Chapter 41
PENN
Darcyand I were quiet for a while on the way back to town. I was starving, holding a bag with my dinner in my lap, since Darcy had decided I could eat mine when I got home. I was feeling emotionally exhausted after the show she had put on at the restaurant. I couldn’t figure her out. I looked over at her, watching her hands on the wheel at ten and two and the peaceful and serene look on her face. This woman was stunning, breathtakingly beautiful. Everything about her seemed to be a picture of perfection. To look at her right now, I would have never guessed she would be capable of accusing me of being obsessed with boobs or insisting she write down my medical history in her notes app.
Her voice interrupted my train of thought. “Why do you want to turn my dad’s store into a restaurant so badly? Why can’t you just find somewhere else?”
“What?” I was taken aback by her question and momentarily forgot my lie about why I was there. I immediately felt a twinge of guilt in my gut. I didn’t want to turn the store into a restaurant. I wanted to tear it down and turn it into a hotel where we could advertise the entire town as a tourist destination for Small Town, America. Here I was, complaining about her multiple personality traits when I was lying through my teeth to her. I had no room to talk.
“Oh, umm, it is in a great location, and I think it could be really beneficial to the town,” I lied again. I was digging myself deeper into the hole, and I wasn’t sure I would ever get out. “Why do you want it to remain a hardware store so badly?”
I watched her bite the inside of her cheek and move her hands on the wheel slightly. “Because like Mrs. Nelson said, where would people get their hammers or gardening gloves without it?”
I searched her face for any sign of what she really felt, but she stared straight ahead, eyes never wavering from the road. “Is that your final answer?”
She caught my eye and shrugged. “Not really,” she paused, and I let the silence stew for a moment. Then her voice grew quiet, and I saw her throat bob with her swallow. “It’s all I’ve ever known. I grew up in the hardware store. My brother and I would go there every day after school, do our homework in my dad’s office, and my mom would always have a snack ready for us. I used to go around helping customers from as early as I can remember. That store is my entire childhood. I have a hard time thinking of it as anything other than what it is.”
And now I understood a little bit better why she was so adamant that the hardware store stayed how it was. It wasn’t just her dad’s store to her; this was a piece of her past, much like someone’s childhood home or fishing hobby that always remained with them.
She continued. “My dad needs to retire, though. He’s already had several heart attacks and heart surgery. I don’t want him to spend his whole life working, so I know that eventually he’s just going to have to sell, regardless of what happens to it.”
“Have you ever thought about taking over and just hiring a business partner?” I asked her, almost forgetting I was trying to buy the hardware store and not give her ideas on how to keep it. If Max heard me right now, he would fire me on the spot.
She looked over at me and quickly turned back, her eyes on the road. “I did, but no one in Aveline wants to take it on. Everyone already has their own thing, and I don’t blame them. None of us do well with change, to be honest.”
“What about someone outside of Aveline?”
What was I doing? Why was I giving this woman suggestions that could potentially ruin my plans? It must be the lack of food. I was starving, and it was depriving my brain of the nutrients it needed to think clearly.
She shrugged. “Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”
I was quiet for a moment, thinking over what she said but still not understanding. “Not really.”
She chuckled. “No one outside of town has wanted to keep it a hardware store. They want to turn it into something else...you know, like a restaurant.”