinator. I really liked the hiring service I used when I found you, so I want to go with them again.”
As they weren’t yet partners, Renee was fairly sure Pallas was sharing rather than asking her opinion.
“What do you think about opening the place up to midweek events?” Pallas asked unexpectedly. “Not more weddings. I’m not sure any of us could handle that, but other types of gatherings might be interesting.”
“Like corporate events,” Renee said eagerly. “That’s what I’ve been thinking about. Meetings or seminars. We have the space. If all we had to do was set up tables and chairs, that would be easy. Almost no work for us but some income.”
Pallas nodded. “That’s what I was thinking, too. We’d only need a couple of caterers to work with. They provide their own servers, they do the cleanup afterward, so we’re left with logistics and putting away whatever supplies we had to get