I glance up from where I’m straightening books, and peer around the shelf toward the voice coming from the café. A remarkably beautiful woman with sleek black braids and an immaculate Armani pantsuit is standing at the counter, briefcase in hand.
“Well, you’re looking at one of them,” Jade says with a flirtatious grin. That girl can’t help herself when presented with a pretty face. It’s like she was born to flirt. “And the other is in the back, if you want me to get her?”
“I’m here,” I say, stepping out from between the bookshelves. I wipe my palms on my pants to dry them, suddenly nervous. “What is this about?”
“You’re Miss Sinclair?” the woman asks. When I nod, she continues. “I’m here on behalf of my client, Virgil Incorporated. They recently acquired your building.”
Jade blinks rapidly. “Wait, Dorothy sold the building?” she asks, frowning in confusion. “Without telling us first?”
I wince.
“She did, actually. Tell me, at least,” I admit. A flash of hurt crosses Jade’s face, quickly turning to anger. “I’m so, so sorry, I meant to tell you! I just let myself get so distracted lately.”
The anger in her eyes dims a little. “We’ll talk about it later,” she says quietly so only I can hear. Crap. She’s really pissed.
The woman from Virgil Inc. glances between the two of us, but her face stays perfectly professional. “I wanted to touch base with both of you about your new lease. But if now is a bad time…”
“No, now’s fine,” I insist, ushering her to one of the café tables. My nerves are buzzing as I sit down. “Can we get you anything, a coffee maybe?”
A soft weight lands in my lap the moment I get situated. Beatrice. She must have crept over from her bee-nest by the counter. She circles once, twice, then plops down with surprising force and stretches out across my thighs. Her purr vibrates straight through me, absurdly loud for her size.
“No, thank you, I’m fine,” the lawyer insists, taking the seat across from me. She places her briefcase on the table and opens it, removing a stack of documents from inside.
Jade pulls over a seat from another table, and I stroke Bea absentmindedly, fingers trailing over her long fur. I can’t seem to keep still. Jade shoots me a nervous look, and I return it with a small, hesitant smile, reaching out to squeeze her hand tightly.
“To the moon and back,” I mouth at her. She purses her lips but gives my hand a small squeeze in return.
“So, you mentioned a new lease?” I prompt, trying to start us off. “Does that mean the new owner wants to keep us as tenants?”
The woman nods, still sorting through her files. “Oh, yes. The owner has insisted on some changes to your previous agreement, effective at the end of the month. You will remain on the old lease until then, at which point you?—”
“I’m sorry,” Jade blurts out, voice a little shrill. “Untilthe end of the month? So, what, if we don’t agree to these new terms, we have less than two weeks? To be out of here?”
Bea meows sharply, like she’s echoing Jade’s outrage. I shift my fingers to scratch her under the chin until she tips her head back in bliss and shuts her eyes, quieted again.
The woman stops sorting, glancing up through her dark lashes at Jade. “Well, yes. I suppose that would be the case.”
“That can’t be legal!” Jade shouts in frustration. She levels another furious look my way. “Fuck, Syd… If you’d told me, we could have been preparing for this.”
I know. I feel sick, guilt threading its way through my stomach. This is my fault. I should have told her, should have let her know the second Dorothy told me.
“I assure you, everything in this contract is legal and fully vetted. I should know, I’m the one who drafted it,” the lawyer states matter-of-factly, unfazed by our in-fighting.
“But that’s not enough time,” I insist. It’s not just the store, either. My apartment—myhome—is part of this building. If we have to shut down, have to try and move to another location, where am I supposed to go?
Now it’s Jade who’s fidgeting, Jade whose leg is bouncing up and down a little too quickly under the table.
“May I suggest you read the document, before you start discussing alternative solutions?” She finally pulls a contract from her stack of papers and slides it over the table for us. I practically snatch it from her, Jade leaning over my shoulder to read.
“That is the new lease agreement,” she tells us, removing a pen from her briefcase, and setting it next to me. “I think you will find the new terms to be very agreeable.”
My eyes roll over the document, only taking in every other word. It’s a standard agreement, almost copied and pasted fromour old lease with Dorothy. I turn the page, nearly ripping it off the staple as I scan it for the information I’m looking for.
Finally, at the very bottom of the third page, I find it. Our new rental cost.
I read the number written there.
I blink.
