Irolledintomyoffice an hour late on Monday—something I had never done in my life. Poppy had locked herself in the bathroom, and I had to bribe her with three extra apples to get her to unlock the door.
Now, I was looking forward to phase four of my plan to rescue Beau’s image. I had mostly gotten past my embarrassment for flirting with him after he confessed he was going to ask me out. We were clearly on the same page, and it felt good—better than good to have a crush. I sat at my desk and opening the first of many emails when Charlotte knocked on my open door. “Morning.”
“Good morning!” I rang out all cheerily.
“You had a call from Gary this morning.” Her voice dropped to a hushed tone. “It sounds like you have an issue with your building contract.”
I pulled my hair back behind my ears as I readied myself for business. “Um, that’s weird. When I talked to him, he said we were all set. We just needed to hear from the bank.”
She offered a raised shoulder and backed out of the door, adding, “Just passing the message that you need to call him.”
“Right.” I picked up my phone, pressed send on his name, and waited until the third ring for him to answer.
“Clover.” His voice sounded like he was squeezing his face muscle in the most uncomfortable way, making my gut tighten in fear of what he was going to tell me.
“Hi, Gary. How are you?”
“I’m awfully sorry because I have bad news.”
“Okay.” I held my breath, but I didn’t need to hear what he said, because the inflections in his voice already alluded to the news.
“My supervisor came in this morning and said they had a cash offer on the train depot. They immediately pushed it into a buyer’s contract, and it looks like they are settling up this morning.”
I sprang to my feet while my words were waiting to find their footing before finally blurting out a solid, “What!”
“I’m sorry. I know you worked tirelessly trying to get the funding secured. I had your back the whole way, but the boss said they want it off the books. They were tired of waiting, and were doubtful your funding would come through. They couldn’t refuse—”
“I’ll call them.” I cut him off, my stomach churning at the thought of all my hard work being for nothing. “If I explain to them how important that building was to my project, they might change their mind.”
“It sounds like it’s already a done deal.” His voice was soft, but not discouraging.
“It’s never a done deal.” I nervously paced away from my desk, already formulating my persuasion speech to give to this new buyer. “Can you get the buyer’s name from your boss for me?”
“Well, that’s just the thing—” His voice dropped off at the end like he was coming to a fork in the road and wasn’t sure what direction to take.
“What is the thing, Gary?” My voice pitched higher, as all my disappointment had pooled in my throat. “Just tell me.”
“It’s your client, Beau Tucker.”
I turbo blinked, trying to rewind his words so I could hear that again, because I couldn’t have heard him correctly. I waited for him to add something, but he didn’t. “Why would Beau want my building?”
“He said something about wanting to demolish it and use the space for a private helicopter landing pad.”
Wincing like I had just been slapped in the face, I managed to squeak out, “Is that a joke?”
I now understood this was his bad-news voice, as he added, “Sorry.”
I sank down on my chair, feeling a wave of lightheadedness wash over me. Vertigo that said I was stupid for trusting Beau with my plan to buy that building, and even stupider for thinking I liked him when he was obviously a rich jerk who took pleasure in squashing everyone in his way.
“Clover.” Gary’s voice pulled me from my spiral. “I tried hard to get him to wait, but it was already done. I guess it’s time to admit it was always too big of a dream.”
Nausea rushed up my gut. Beau had been one of the few people to whom I had spilled all plans. He had never uttered a negative word about my goal, and if anything, he encouraged me. I felt foolish now. Not for believing his kind words and encouragement, but for trusting him. “I need to let you go.”
“Alright. Well, I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.”
I ended the call, and my thumb automatically found Beau’s number in my phone. My eyes hesitated at his contact information because it was still labeledBeaunezer on my phone. It reminded me of what I had always known about Beau. He was a horrible person. He’d always been a horrible person, and he didn’t change. He had just done some con artist job thing to make me think that he might possibly have a soul, but I had known the truth all along. My eyes pivoted from Beau’s number back to my laptop. I had spent all of my nights, staying up late researching and planning for Poppy’s center, and all of those plans were opened in different minimized windows, almost like they were mocking me.
I could find another building, but it was depressing to have to start all over. It meant more time, and I didn’t have more time. Lori had only agreed to watch her for a few short weeks. If I didn’t have anywhere to take her, social services would step in, and they already said the only option they had was to send her out of town. My hand slid in front of my stomach, and I pushed against the ache that had swelled as I tried to hold back a dry heave.How could I say goodbye to her?How could I possibly explain she had to leave the only person who loved her to go somewhere strange? She would never understand. The change in her routine would kill her, and I would die from guilt. I didn’t remember falling to the floor, but I was there now, and I keeled over trying to squash the burning in my gut.
