“Business associates,” he repeated. “Now where do I sign?”
Chapter 7
Liam awoke in the middle of the night, gasping for breath. It didn’t happen every night but often enough that Liam did everything he could to work himself into complete exhaustion before going to bed.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
He still hadn’t looked at a single work-related document since getting kicked out of Bentonville’s Pets and More, and he was growing antsier by the minute. The only thing that had helped keep his mind off of it was arranging to buy the theater, and swimming.
He sat up, his mind spinning in a million different directions.
You’re okay. You can breathe. It’s just a panic attack.
He stood and paced the room, feeling like if he didn’t get one good breath, he was going to die in that moment. He got onto his hands and knees and closed his eyes, willing his body to work like it should.
Sometimes it took thirty minutes for his breathing to return to normal, sometimes it was only a few seconds. Tonight was of the longer variety. When the band around his chest finally loosened and he collapsed to the floor, gulping in precious air, his entire body clammy, he knew he couldn’t keep going on like this.
He headed outside to his patio. It was cold but invigorating, and he leaned against the railing, inhaling the fresh night air. The stars overhead were visible between the trees, bright dots of light that reminded him he was a part of something bigger than himself.
Was the rest of his life going to be like this? Not sleeping enough? Waking from a dead sleep in a panic? Disconnected from his company and everything he’d worked so hard for?
He slammed his fist on the railing, liking the smarting pain on the side of his hand. The reminder that he was alive.
He sat on his patio chair and pulled up his email. He typed Viola’s name into his search box and read through their emails from before the Hawaii trip. Why hadn’t he emailed her when he had to leave so suddenly? After he was done dealing with the crisis and things had calmed down, why hadn’t he sent her a quick note, explaining it all?
When had work become the end-all, be-all of his entire life?
He opened up a new email, and his finger started to swipe over the keyboard.
Hey, Viola.
The stars in Eureka Springs are a lot brighter than in L.A. Where I live, I can’t see any at all. In Hawaii, we saw the stars too. I’m starting to associate them with you. Bright spots of light in darkness … sounds about right.
Liam
He sent the email and then instantly regretted it as he reread over it. What had possessed him to send such an inane email about stars? He felt like he was going crazy, and perhaps this was proof that he actually was.
So he sent another quick email.
Viola,
Please disregard that last email as the ramblings of a sleep-deprived brain. How’s progress coming on the theater?
Liam
Liam hadn’t even had his lawyers look over Viola’s contract before he signed it and had Xander’s assistant scan and send it back to her. Liam had given his assistant an extended vacation, with enough bonus pay for her and her husband to take a three week Mediterranean cruise, something he knew she’d wanted to do for forever, but they’d always been too busy to arrange. He missed his assistant, but Xander’s had been good to step in and help him with this.
Liam didn’t feel tired at all now, so he pulled up his favorite search engine to research the history of the theater, starting with the images tab. It had been a pain to figure out who owned it, but he had put his brother’s assistant and his best lawyer on the case. When his lawyers had worked up a fair asking price, the owners had agreed.
After a lot of creative searching, he managed to find a picture of the old theater online. It was grainy—a clip from an old newspaper. He pulled up the notes app on his phone and jotted down the caption under the picture.
The Tripp family. From the right, Marcus, Sharon, and their daughter, Jenny.
December 1955
Eureka Springs Gazette
Liam expanded the picture to get a closer look at it. The family of three was bundled up in long coats. Sharon Tripp wore a calf-length, checkered dress, her hair cut short and curled up in the style of the time. Marcus had on a light-colored suit, his dark hair slicked back so tightly it almost glinted in the light, and the little girl Jenny—maybe three or four years old—was in the Marcus’s arms, propped against his hip. She wore a frilly, lacy dress, her dark hair in long ringlets down her back, a look which made her resemble the doll she clutched in her arms. The display window in front was decorated to the hilt for fall: pumpkins, a leaf garland, a wagon and hay.
Liam’s phone vibrated, and he blinked, surprised to see that the sun was starting to rise already.
Viola had replied to his email. He nearly groaned. It was probably to tell him to get a life.
He clicked into it anyway.
Liam—The time stamp on your last email says 4:00 a.m. Why are you looking at the stars instead of sleeping?
The theater is going well. I got the samples for the paint yesterday, and I’m going to do some sketching and initial paint mixing today to try to get the exact right shade. Hoping to start actually painting next week.
Viola
Liam responded immediately.
Viola,
I had a rough night. Thanks for the update on your progress. I’m excited to see how it turns out.
Liam
And he was excited. After looking at old pictures, he’d started to get a vision for what it could look like once Viola was done with it. For Pets and More, they had a standard construction template, so every store across the country looked the same. They might make some superficial regional changes—stucco siding in the southwest, wooden slatted boards in the north—but their goal was always that you could recognize a Pets and More even before you saw the sign for it.
These old buildings in Eureka Springs weren’t like that. They’d each been individually owned and ran. They weren’t franchised or flagship stores for something bigger. They were a family’s life work and passion.
He hauled himself up from the hard chair, his back hurting from sitting in the same position for a few hours. This was one of those times where the decorator had chosen the outdoor patio furniture for looks and not for comfort. He made a mental note to order a comfortable chair for out here. If he was going to be having more of these nights, he wanted to do it in comfort.
Swimming laps for another hour helped loosen his back and wake his mind all the way up. He jumped into the shower and saw his screen light up as he got out. It was Xander. Want to come over for breakfast?
Sure, Liam replied.
He threw on some dark jeans—when was the last time he’d worn jeans so many days in a row?—and a light blue button-up shirt, and headed over to Xander’s house.
The dogs barked wildly at his knock, and when Callie opened the door, they both exploded out of the house to jump around him. Callie and Xander had trained them not to jump on people, but they loved running in circles around Liam, their tails wagging in sync.
“Hi, Jax. Hi, Darcy.” Liam rubbed them both around the ears and then stepped into the house beside Callie, the dogs close on his heels.
“Go on,” Callie said to them, shooing them away from him. For owning a large chain of pet stores, Liam had never owned a pet of his own. He’d always been too busy to have another being to take care of. But he’d found, in the last few weeks, that he enjoyed seeing Jax and Darcy, and had even come outside to play ball with them a few times, a satisfying activity. He understood for the first time why people liked doing this kind of thing.