Chapter 8 Knox
CHAPTER EIGHT
KNOX
Two hours and a migraine later, Lottie, Jenn, and I finally finish reviewing every single piece of paperwork we could scrounge up from Walter’s office with Tracey, our new business manager.
That, combined with the documentation left in Leroy’s care, is enough for her to tell us that we are well and truly fucked:
“You’re broke,” she says simply, pushing her dark braids behind her ear, eyes grave.
Jenn picks up one of the multiple sheets of paper on the desk, eyes roaming the numbers on the page. “I don’t understand. How can we be broke?”
Lottie reaches out and takes the paperwork from Jenn’s hands, brows pulling together. If I weren’t so confused by it all, I’d focus more on how adorable the little scrunch looks, how cute she is when she’s concentrating and serious.
“Makes sense,” Lottie says, voice cool and collected.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise to us when you think about it.
I mean, we work here; we can see we’re not selling out of copies every week, Jenn.
” She reviews the page with the bottom line one last time, at once sexy and serious.
I never would’ve imagined I’d be able to be more attracted to Lottie than I already was, but seeing her in her element like this?
In full business mode? I’ve never wanted anyone more.
“We should’ve probably shut down ages ago, right, Tracey? I imagine that commercial real estate and taxes in this small town aren’t high, but my god, we’ve barely had any customers.”
“Yes.” Tracey nods. “According to his files, about three years ago, Walter was on the brink of bankruptcy. But then he received a sudden influx of cash and was able to settle some debts. The store remained stable, but after a few months, he found himself in the same position. And as you can see here,” she reaches out and points at one of the line items, “he found another way to pay off some bills.”
“How?” I ask. “I’m not a mathematician, but he sure as hell didn’t have enough money in his bank account to cover any bills. I mean, I would know. I inherited whatever was left.”
“Well, it seems as though he was selling high-priced items upon request?” She points at another line item, highlighted this time. “I would look at your sales reports, see if you recognize them… Because, honestly? It’s a bit suspect.”
Lottie flips through the different documents, lost in concentration.
“For example, would you happen to know what this sale for twenty-five hundred dollars could be?” Tracey asks.
Lottie adjusts her glasses and squints. “Heming Old Man Sea First Ed,” she murmurs, reading aloud.
“A first edition Hemingway,” I whisper, my face so close to hers. I smile briefly, eyes flicking to her lips before speaking again. “Like the ones we found upstairs.”
She unconsciously licks her lips as her gaze connects with mine. Something jumps in my chest with the prowess of an Olympian, and flips again as I unwillingly lose myself in her dark brown eyes. In how much her proximity affects me.
“What books?” Jenn breaks through whatever the hell moment we were just having.
I clear my throat before addressing her. “Walter had some early editions he was restoring in his apartment. We think he was selling them. And now I’m assuming, selling them to keep the store alive?”
“Why keep it open, though? Why not just sell the store if it was drowning?” Jenn asks.
“He wouldn’t do that,” Lottie shakes her head, protective mode on.
“He loved Adams’s Bookstore—it was everything to him.
And despite business not being great, the place means a lot to this town.
I know it does.” She continues to review the balance sheet, frustrated.
“Why didn’t he come to me? If he had let me help him for once I probably would have been able to save him from this.
But he had to do it his way, didn’t he?” There’s a fondness to her voice, a smile tugging at her lips rather than the rage I would’ve expected had I been in her situation.
Lottie thinks his stubbornness was endearing.
I, on the other hand, knew the real consequences to his pigheadedness and didn’t find it cute for a single second.
Is it possible it was me this whole time?
That I was the problem? That I never got to know this great guy Lottie has mentioned and stood up for several times already?
I’m suddenly filled with jealousy, but I do my best to push it down. Useless, pointless emotion. As if there were anything I could do about it now. He’s gone, after all.
“So, he basically worked twice as hard to keep a store alive that clearly wasn’t working the way he wanted to, just so he didn’t have to ask for help or admit to having lost?” I laugh dryly, feeling the anger build. “Typical Walter.”
Lottie frowns at me. “That’s not what it was.”
“Hey.” I place a hand on her delicate shoulder. “Don’t take it personally. He was stubborn and pigheaded. From my experience, he wasn’t the type of person to ask for help.” She frowns at me, unhappy with my review of my father, apparently.
“Regardless, he managed to keep the lights on,” Tracey says. “And anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore, does it? Right now, we need to determine what you want to do.”
“We sell it.” Jenn sits up straighter in her seat, suddenly all business.
Her lower lip is swollen and red from chewing on it throughout the whole meeting—she hasn’t looked at ease once since it began.
“Right? Maybe we won’t be able to sell the bookstore itself, but the property. We sell it and we each get our cut.”
“Sell it?” Lottie asks, eyes as big as saucers, panic written all over her face. “We can’t just sell the bookstore!”
“Why not?” Jenn raises a brow. “Are you going to manage it or something? Buy us out? Because I could use the money for college, and Knox doesn’t even live here, so…”
“I just—I think…” Lottie stutters. “I’m just worried about tenants. Like, what if we sell to some awful people and they ruin the town?”
“You could vet the buyers, you know?” Tracey says.
Lottie’s eyes flash darkly at our business manager for a moment, but she quickly regains control of her expression. “I… Yes, I guess so. I guess we can make sure they’re the right people.” But her gaze drops to her lap where she fidgets with her hands, slumped over herself.
“Perfect.” Tracey claps her hands together.
“You’re definitely going to have to put some money into it if you want to sell it for a good price, though.
Otherwise, I can just let you know now that it’ll go for peanuts, because this place is a tear-down.
But I’m not worried about that. Leroy mentioned that there wouldn’t be too much handholding with you guys because of Lottie’s experience. ”
“What experience?” I ask.
“I, ah, used to be Senior Vice President of Retail Operations in New York. In my past life,” she mutters quickly,“ she says, still a little shaken.
“It was kind of my job to open new stores, manage all our retail ops…” But it comes out unconvincingly for some reason. Like she barely believes it herself.
“And she was pretty good at it, I hear. She worked for a top luxury brand,” Jenn says.
Lottie blushes and looks away.
“Cool.” I smile at her in wonder. Because of course she was amazing at it.
How could she not be? Sure, when I met her, she said her life was a mess, and of course there must be a story as to how she got from there to where she is now.
But I could tell from the second I saw her that Lottie was extraordinary.
Is still extraordinary. It just feels like she’s the only one who forgot.
I can’t wait to hear the rest of her story, to take advantage of this time together. All I want is to bask in her.
It’s clear she doesn’t realize how amazing she is, but god, I do. I don’t even know her well, but I know her. I feel like I know who she is in her core. One night together was enough to find out.
And even though Walter for sure wanted to screw me over with this project, the joke is on him. Because now I get to spend all this time with the woman of my dreams, getting to know her life and the rest of who she is. Even if she won’t give me the time of day in the way that I want her to.
I smile to myself, excited for the first time since getting to this town in the middle of nowhere.
“Lottie, we should use your talents and expertise to make it as good as we can before selling it so we can get the most amount of money possible. It’s, like, a no brainer.” Jenn rolls her eyes.
“Wait, what? No. Let’s just sell it as is. At most, add a new coat of paint,” Lottie says, waving her hands in front of her. “Why change it? I mean, I know it’s not in the best shape ever, but it’s got character.”
“Why would we leave it like that?” Jenn asks. “If we can get more money—”
“It’s a lot more work than you think, Jenn. I don’t think I could do it all on my own. At my old job, I at least had a team.”
“And what are we? Chopped liver? We all own a percentage here. We all have a vested interest. Of course, we’d help out with whatever you need, right, Knox?”
“Yeah. Of course we’ll help. It actually sounds like fun.”
Lottie snorts. “Fun? It’ll be hard work. And what about the money for the remodel?” “What about it?” Jenn blinks.
“Uh, maybe the fact that we don’t have any?”
“That isn’t exactly true, though, is it?
We can just do what Walter did: sell the books we found upstairs.
If they’re all that valuable, we can definitely scrounge up enough to pay for part—if not all—of the renovation.
Some of them looked like they were in pretty solid condition.
We can reach out to past buyers, hit up some conventions.
” I shrug casually. “Honestly, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
And like Tracey said, we can vet the buyers when the time comes, if that makes you feel better. ”
And I can’t help how much I love the way I can see her mind racing, watching the way it begins to form a plan.
Her expression shifts to one of excitement, a look in her eyes that tells me that maybe this “problem” is something she’d enjoy solving, despite whatever emotional attachment she may have to a store.
I love her sudden confidence—it’s like she’s rediscovering it, and it’s nothing short of a privilege to watch it happen in real time.
“Yeah, okay.” She smiles, excited this time. “Let’s do it.”
“Together,” I emphasize, as a slow, hopeful grin spreads across my face.
Jenn exhales in relief. “Thank god.”