Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I held up my hands, desperate for him to stop. “This one’s on the house.”
“Well, that’s very kind of you.” He tilted his head. “You’re new, aren’t you? Been coming here forty years and haven’t seen you around before.”
I was willing to say anything if it would make this conversation end. “Yep, just started today.”
He reached out and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Well, you picked a good place to work. Fine family, the Gilleys. One of the best I know. They’ll treat you right.”
Without a hand holding up his towel, it began to unravel quickly. I lunged for the doorknob. “Thank you sir, good to know. Enjoy your stay,” I added before pulling the door firmly closed. Through the faded wood, I heard a peal of laughter and something that sounded like a growl. I spun and bolted for my car before I heard anything more.
I drove back into town, my thoughts in a jumble. The morning had gone well—I’d made my offer, the family seemed more than receptive, and I was confident this deal would close on time at the terms I’d proposed. If anything, the leaking toilet in room 109 only reinforced the point that the inn had fallen into disrepair and it was time to sell.
Then why wasn’t I feeling happier?
It was because of what the old man had said, about the Gilleys being a good family. From what I’d seen, it was true.
But business was business. I had to remember that. It had been one of the first things Dick Sr. had said to me when he’d suggested hiring my firm to represent his massive real estate company. He believed in honesty and integrity, and he despised cheaters. But what he detested most of all were people who let emotions cloud their judgments. “Business is business, son,” he’d told me over a glass of scotch. “It’s numbers, facts, and objective reason. You let emotions play a role, and you’ve already lost. So long as you remember that, we’ll get along just fine.”
The Gilleys could be the best family in the entire world, but that didn’t change the parameters of the deal. And it wasn’t like the offer I’d made them wasn’t fair. It was more than fair—generous even. I shouldn’t feel too sorry for a family that was about to become instant millionaires.
I pulled into the main street of McBride just as the clock tower in the middle of the town chimed noon. There was an empty parking spot in front of the old barn-shaped general store, and I pulled in, intending to grab a snack. But when I stepped out of the car, I was greeted by the heavenly smell of freshly grilled hamburgers.
Richard, my ex, would have balked at the idea of a hamburger for lunch which was exactly why I decided it was the best idea ever. I switched direction and headed toward the source of the smell—the town’s old-fashioned soda fountain located inside Flamingo Pharmacy. As soon as I opened the front door, heads swiveled toward me. I tried to pretend I didn’t feel like I was in an old western film where at any minute someone might draw down on me and demand I leave town on the next wagon train.
The stools at the bar were covered in hot pink vinyl which seemed to be the only nod to the pharmacy’s name as well as the only thing remotely fresh and new. Everything else looked like it hadn’t changed since the days of sock hops and Studebakers. Despite the time warp, the place was doing a decent business.
“Coffee? Frappe? Patty melt special? What can I get you?”
I glanced up at the woman behind the counter. She looked to be about my age but had her hair pulled back in a long, thick ponytail that gave her a youthful energy I definitely wasn’t feeling these days.
“Coffee please,” I said, perching on one of the stools. “And a menu.”
She grabbed a thick ceramic mug from under the counter and filled it from the industrial pot behind her. When she set it down in front of me with a little metal pitcher of cream and a container of sugar packets, I glanced up at her, expecting the menu next. She winked at me and thumbed over her shoulder in the direction of a giant chalkboard with the menu on it. “You’re the one staying over the Bee Tee Dub, right?”
I blinked at her. How the hell could she know that? “Uh, yeah. Well, I was, but apparently there’s been a mix-up and I’ll have to stay over at the Sea Sprite.”
Her face softened. “Ah, no worries. Sawyer will fix you right up. That man’s a sweetheart. Shame about losing his grandparents after already losing his parents as a teen. They were good people. Hell, the whole Gilley clan is good people. But you probably didn’t come here for Precious’s lunchtime opinions, did you? You know what you want to order yet?”