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Around ten days after seeing Joanna, Zoë-Grace finally began to feel like it was time for her to move forward. The wall that made her feel disconnected from God seemed to be crumbling as she became more and more comfortable with the idea of extending grace to her mother. She couldn’t help but remember when she had felt like she was being flooded with the messages about going through a test and about forgiving Joanna. Had her willingness to forgive her mother—not necessarily the act of actually forgiving her—been some kind of test of her decision to go deeper into her relationship with God... to abide with Him?
In her Bible study, she had become somewhat fixated on the section of the book of Joshua where the Israelites were told to go in and take possession of the Promised Land. The more she meditated on the relevant chapters, the more compelled she felt to find out what it would take to purchase the building. She called and made an appointment to visit the property. She invited the Fairweathers, Aunt Ruby, Isaiah, and Naydia to come with her, because she was keen on finding out what they thought about the building, the land, and the community. Zoë-Grace was sure that Naydia’s insight would probably be more useful than that of the rest of them combined.
Since the gate to the property was standing open, Mr. Fairweather, who had driven the ladies, parked beside a white Range Rover Sport in the parking lot. Isaiah’s SUV was on the other side of the spotless vehicle that hinted at the real estate agent’s professional success.
Zoë-Grace was surprised to see Isaiah getting out of the passenger side of the Range Rover. She couldn’t help but feel a hint of curiosity at the fact that Isaiah and the real estate agent had been waiting together in the close confines of the SUV. Her cheeks warmed as she identified a smidgen of jealousy at the very thought.
As he stepped out, the driver’s door opened, and Ms. Simons appeared.
The realtor to whom Zoë-Grace had spoken on the phone was a confident woman with a short, perfectly coiffed hairstyle and impeccable make-up featuring a bright red lip. She wore a red suit with a pencil skirt that stopped at mid-calf and a cropped jacket with three quarter-length sleeves. A black, lace-topped camisole peeked out. Her kitten heels matched her suit perfectly. Zoë-Grace couldn’t tell her age for sure, but she seemed to be somewhere in her late 40s or early 50s—not old enough for it to be scandalous for her to be interested in someone Isaiah’s age.
Zoë-Grace arrested her thoughts as Isaiah explained that he had arrived ten minutes earlier. He introduced everyone. Despite her hyper-professional appearance, Ms. Simons turned out to be a warm, welcoming woman who divided her attention equally among everyone present. Zoë-Grace couldn’t find any reason to dislike her, especially when she noticed the diamond-encrusted wedding band that caught the light every time Ms. Simons moved.
As they walked towards the building, the realtor gave them the rundown on the size of the property and its features: it had chain link fencing to the front and sides and concrete walls to the back of the land. The area was zoned for both commercial and agricultural purposes and judging from the height of the grass and the number of fruit trees Zoë-Grace could see, was quite fertile.
Isaiah volunteered to help roll up the shutters that protected the glass doors at the front of the building, and after opening a series of heavy-duty locks, Ms. Simons led the way inside.
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Not having seen Zoë-Grace since he and Mr. Fairweather had helped her move her things into the cottage, Isaiah had been surprised by how much he’d missed her face. He had gotten quite used to their frequent night-time text discussions, which covered too many topics to count. From current affairs to history to television shows from the nineties, they always seemed to find something interesting to tackle.
Sometimes, they had even turned to the same news station to watch the latest developments concerning the virus that was wreaking havoc in distant countries. Even though things seemed to be happening half a world away, images and videos coming out of affected countries had been horrifying, and it soon became too much for her to watch the daily news report about the numbers of people who had been falling ill and dying.
Although she had been making veiled references to the way her father had died for a while, she finally told Isaiah the details in a rare phone call, sharing how devastated she’d been about the way he had died. He was happy to be able to report that although her name and her father’s had been mentioned in the newspaper several times since she’d collected the jackpot, the news cycle had moved on to other things. Since he wasn’t on social media himself, he wasn’t sure what was happening there.
For his part, he shared a little about his experiences in combat and how they had made him more than a little cynical. All in all, Isaiah was getting to know Zoë-Grace through their almost-daily routine. The challenge was, the more he got to know her, the more he liked her even though it was crystal clear that she wasn’t the type of woman he usually pursued.
He was usually attracted to women who oozed self-confidence from every pore; the type who made every effort to look good and liked being seen by everyone. He wasn’t the jealous type, so he didn’t have a problem if another man looked at his woman—as long as said man didn’t approach her.
Zoë-Grace, on the other hand, seemed content to stand in the background. The more attention she garnered, the less comfortable she became. He could tell she only relaxed when she felt truly at ease with someone, and he was happy she’d started to relax with him.
When he’d arrived at the property ten minutes early for their appointment, he introduced himself to Ms. Simons, complimented her on her car, and asked her about the mileage. He wasn’t necessarily in the market for a new vehicle, but it would be nice to know some of the more upscale options available on the island. She invited him to take a seat in the vehicle and spent the time before the arrival of the others showing him various features. It turned out that the three-year-old vehicle was actually for sale, so Isaiah was sure to take her business card, just in case.
As the group stepped out of Mr. Fairweather’s SUV and he strode across the parking lot to meet them, it took significant effort for Isaiah not to zoom in on Zoë-Grace to the exception of everyone else. In her black jeans and sleeveless blouse with its black and white geometric pattern, she managed to outshine Ms. Simons in her red suit. Her face was practically glowing, perhaps in anticipation of finally viewing the property.
He volunteered to open the roller shutters and brought up the rear as everyone entered the building. Although it was the middle of a sunny afternoon, the hurricane shutters that had been installed over the glass windows remained closed, rendering everything unbelievably dark. Suddenly, the place was flooded with light as Ms. Simons flipped a series of switches near the entrance.
Isaiah almost bumped into Zoë-Grace, who had stopped abruptly as soon as she made her way into the dark foyer. He came to a complete halt just inches behind her, but he didn’t think she noticed. She seemed to have frozen in place.
“Zoë-Grace?” he said. She didn’t respond. He called her name again as the others proceeded into the large, open space, and she stepped forward without turning to him or saying anything else. Strange, he thought, as he looked around, his eyes adjusting to the artificial lighting.
The interior of the huge room was wide open, and after a few moments of silence, everyone except Zoë-Grace and Isaiah started talking at once. The general consensus was that the space was a blank canvas that could be altered to fill almost any need. Isaiah could definitely see the building’s potential.
Ms. Simons gave them a tour of the entire space, including the mezzanine floor, the commercial kitchen, and the bathrooms. One issue Mr. Fairweather pointed out was that if Zoë-Grace decided to use the building, it would take quite a bit of work and time to install partitions to allow for the efficient use of the space. Isaiah couldn’t help but notice that Zoë-Grace hadn’t said a word the entire time they’d been inside. As Ms. Simons led them back through the front doors and around to the land behind the structure, Isaiah lagged behind to speak with Zoë-Grace.
“You’re... quiet,” he said.
“Um-hmm,” was her only response as she stared straight ahead.
“Thinking hard?” he asked.
She nodded her head as she took in the view of the acreage behind the facility. Her expression gave nothing away; Isaiah couldn’t tell if she was impressed or not.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he prompted.
She smiled but remained silent and pensive. Isaiah shrugged as he gave up on getting anything out of her. Instead, he made his way over to where the others were standing. He made a great pretense of listening to the discussion but in his mind’s eye, all he could focus on was Zoë-Grace’s smile.
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Within days, Zoë-Grace, under the guidance of Mr. Fairweather, had set the wheels in motion for the property to be acquired. At first, she had been determined to set up a charitable foundation herself, but one meeting with a lawyer convinced her that the red tape might result in untenable delays for the project she envisioned. In her opinion, the community couldn’t afford to wait another year or more for development. Who knew how many dreams would die in that time?
Isaiah set up a meeting with the head of the Nizani Charitable Foundation, which had been investing in people and communities across the Caribbean for more than 15 years. After discussing her vision and their guiding principles with them, Zoë-Grace was confident that working with them would be the best way of getting the community center up and running in the quickest possible time. Their operations ran like a well-oiled machine, and they already had all the processes and staff in place to get the ball rolling. She would buy the building, turn it over to them for management, and donate the remaining funds to the foundation so they could alter and retrofit the space. Their project manager would oversee everything, leaving Zoë-Grace and her team the freedom and flexibility to be as involved as they wanted to be. In addition, Zoë-Grace, Naydia, and Mr. Fairweather would all serve on the board of directors.
The friendship she and Isaiah shared was deepening as they texted back and forth at night discussing their ideas concerning the community center as well as a variety of other topics.
They had met at the building a couple of times—with Mr. Fairweather, Naydia, and the project manager in tow—to look at the land and discuss how they could make optimal use of the space. With the purchase of the building underway, the foundation had engaged an architect to make preliminary drawings of the alterations.
An existing mezzanine floor would be reserved for several small offices and workshops that would form the co-working incubation center Isaiah had suggested, having seen something similar during his travels. Office space, furniture, some equipment, and high-speed internet access would be made available to registered individuals and small companies. A business center would offer shared facilities to help the new companies to access professional services such as accounting and legal advice. A training schedule would be set up on an as-needed basis to provide guidance about how to successfully operate a business in Jamaica. Grants would be provided for those who otherwise qualified but didn’t have the computers and equipment needed for their businesses.
The startups would use the facilities for a period of up to one year, after which they would be expected to move to other premises or apply for at most a one-year extension. That way, a steady stream of entrepreneurs could benefit on an annual basis. Once each business was established enough to move out, it would leave room for someone else. While they would be required to contribute to the utilities and pay rent, these would be subsidized by the foundation and grants. One large, secure room on the mezzanine level would have cubicles with computers for those who didn’t need an office and could use any workstation that was available.
The center of the ground floor would be used as an open auditorium, with the kitchen area and full bathrooms, including showers, to the back of the building. On either side of the auditorium, full-height drywall partitions would be installed to allow for classrooms, small training workshops, and offices to be added. There would be a large daycare center, as well.
Naydia’s ideas had been brilliant, and more than anything else, Zoë-Grace was glad that she had thought to consult her new friend. She would never have been able to come up with the concept without Naydia’s input.
Naydia had suggested dividing the acreage into small agricultural plots, each of which would be leased for a nominal amount to someone from the community. They would be able to plant any suitable cash crops they chose, provided they all met with a representative from the government agency that worked with farmers islandwide to ensure that there was a reasonable variety of crops. Infrastructure for raising chickens would be added, and those areas would be available for lease, as well.
The farmers would then sell some or all of their produce to the community center, which would operate a kitchen and canteen on site. This canteen would make subsidized breakfasts and lunches available for sale in the community so that residents could afford at least one balanced meal per day.
Naydia had explained that many of those who lived around this area ‘hustled’ to pay for each meal. At breakfast time, they had no idea if they would have enough money to buy lunch, and it was the same for every meal. They would go out and ‘hustle’—often selling things like caps, bottles of cologne, or clothing from mobile carts—and then use the income to buy their next meal. Zoë-Grace had wanted to make the meals available for free, but Naydia convinced her that for one thing, that wasn’t sustainable, and that people tended to put more value on things they paid for. Zoë-Grace could see the wisdom in that.
With a 24-hour daycare center on site, parents could be sure their children were cared for while they were at work. Everyone knew an affordable round-the-clock facility would be a game-changer for those who worked in the hospitality industry and were required to be at work for different shifts. While many of them were able to leave their children with family, there would no doubt be those who would make use of the professional childcare once it became available.
The Nizani Foundation had already invited the national vocational training organization to run short-term certificate courses out of the training rooms. Based on Naydia’s informal discussions with community members, the plan thus far was to offer classes in early childhood education, practical nursing, cake baking and decorating, sewing, tiling, and electrical installation. A certificate in any of these areas would not only provide community members with earning power; it would also help them to feel more empowered as individuals living in underprivileged communities. One of the local universities was already in discussion about using the center as a satellite site to deliver classes for their associate degree in hospitality.
Zoë-Grace prayed that the community center would open doors to personal and professional development that no one could shut.