“Sure.” Madeline gave a thumbs-up to the people hanging the banner, who descended from their stepladders. “I don’t discuss private business like that, sorry. You’ll hear about any changes being made to the caféonce that information becomes public.”
Fighting her instinct to politely back off, Amie continued to press. “So therearechanges being made?”
“Again—”
“What my intern means to say,” David interrupted, stepping in, “is that there are other parties interested in the store next door to yours.” He held out his hand to Madeline. “David Lenski, pleased to meet you.”
Madeline shook his hand, looking at him warily. “Hi. I’ve seen you at the café.”
“Yes! I’m one of the interested parties.” He clapped his hands on Amie’s shoulders, who resisted grimacing in response. “Apologies for my intern. She’s still learning the ropes when it comes to conversing with other business owners.” He gave Amie a little shake. “Gets a bit too optimistic that folks will want to drop everything to speak with her. But you and I know that a successful business owner doesn’t have free time for small talk.”
Still looking dubious, Madeline said, “That’s right. And speaking of, I do have to get—”
“The thing is, Madeline—may I call you Madeline?”
“Sure.”
“Fantastic.” David dropped his hands from Amie’s shoulders, who stared at him, feeling both impressed and slightly unnerved by whatever character he’d slipped into. A slight Southern drawl had begun leaking into his voice, and he was smiling so wide Amie was worried his face might crack in half. Hoping his accent wouldn’t get any stronger, she tried her best to look like an intern, assuming that “impressed” and “slightly unnerved” were both appropriate emotions to display for the role.
“So, Madeline,” David continued, “I’ve been very interested in acquiring the bookshop next door to your lovely café. The thing is, I don’t want to waste my time and resources if it turns out you’ve already locked down a deal.”
He placed a hand on his chest. “So I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d save an old man some time and just give it to me straight: Are you acquiring the business?”
Madeline rubbed her hairline, looking around as she thought. “I bought the bookshop, yes.”
“You’ve already bought it?” Amie exclaimed, shocked. “How?”
“Sosorry for my intern’s outburst,” David said, stepping to the side to put himself between Amie and Madeline. “She should besilently taking notes right now.”
“I sound more like an assistant than an intern,” Amie grumbled, taking out her phone and opening a new note.
“Absolutely not,” David said over his shoulder. “Then I’d have to pay you.”
He turned back to Madeline. “I was under the impression that the current owner was a bit reluctant to sell. So soon after his wife’s passing, especially.”
“He was,” Madeline said, grimacing a bit. “Or, he is. But Andrew didn’t sell the store to me. His wife did.”
“Savannah Harlow sold her store to you?” David chuckled. “I heard she was even more opposed to selling than her husband.”
“Slow down, cowboy,” Amie murmured as the drawl thickened.
Madeline looked around again, not seeming to notice David’s oscillating accent. The workers who she’d been directing to hang the banner had walked off to a van parked a few yards behind the booth.
“I’d appreciate it if you don’t share this wide,” she said, lowering her voice as she did so. “The news will come out soon, but I haven’t had the chance to speak with her husband yet, and—”
“He doesn’t know?” Amie asked, standing on her toes to speak over David’s shoulder.
Madeline shook her head. “I’d been trying to get Savannah to sell to me for a while,” she explained. “She was never interested. But a few weeks ago, she reached out. She said she was done trying to keep the bookstore afloat, and asked if I still wanted to buy. I said yes, and we began discussions.
“When I heard she’d passed, I figured I’d lost the deal. I’d signed the paperwork on Friday and was waiting to hear back. Then, Tuesday afternoon, my lawyer told me she’d received the finished paperwork from Savannah’s lawyer.”
Shuddering, she said, “It felt like a message from beyond the grave. I was happy, of course, but I felt so terrible for her. And for Andrew, of course. Savannah had told me she wanted to surprise him with the finished paperwork. She’d asked me not to tell him about the deal until it was done, but she died so suddenly, I didn’t know if she’d gotten the chance to tell him.”
Behind David’s back, Amie frowned. If Savannah signed the paperwork on Monday, she would have probably been planning on telling Andrew about the sale that evening. But according to Andrew, Savannah never made it home.
“He’d been wanting her to sell the store for a long time now,” Madeline continued. “I went over there on Wednesday to speak with Andrew and find out if she’d gotten the chance to tell him.”
“I saw you at the store that day,” Amie said, stepping around David. “He was very upset.”
