They both swallowed hard and watched me read the words over again, the lines in my face deepening as my chest tightened up.
“Is it really that bad?” Angel asked, putting her hand on mine.
Lizzy grazed my other hand. “Will you really be put out of business?”
I didn’t want to say yes, but I couldn’t honestly say no either.
“I don’t know if I can afford it,” I gulped. Really, I was certain I couldn’t afford it. Not with the way things stood. It was just a matter of what could be done to rise up and meet their ridiculous demands. “I have one month before the new price kicks in. Or I can agree to terminate my lease and get the hell out of dodge.”
Their questions had stopped. We were all quiet because there was no use in stating the obvious. They knew how much I loved my shop and they knew how hard I had worked for it. I finally crumpled up the letter and tossed it next to the register. Looking around my beloved little store, I felt a rising ache in my heart. Whether I liked it or not, things were about to change.
“We’ll help in any way we can,” Lizzy promised confidently, with Angel nodding eagerly over her shoulder. “Everyone loves your store! They’ll rally together and make sure you pull through!”
“They can’t do that if they’re all in the same trouble,” I stated grimly.
They followed me to the front door as I looked at my happy community, bustling in and out of the strips of businesses. I wondered how many of them had received the same notice. They had probably all gotten so wrapped up in their shiny new gifts that they hadn’t bothered with the mail yet. Which was exactly what Nick Ransom wanted.
Then my eyes darted up to the mountains in the distance, or what was left of the view anyway. At least two new tall buildings had been erected in the past couple of weeks. The echoing sounds of construction flooded the streets and the view of my blue mountains were vanishing behind it all.
“I’m not going down without a fight,” I decided out loud as I glared at the shiny new buildings. “They probably thought it’d be easy to sweep in here and take everything over. But my shop stays. Or I’ll die trying.”
Lizzy rubbed my back in support, but added, “I don’t think literal death is the concern here. More so a financial one that leaves you on the street corner with nothing but all these boxes of clothes.”
I whipped back around to look at everything under that suggestion. As if my brain wondered just how many boxes of clothes I would be toting around town, living on the streets. It was far too much to pile into an alley or abandoned building somewhere as a squatter. Then again, that was the problem. There was too much of the stuff that hadn’t been selling.
My eyes cut up to that damn “Kiss My Grits” sign and I remembered the way Nick seemed to silently mock it. I huffed forward, ripping it down from the wall on my way, and tossed it off in a corner. Things were going to change alright. I just didn’t know how yet.
4
Nick
I continued learning everything I could about the locals in Cherry Falls, doing my best to charm my way into each and every one of their lives. All while I was keeping my eyes peeled for any opportunities to capitalize on our new venture in town. One thing I was quickly learning was that everyone seemed to eat at least one meal a day at the local diner.
As far as I could tell, the diner didn’t have a name. There was no sign, but it sat on a prominent corner smack dab in the middle of downtown. The open windows wrapped around it showing enticing images of people enjoying milkshakes, burgers, and fries. Mixed in with all of that was more traditional southern food like cornbread, green bean casserole, and Delilah’s elusive “grits” that Ben had been so curious about. You could smell the fried food in the air for miles around. So, I guessed the joint didn’t need a sign. You couldn’t smell that and see the people eating inside and not want to go in.
An added benefit was that the diner seemed to serve as a sort of community hub. Because everyone ate there at least once a day, it was a guarantee that you’d run into someone you knew when you walked in. It wasn’t uncommon to see someone starting a meal by themselves and to soon be joined by three or four more people by the end of it. Not because they planned it, but because they’d see a friend and take a seat.
I knew I needed to make the diner a part of my daily life as well, and the best part about it was imagining just how much the place could be one day. I imagined a big awning, marble columns, valet parking, leather banquets and tufted booths. Maybe a stage for live music and of course the spaces next door could be wiped out for a catering kitchen and an event venue next to that. If the bakery and rinky-dink hardware store would only move on elsewhere…
I slid into one of the booths and looked around with starry eyes, dreaming of all my big plans. What I did not imagine seeing was Delilah herself zipping around between tables, delivering trays of food. Seeing her confused me at first – so much so that it took me a while to notice the apron tied around her waist. The cinch of it accentuated her small waist and the curve of her hips below that. I did my best to redirect my eyes as she reluctantly approached my table.
“Oh. Hello,” she greeted me with barely masked disdain. She was obviously not pleased to see me, but nevertheless, she took out her pad and pen with a heavy sigh. “What can I get for you?”
“An explanation,” I gaped. “Do you work here?”
“Ah, yes,” she smiled tightly. “I figured why bother keeping my shop afloat at this point. Might as well go ahead and throw in the towel...since you so kindly skyrocketed my rent. I closed it down and marched right in here and got a job. So...cheers to my new career!”
I was frozen with discomfort, not knowing how to respond. There was the faintest hint of sarcasm in her voice, but every word she said to me was always drenched with so much disgust that it was really hard to tell.
“That was a joke,” she clarified. “I’ve worked here since I was sixteen. And as you can see, we stay pretty busy. So, if I could just take your order…”
“How do you have time to work here and run the shop too?”
“Shop during the day. Diner at night. It’s really not so complicated,” she shot back. “Kind of like how you put on a smile and go around playing nice with everyone by day and scheme to ruin their businesses with ridiculous rent prices by night.”
“Look...I can see that you’re unhappy about the…”
“I’m unhappy that my feet are killing me, and I’m working around the clock but some billionaire like you can still swoop in and steal my life’s dream by barely lifting a pinky. But...such is life, I guess. The least you could do is order so I can get to my other tables.”
I nodded, still slightly stunned. I tried to look over my menu and remember what I had wanted, but Delilah was a sort of force that demanded attention. And this new two-job thing was unexpected. Her situation intrigued me. As a businessman with millions of dollars on the line daily, you learn not to take “no” for an answer. It’s just a matter of finding the right solution. I was eager to pick apart Delilah’s obvious dilemma.
“Okay, hear me out.” I slammed my menu shut, prompting a groan from Delilah. “If the shop was more profitable, you wouldn’t have a problem paying the new rent price and you wouldn’t have to work here in the evenings.”