“You already told him someone’s trying to buy Beautiful Blooms?”
“Grace.” He had a growl to his voice I liked way too much. “All I did was tell him to come see me. Why don’t you want him knowing?”
“Because… um, because selling doesn’t sound like the worst thing ever.” I rubbed my palm into my eye socket. It was like admitting I liked to litter. Or that I secretly hoped Sylvester eventually caught Tweety Bird and ate him. Okay, that second one was true.
“Let’s start with the names of anyone who’s contacted you. Who said they might run you out of business?”
“His name is Phil.” I gave him Phil’s name and number, and scrolled back through my email, looking for any other contact information. “He tried to make it sound like he was doing me a favor, letting me know the consequences of not taking them up on it.”
“Like he was playing good cop/bad cop?”
“Yeah.”
“Typical. I’ll find out who he is, and who he represents,” Dean said. “And full disclosure, I’ve already texted my assistant Connie and asked her to look into any other acquisitions Flowers United has made in the past few years. She’s very discreet.”
“Thank you.”
There was a long pause, and for the first time, I felt the awkwardness of how we’d left things.
“You’re always welcome, Grace.”
“I know.” I was starting to get emotional, and that couldn’t happen. I rested my forehead against the wall of the back room and tried to compose myself. The last time I cried in front of Dean, he pulled me onto his lap and held me like a baby. The moment was imprinted on my DNA. I could never look at him the same way again. Forget men riding up on a horse. The real fantasy was a man who took care of you at your worst.
I was so relieved when he started talking business-y again.
“Could you write up everything that’s been said in person or over the phone, and compile it with anything they’ve given you in writing and email it all to me? I’ll text you my email address. I have a meeting starting soon and I know your mornings are busy. Why don’t we meet up today aaaatttt…” More clicking. “One? You’ll have someone covering you then, right?”
“I will.”
“Good. I’ll send you the address of where we can meet. It’s a business I need to check out that’s not far from you. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry.”
Chapter 8 – Dean
Did I drop everything for the meeting with Grace? Sort of. Luis was going to murder me. My haircut would have to wait. Again. It was fine. I had been meaning to check on Rustic Charms and Gemstones, a boutique shop that was bleeding money, and it was located halfway between Beautiful Blooms and my office, so I’d just get that done instead. Grace and I could sit in my car and talk, either before or after.
I headed to a board meeting for a commercial real estate group in which I was an investor. Once back in my office, I went through everything Grace sent me while I ate the lunch Connie had ordered for me. I could see Grace’s progression, from assuming it was a spam email, to realizing Flowers United was serious in their pursuit of her. I wished she’d have told me about this sooner.
She’d sounded so guilty about considering selling, but that guilt wouldn’t serve her. Life was full of options, and we were allowed to change our minds about them.
When I arrived for our meeting, Grace’s car was already idling in the parking lot. I pulled in next to her and caught her checking her makeup in the drop-down mirror before sherealized she had an audience. She quickly slapped the sunshade back in place and got out.
“What are we doing here?” she asked, when we met between our cars. She had her hands in the pockets of her cute jean jacket. She’d paired it with what I could only describe as workwear yoga pants. They had pockets and pleats down the leg, but the black material hugged her in ways I did not need to be thinking about. She had her hair up in a high ponytail, the red on the ends glinted in the sun. When she glanced up at the hideous vinyl banner above us, I remembered her question.
“We’re here because the owner paid for a business consult. She’s not going to like what I have to say.”
In addition to the hideous banner, there were two sidewalk signs in front and several posters in the window shouting about the jewelry to be found inside. Phoenix had strict rules about how much of your front glass could be blocked by window signs. They had strict rules about everything. The sidewalk signs were probably in violation just for blocking the right-of-way. But fines were the least of this shop’s problems. All of it together reeked of desperation.
“What are you going to say?” Grace asked.
“That she should go back to Etsy and do this small scale. It was working, and she got excited. Too excited. This expansion was a terrible idea for more reasons than I have time to list, including the toll it’s taking on her marriage.”
Grace looked taken back. “She told you that?”
“She didn’t have to. I’ve seen her tax returns. Her husband is retired. His small income from his pension is disappearing into his wife’s business. Plus, she’s spending all her time here. She has no employees. I don’t care who you are, this isn’t good.”
“And you’re telling her all this now?” Grace took a step back towards her car, obviously not wanting any part of it.
“No. I’m not done evaluating her yet. I need to see inside, see how everything is placed, and how it’s priced. She’s moved to the wrong business model, but if she decides to stick with a physical store front, I might as well give her advice on that, too.I’ll go back to the office after this and do a write up. Bad news is better read than heard. She’ll get an email from me, and then we’ll have a follow-up phone call.”
