24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Patrick
Social media followers were up. Way up, thanks to the bridal expo and my campaign team’s video efforts. I’d even gone semi-viral when a blogger reposted an oddly specific clickbait video titled: 25 Total Hotties Running for Mayor and You’ll Never Believe Who’s a Former Boy Band Singer!
Spoiler alert: I wasn’t the former boy band singer. But you better believe I clicked that video to find out who. (He was running for mayor in a small town outside of Toledo, Ohio, apparently.)
“I just hope with all these new followers, there’s a decent chunk who actually live in Birchwood Hills,” I mused to the campaign staff over takeout dinner. “And who vote.”
“Your socials are blowing Ribben out of the water,” my mother said without looking up from her laptop. “Especially now that we’re running targeted ads on socials. Megan here is a whiz at online marketing.”
Megan, a recent college grad with a marketing degree, who happened to be the daughter of one of my parents’ friends, beamed. “The competition is relying on old media. Tacky TV ads that run at two in the morning after those scammy life insurance commercials. Interviews on AM Radio. ”
“See? Who needs Bea Clark after all?” My mother grinned. “Take a look at these ad impressions.”
While the graphs and stats required a hefty translation for me to understand, it wasn’t lost on me how happy my mother appeared in the driver’s seat of the campaign. Bea Clark was out. After discovering Bea had been working an angle with the casino owners, promising them she’d get me to vote yes on their proposal despite my entire campaign platform against it, my mother sent Bea packing.
A decision my mother came to me with even though she’d hired the woman. I appreciated that she included me in the choice. We really were turning a corner working together.
We chatted about upcoming events and our door knocking campaign. I tried to resist, but my mind wandered. I had to take action on that bakery space. Marcy was counting on me. I knew she worried over a Ribben owning the space more than she’d admit. I needed to confront this thing head-on, but I needed more information.
While my mother returned to Megan and the ads dashboard, I texted Carmen for one more favor.
The following day, I walked into the legal clinic after a full morning at court.
“We’re back in business,” Carmen said. “I got you in to see that building.”
“Awesome. Excellent.” I’d go myself since Eli Ribben wouldn’t show up to unlock the door. He had people for that sort of thing. Though I had Carmen use a fake name. Better to err on the side of caution. “When is it?”
Carmen continued typing at her work computer, ever the multi-tasker. “Thursday at nine.”
It took pushing back an early meeting to work out the morning building tour. Carmen’s instructions from the call had said to meet at the back of the shop in the alley. Seemed kind of sketch, so I arranged for my own back-up.
Matteo met me at my place and we drove the short distance to the vacant space. “Thanks for doing this.”
“Anything for Carmen.” He grinned as he hopped out of the car. “She’s my girl.”
I shut the driver’s side door with a little too much force. “This is also for your sister. And for me.”
“I’m bringing her to our next family thing,” Matteo went on, sauntering toward the alley.
So the subject remained on Carmen. “You two are really hitting it off, huh?”
He shrugged, but his smile gave him away.
“I’m happy for you.” I wanted to tell him Marcy and I were official, but he already thought we were engaged. But did he believe it? I owed him the truth. “You know, this thing with Marcy, it’s real. It’s not just for—” I checked out the surrounding area. We were technically in enemy territory here. Well, competitor territory. I approached the nearby dumpster and peered around it—nobody lurking. “It’s a real thing, is what I’m saying.”
Matteo slowed. “How long?”
“It’s been a long time that I’ve had feelings for her. If that’s what you’re asking. I didn’t say anything because…” This was harder to put into words. “I didn’t want to risk it. With her. Or with you guys.”
He nodded. “You two kissed back in high school, didn’t you?”
If I’d been drinking something, I would have done a spit take. Instead, I made a weird mouth noise that hit my nostrils at the same time. “Did Marcy tell you?”
“I put a few things together.”
“Recently? Or back then? ”
We lingered by the back door. “She was a mess the day after prom. Remember, I was living at home still and taking a few community college classes. You were supposed to come over and play video games or whatever, and you didn’t. Then you two were acting weird for like a week. You never said anything, but I’ve been noticing how you look at her sometimes.”
My best kept secret hadn’t been so secret after all. “Are you mad?”
“Mad? Why would I be? You’re like family. Stop overthinking.”
This was about as close to a blessing as I’d get.
“Hopefully, it shouldn’t be much longer,” I said, to fill the silence. Matteo checked his watch, a nice-looking timepiece I’d never seen him wear. “New watch?”
“Yeah. My first purchase with the money from Nonna.” He faced the watch toward me. “It’s not a Rolex or anything, but it’s a good brand. I decided not to buy the rims.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve spent enough money on my car.”
I snorted.
“What?” He waved me off. “Okay. Truth? It sounds stupid, but Carmen, she’s so professional. So classy. I figured a nice watch was a better purchase. And I’m not touching the rest of the money until I have something good to spend it on.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
He made a stink face. “Shut up, dude. I knew you’d make fun of me for this. The whole time I was in the store I was thinking, ‘This is something Patrick would buy.’”
“It’s a nice watch!”
“It’s like I’m turning into you.” He shoved me at the shoulder.
The utility door beside us opened suddenly. A man likely in his fifties who looked like a taller Danny DeVito stood in the doorway. I didn’t recognize him. He wore aviator sunglasses, though he’d just come from inside. “You here to look at the place?” His accent had a Chicago undertone. A little more gruff and harsh than I heard around here.
“Yes.”
He stood aside to let us pass. We entered a kitchen space with counters coated in dust. Industrial countertops with spaces between them where I suspected a commercial refrigerator and ovens once lived.
“Asking price has gone up.” The guy spoke around a toothpick in his mouth.
“Gone up? Since when?”
“Since we’ve got multiple interested buyers.”
Dangit. Not good. I moved through the open door from the kitchen to the area with the checkered floors we’d seen through the front window. A professionally dressed blond woman stood facing the opposite direction.
The Chicago guy called over. “See? This lady is lookin’ too.”
The woman turned and gasped.
“Jillian?”
“Pa—Pa-nnther. Go Panthers!” she stammered.
Matteo snickered. I mouthed, “What are you doing?” at her. “ Panthers? ”
“I panicked!” she whisper-shouted at me. “What other guy names start with P-A?”
“Paddy?” Matteo offered. “Or is that short for—”
I put my finger to my lips and mouthed a silent Shh.
“What’s happening?” a distant, tinny voice asked. It came from the phone in Jillian’s hand.
“No worries, only a small complication,” Jillian spoke close to the device. She looked up at us. “Yes. I’m here for my buyer .” She gestured her head toward the front window.
A car that looked like Marcy’s was parked across the street. But the woman inside had blond hair. And wore sunglasses. The woman held up binoculars, then her mouth parted. She ducked out of view.
The woman was Marcy. In a wig. Was this really happening?
“Is your buyer considering a serious offer?” I asked Jillian. “Because as far as I knew, I was the only buyer planning to visit the space.” Not that we’d talked specifics the other night. I’d just told Marcy I’d handle it. And here she was, sending in her friend to do the investigating.
“Actually, that buyer said we’d figure things out together ,” Marcy’s voice came through the phone.
I walked the room, pretending to look at the condition of the walls while my thoughts raced. Yeah, I had said we’d figure this out together. And now we’d driven up the price by creating unnecessary competing interests.
We weren’t on the same page.
“Not a bad place,” Matteo mused. “How much did you say you’re charging?”
The man in the doorway grunted. “Negotiate at the office. Not here.”
“Where’s the office?” he asked.
He folded his arms. “I just open doors.”
I snapped a few photos for good measure. “If we’re interested, do we call the same number, or go through you?”
He knocked against the doorframe. “Doors only.”
“Thanks for your time. We’ll head out the front.”
Jillian, Matteo, and I filed out to the sidewalk. I kept going and crossed the street to Marcy’s car.
She powered down the window. “Hey. How’d it look in there?”
“There’s a kitchen in back.” I described what I saw, and about the guy telling us the price was going up. “Look, I probably wasn’t clear about what I’d planned to do. I wanted to see the place before I approached the Ribbens about it.”
“What if he’d been there? What would you have said? ”
“I’d have acted surprised. Nice wig, by the way.”
“It’s Hudson’s. It’s hot. And itchy.”
I shook my head. “You’re a piece of work.”
“But you like my kind of work.” She grinned.
“I do.” I handed her my phone. “Check out these pictures.”
As she looked them over, hope lit her eyes. “It’s perfect.” Her words trailed into a whisper.
“Yeah. It is.”
She swallowed. “What if we lose this place because I can’t get the money in time? The grant applications take months and those aren’t a guarantee either. I’ve been so scared to ask my nonna about the money again. I’m afraid this plan will all fall apart.”
“Let’s do this together,” I said. “We already weren’t on the same page today.” I gestured to the building behind us. “Let’s make sure we’re a united front going forward. We can meet with your family together. Let’s see if our engagement will unlock the money for you.”
She looked up from the phone in mild horror. “It’s really time to ask, isn’t it?”
I angled myself toward her and kissed her cheek. “We’ll do it together.”