No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 85

DARCY

Penn fitinto the town just the way I knew he would. He belonged here. He was still working remotely with his brother’s insurance company, and we had already finished The Office and each of The Lord of the Rings movies. We were currently working our way through The Vampire Diaries—I had to show him who Damon Salvatore was after all.

All in all, I was extraordinarily happy, and I didn’t see how anything could get any better than it already was. I had everything I hadn’t known I needed. I could have never imagined what happened next. I was leaving the clinic after work when my phone rang, and I noticed it was my dad.

“Hey, Dad! What’s up?” I grabbed my bag and stepped outside. The wind was harsh and the air cold, freezing me from head to toe. These were the days I drove everywhere in Aveline, despite everything being close. It was too damn cold to walk.

My dad’s voice came through the receiver. “Hey, Jerry. I have some news. Can you meet me at the store?”

“Uhh, yeah,” I answered skeptically. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied, not at all convincing. “Just meet me, and I’ll tell you.

I felt my heart sink. It was notably bad when someone asked you to meet them after saying those words. The “I have news” news was almost always life-changing, and not always in a good way.

“Okay . . . I’ll be right there.”

I ran to my car and headed to the store, wondering what could possibly have been going on and fearful of the worst. My dad had a significant heart history having suffered multiple heart attacks and undergoing heart surgeries on more than one occasion. Whenever he or my mom had “news,” it always made me fear there was something going on with him, and my anxiety always went through the roof.

I walked up to the door, and the first thing I noticed was the lack of a FOR SALE sign in the window. I pondered it for only a minute before running past it to my dad’s office.

I was out of breath when I arrived, rushing through the door, breathing heavily. “Hey,” I said through gasps. “What’s up? I’m here. Are you okay?”

My dad stared at me, his eyebrows pulled together. “Jere-Bear, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I batted him away, my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I should really start exercising. “What is going on? Tell me now.”

My dad gestured to the chair in front of him, and I plopped down, still recovering. “Well, listen. I have some news, and before you panic, hear me out.”

I didn’t speak, merely nodded.

My dad took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Jerry, I sold the store.”

I stood up immediately and threw my hands in the air. “You what! Without telling me? Who did you sell it to? What are they going to do with it? Why would you do this?”

My mind was reeling. My dad had sold the store? He’d sold the store without so much as even mentioning he had someone interested in it? Did I know this person? There were so many unanswered questions filling up my mind, and I could only feel an immense amount of anger. There she was again, that secondary emotion, the little volcano of molten lava. I tried to hold her back to keep from erupting—there was so much I still didn’t know—so I took a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale.

But then she exploded again. “You could have called! We could have gone through interviews. How could you just sell it without telling me? Does Mom know? Did you tell Beau?” My dad crossed his arms over his chest, remaining calm and collected as I continued. “I’m honestly so disappointed right now. How could you do this? What if they are like Max Prescott and tear it down? Do you even know this person?”

“Are you done yet?” my dad asked, nonchalantly.

I paused, a scowl on my face. “No.”

He raised one eyebrow, and I slumped back in the chair. “Fine, yes.”

My dad sat back down and pulled out some paperwork. “The person who bought it wants to keep it a hardware store. I could have told you that twenty minutes ago if you hadn’t thrown a tantrum.”

I perked up. “Really?” I relaxed slightly and muttered, “Twenty minutes is an exaggeration...”

“There is a stipulation, though,” my dad said, ignoring me.

“Ah-ha! Of course there is. It’s probably that he has to tear it down and build a new hardware store in its place. Isn’t it?”

My dad rolled his eyes. I wondered if I got that trait from him. “No, Darcy, this person has made it abundantly clear he does not want it if you will not go in as a partner.”

I scrunched my face, not understanding. “What do you mean? Who would want me as a partner? You know if it’s Peter Penske, I can’t work with him on a daily basis. He would drive me absolutely bonkers.”

“It’s not Peter,” my dad replied.

I combed my fingers through my hair. “Well, if its Neil Trinket, I don’t want to work with him—”

“It’s not Neil either,” my dad said.

I scoffed. “Well then, who is it?”

“It’s me.” A familiar voice came into the room behind me, and I turned around to see Penn leaning against the doorway. He was wearing a long-sleeve gray shirt with the hardware store logo on it and a baseball cap.

I looked from him to my dad, then back to him, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

I stood up, facing him. “Really? You want to buy the store?”

“Yeah. I do,” Penn replied nonchalantly.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “And you want me to own it with you?”

“Yep.” Penn closed the space between us and took both of my hands in his. “I was thinking about it, and it makes sense. I can do the business side, and you can do the customer side. We can keep it just the way you’ve always known it, and you don’t have to worry about some jackass from the city coming in and trying to turn it into a restaurant or a hotel or something else ridiculous.”

My eyes were filled with tears at the gesture. It meant more to me than I could ever express. “You’d really want to run a hardware store?”

“If you’re there, I’m there.”

I shook my head, wiping my eyes. “Is this what you want, though? I want you to be happy. You have changed so much in your life already.”

As much as I wanted this to happen, I didn’t want my happiness or my dreams to come before Penn’s. I wanted the two of us to be a team, and in order to do that, my feelings couldn’t be above his. They needed to be equal.

“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life,” Penn replied.

I tilted my head back, gazing at him, trying to decipher if there were any lies behind his words. “Really? Why this?”

“Because there is only one thing in my life that I am certain of,” he said, kissing my forehead. “And that’s you. I want to build a life with you. I want to watch you school me on how to change the oil in my car and go fishing with you on Saturday mornings. I want us to laugh in the back of town meetings when Mr. McDaniel’s toupée falls off. I want to see the smile on your face when you help customers. I want to do life with you.”

Tears welled in my eyes again, and I wiped them away. “Can we open at ten?”

Penn squinted. “I think we should probably open at eight.”

I shook my head, laughing. “You’re right. We can talk about it later.” And with that, I ran into his arms.