“No, they need money to expand. I was going to invest in it. I made a deal for seventy-five percent ownership, and now it sounds crazy, and I feel guilty. It’s a family business. I feel like I’m robbing the woman who owns it.” His father listened carefully and didn’t comment.
“We’ll discuss it when I meet you.” Max gave him the address, and twenty minutes later Mike arrived in a cab at the same time as his father pulled up with his driver in a Bentley.
“I like your car, Dad,” he teased him. His father looked a great deal like him, except his hair was white and he wasn’t as tall.
“Every time I buy a car that I like, your mother takes it. Now she wants this one.” Max loved grumbling about his wife of nearly fifty years. Mike knew they adored each other. They had the kind of marriage he had always wanted, but he had made a terrible mistake with Maureen. His parents enjoyed their life together. They had fun, they had common interests. They worked on things together, they admired each other. They bought houses and sold them, and had friends. And they were proud of each other. Maureen had never been proud of him, not for an instant. She had resented him almost since the beginning.
“Thank you for meeting me, Dad,” Mike said gratefully.
“Your mother called this my folly. Let’s hope I remember how to turn off the alarm.” Max unlocked the front door, punched in a code, and the alarm was turned off. “Everything is either your birthday or your sister’s. This one is yours.” Mike smiled at him. He felt like it was a sign from the universe that this house his father had bought and couldn’t get rid of was standing vacant. It didn’t look enormous from the outside, but as soon as they walked into it, Mike saw that it was. It was wide, although it looked dwarfed by the buildings on either side, and it went far to the back of a large lot, with a garden behind the house. There was a grand marble staircase, and several large rooms off the main entrance hall. There were five floors, and each looked enormous. The original chandeliers were in the house. The kitchen was antiquated, and there were countless marble bathrooms. It was confusing, but to Mike, looking around, it appeared to be about twice the size of the current Brooke’s home, and ten times more elegant. It was an exquisite mansion in a perfect location, it was empty, and his father owned it.
“How much do you want for it, Dad?” Mike asked him, as they got back to the main floor. The building had an elevator, and there were beautiful antique curtains at the windows. Mike thought it would make an incredibly elegant store.
“I have no idea. I got it for very little. The bank sold it when the school folded and defaulted on the payments.”
“How long have you owned it?”
Max thought about it for a minute. “Maybe twenty years. You and Stephanie were both out of college, and your mother couldn’t see us living here alone.”
“It is a little grand,” Mike admitted. “But perfect for what I have in mind. Would you rent it?”
“Maybe. So, who is this woman you’re feeling guilty about? What store?”
“It’s a place called Brooke’s, downtown, in the wrong part of Chelsea.”
“Where that drug war happened a few days ago?” Mike nodded. “I know the store. Interesting place. I went there a few times, but it’s too much trouble to go down there. I knew the woman’s father. Kind of a sad, dreary guy. He was a member of my club. Hated his job. I think he ran the place for a while and was embarrassed by it. I met his father once. He was on fire, terrific guy. He’d be about a hundred years old by now. This must be his granddaughter,” Max Weston mused.
“It is.” His father looked at him thoughtfully and got straight to the point.
“Are you in love with her?” Mike started to formulate a roundabout answer because he wasn’t sure himself if he was, but he was beginning to think so.
“I might be.”
“You are or you aren’t. If you are, you don’t need seventy-five percent of her family business. You don’t need an excuse, just tell her. And if you don’t love her, the last thing you need is seventy-five percent ownership of a store. It’s a headache you don’t need.” Mike laughed. He had always loved how honest and direct his father was, and how brave. “You made a mistake once, don’t make another one.” His parents had never liked Maureen, and she didn’t like them.
“This woman isn’t a mistake, Dad. She’s incredible.”
“That’s what you deserve. You’re a good guy, Mike. And you’re brave in business. Be brave with your heart too. That’s never a mistake, even if you get hurt.”
“She won’t hurt me, Dad. She’s a good person. I think I just hurt her with this stupid deal I offered her. She’s got her back to the wall, so she accepted it. I feel terrible about it.”
“Then clean it up.” Mike nodded.
“I will.”
“I’ll rent the house to her if she wants it. She can buy it when she can afford to.” Mike smiled and he hugged his father.
“Thank you, Dad. She’s going to be the happiest woman alive when she sees this.”
“She’d better make you the happiest man alive, or I’ll evict her,” Max said, and dropped the keys into his son’s hand. “Bring her to look at it and see what she thinks. We can figure out the rent later. You make the deal. The place doesn’t need much work. It’s in pretty good shape, except for the kitchen.”
They left the house together and Mike felt as though a miracle had happened. The building was like an answer from the universe. He couldn’t wait to show it to Spencer. He called her from the cab on the way back to his office, and she didn’t pick up. He left her a message to call him. He was sure she’d call him back promptly, as she always did. He had appointments all afternoon, and kept checking his phone for messages, and there were none from Spencer. He picked Zack up at Maureen’s and took him home. Zack could see immediately that Mike was in a good mood, that the darkness of the days before had lifted.
“I saw your grandfather today, he said to say hello. You should call him sometime,” Mike said to his son.
“I was waiting to get my casts off. I can’t get around with the stupid wheelchair.”
“I’ll take you to see him,” Mike promised, and tried Spencer again.
She had seen his calls come in, and she was sure he wanted her to sign the papers for the deal she’d agreed to, and she was in no hurry to do it. She felt like a traitor every time she thought of it, but she had given her word, so she would do it. It would be one of the worst days of her life when she signed.
She left her office and had dinner with her boys, and then went to the garage to meet the others. She got there at seven and checked the bags. Everyone was there, even though the store was closed. They had showed up to hand out the bags they had loaded the night before. She thanked everyone for coming and was lining the bags up on a table near the entrance when she saw Mike walk in, in jeans and a sweatshirt. He looked serious when his eyes met hers.
“I thought maybe you could use a spare pair of hands. I didn’t know if everyone would show up.”
“They did, but thank you for coming,” she said politely.
“I called you today and left you messages. You didn’t call me back.” It was a statement more than a reproach.
“I know. I’m sorry. I was busy. I was going to call you later.” He suspected that she wasn’t going to, and he didn’t blame her. The heartbreak of what she’d agreed to was in her eyes. He had become her enemy overnight, because of the deal he’d offered her. But she was angrier at herself than at him. To him, it was just business.
Their first customer drifted in then, and one of the team members handed him a bag and wished him a good night.