Nick cut his eyes back to the “Kiss My Grits” sign and noted the t-shirt next to it that said “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound.”
“Riiigght...heart and soul,” he said slowly, taking it all in. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Delilah. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other now.”
“Great,” I huffed, but quickly tried to correct myself. “Nice to meet you too.”
It pained me to say it, but I couldn’t risk pissing them off right away so that my rent got raised out of spite. They could very well raise it anyway, or terminate my lease altogether, but there was no use giving them any ideas if they weren’t already planning to ruin my life.
Nick and Ben showed themselves out and continued on to the beauty parlor next door, leaving me alone to spiral into a panic about what this might mean for my store.
2
Nick
Out of the four of us, I had definitely been the most hesitant about embracing this new life in Cherry Falls. Everything had been going great in New York. And if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. But soon after we arrived I found it easy to get swept up in the excitement of new ventures and the possibilities of making money left and right.
Yet moving and starting all over again was still a pain in the ass, and the little things here and there still got to me and put me on edge. Like our new “Think Tank” which was basically a run-down, abandoned warehouse. There were no sprawling, luxury office suites in Cherry Falls, which meant we’d have to make our own. But until we assembled the right team of architects, designers, and construction crews, we had nothing but concrete floors and brick walls. And it turned out those things were all very hard to find around here – at least of the caliber we were used to working with. Everything was dusty, broken, and leaking. The old factory was less than ideal for the time being, even if I could see the potential.
As Ben and I returned from our day of exploring, we found Damon and Joey had already settled into the new space as best they could. Joey had strung up a punching bag in the corner and Damon was accepting a new order of designer clothes he had shipped in, which he was trying on in front of a mirror in the corner.
“How’d the meet n’ greet with the tenants go?” he asked as he slid a pair of shades on and studied his reflection in the mirror.
“Fine,” I murmured, looking around at how much they had unpacked. “Hey, why’d you two do all of this? You know we’re just going to have to move it all back out again once the renovations start. Speaking of which...how’s that hunt for the temporary office space going?”
Joey stopped his roll of punches into the bag and steadied it in front of him. “It’ll take at least a month to interview and hire the right team for the renovations. We might as well settle in a little until then. And hey, there’s beer.”
He nodded his head at a nearby cooler they had set up. Damon moved toward it without asking and tossed one to each of us. The room filled up with hissing sounds of the lids popping off as we gathered on the couches.
“I found a good spot uptown,” Damon announced. “Some other realtors already started working on this new luxury loft complex that has a few penthouse suites available. I’m still scoping out some other places, but I vote a couple of us move in there and we work out of our apartments until this place gets fixed up.”
“As long as it’s new construction,” I replied.
“Yeah, these people don’t have any taste.” Ben shook his head with disappointment. “Which is good. That’s what we’re here for.”
I thought back on all the commercial spaces we had visited that day. I could see the charm, but mostly I was focused on seeing the potential for what was to come once the old was wiped away and the new came sweeping in. I looked at every place we visited with hopes of what would one day take its place.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us,” I added. “Ah well, it’ll all work itself out once the current tenants get their notices about the spike in rent.”
Damon smirked. “How do you think they’ll take it?”
That was when she popped back into my head. “There’s only one I’m worried about…”
I assumed the natives of Cherry Falls would embrace the growth of their little hole out in the middle of nowhere. And mostly, everyone had been polite. I expected Delilah Meadows would be no different. Then again, I also expected her to be a sweet little old lady, like most of the other shopkeepers. But no. She was young, hot, and feisty. And she didn’t seem to like me one bit.
“Well, as long as they’ve been managing their funds well and are ready to make the necessary changes to keep up with all the changes, they should be fine,” Ben said with a shrug, still not wanting anything to be a dark cloud over this whole move.
I nodded and took a big swig of my beer. He was right. If these business owners really knew what they were doing, this would work for them rather than against them. The rent was going up, but so was the price point for their merchandise and services and the clientele to go along with it. They could offer more, charge more, and sell more. If they played their cards right.
“Why don’t you look happy?” Damon asked, studying my scowling, worried face.
Ben perked up, looking especially concerned about my mood as well. If anything went wrong, it was basically his fault so he had been very sensitive to any perceived potential failings or issues.
“Just something that girl said,” I answered, running my hand along the back of my neck. “About businesses around here being different or whatever.”
“Ah, she’s just being dramatic,” Ben insisted.
“Maybe. But it did seem to be very emotionally charged, which is exactly what we don’t want. That’s the kind of attitude that turns us into monsters and starts protests on construction sites and petitions showing up at zoning hearings.”
Ben was still unconvinced, maybe out of defensiveness. Or just his relentless optimism over his plans. “Everyone else seemed fine. They liked us, I think. There’s always going to be one bad apple.”
One ripe apple, I thought, specifically remembering the plump red curve of her lips which looked far too biteable and kissable. A notable difference between New York and Cherry Falls that I had already observed was that our big city had drop-dead gorgeous women on every corner. Everywhere you looked you spotted a knockout.
But in a place like this...you might go days without seeing anyone that piqued your interests. However, when you did spot a beauty, you could count on her being one of the most beautiful women you’d ever seen, which the ladies back in NY paled in comparison to. That was the kind of rare find Delilah Meadows was. It was just a shame she had such a sour personality behind her pretty face.
I realized I had completely zoned out in my memory of that brief encounter with Delilah and all the guys were now staring at me, still waiting for some kind of response. I shook off my lustful thoughts about her and cleared my throat.
“It only takes one bad apple, though. And this one is young, beautiful, smart, outspoken, and well-respected in her community. Damn near everyone we met asked if we had met ‘Del’ and went on about how great she was. It could spell trouble if she starts rallying the troops.”