Chapter Six
Janet
“Where are we going?”
It had been ten days since the incident, and Thor had behaved admirably. Well, not really, but he’d behaved better than I expected. He grumbled when we took my Jeep instead of his bike to go somewhere, but on the whole he’d been pretty good about it.
“It’s a surprise.” He grinned at me from the driver’s seat. He may have agreed not to ride his bike, but as he’d pointed out more than once, he had not agreed to be ferried around like a disabled armadillo. He refused to let me drive my own vehicle.
I refrained from asking why anyone would drive an armadillo anywhere, disabled or not.
Sometimes his logic left me confused. As long as he followed doctor’s orders and stayed off his bike, I let the subject drop.
For once, I was happy I’d opted to buy a Jeep and not some cutesy car.
It was hard to picture Thor happily settling in to drive a Mini Cooper or a VW Bug.
I wrinkled my nose. “Is this a surprise I’m going to like?”
“Sure hope so.” His grin widened.
Well, that wasn’t encouraging. His idea of a surprise could be anything up to, and including, front seat tickets to a prize fight. Or worse, although I’m not sure what that would be. I let out a sigh and snapped my seatbelt in place. “Is this surprise close to here?”
“Close enough.”
That didn’t narrow it down. “Does it involve food?”
“Are we playing twenty questions?”
“You don’t get to answer a question with a question.”
“Is that a rule? Because you know I don’t like rules.” He sounded much too cheerful.
“Yes, it’s a rule, and I don’t care if you like it. You have to follow the rules.”
He geared down and slid around a corner without coming to a full stop. “I do? Says who?”
“Me. It makes me happy when you follow rules, and you like it so much better when I’m happy.”
He straightened out the Jeep and reached over to settle one hand on my thigh. “I can think of lots of ways to keep you happy without following rules.”
I giggled despite myself. “You’re bad!”
“Me?” His innocent act wasn’t very believable.
“Yes, you.”
“You like me when I’m bad.”
“Only sometimes. Depends on how bad you are.”
“In that case it’s a good thing we’re here.”
He pulled into the parking lot of a building with a For Sale sign in the front window. A couple of bikes were already parked in front, along with a sporty looking red car.
I frowned. The building looked well maintained, the windows clean, and the parking lot free of the debris that inevitable gathers in abandoned lots. “Why are we here?”
Instead of answering, Thor got out and stalked around to my side of the Jeep. He opened my door with a flourish. I stepped out onto the pavement.
We entered the building through a side door that was conveniently unlocked and walked right into a beautifully open retail area.
The front picture windows were currently covered in brown paper, but I could see how the natural daylight would stream in once that was removed.
A wide window display area behind them would be perfect to display items to entice customers to come in and browse.
I turned and saw a glass fronted display case behind the checkout counter.
Good chance it was a cooler, meant to display perishable merchandise.
Speechless, I turned to Thor.
“What do you think?” He looked eager for an answer.
“It’s gorgeous, but why are we here?” It would make the perfect flower shop, but this place was for sale, not rent. I definitely could not afford to buy a building.
“You said you wanted to open a flower shop, but you just needed the right place.”
“To rent, not to buy. I can’t afford this.”
“But Riptide can.” Ace entered from a hallway behind the counter.
“We’ve been looking for ways to diversify our income.
We were looking for residential units, but this works too.
It’s an estate sale. The owner passed away and it’s been vacant for almost a year now.
The sellers are motivated. The cost of upkeep is eating away at the value of the asset so they’re eager to unload. ”
“I’m confused.” I looked from Ace to Thor. “What does Riptide’s investment policy have to do with me?”
Deuce, the club treasurer, appeared behind Ace, along with a guy I didn’t recognize. Deuce glanced up, acknowledging me with a jut of his chin before turning to the stranger. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they looked serious.
“Simple.” Ace stepped back, away from the two newcomers.
“Sophia mentioned to Deuce that your dream is to open a flower store and get out of the hospital gig. Deuce tells me that interest rates on our passive investments suck. Solution that benefits both of us? Riptide pulls its money out of investments that are paying less than one percent interest and buys this place. We hire you to oversee the renovations it needs to become a viable flower store, which was not its original purpose.” He gestured at the cooler behind the counter.
“Of course, Riptide will cough up for the renovations. When it’s ready to reopen, you can lease it from us at a reasonable rate with a buyout provision at the end of the lease.
That gives you time to see if this is really what you want to do with your life.
If you decide to bail, we have a viable business to sell, and we make a profit.
If you decide to keep going, we negotiate a way for you to buy it from us.
Everything will be in writing, nice and legal so we all know where we stand.
It’s a win-win for both you and the club. ”
It sounded too good to be true. I turned to Thor. “You arranged this?”
He shrugged. “I was part of it. I know you’re not thrilled with that Dr. Murphy guy chewing out your ass all the time, and you did tell me this was your plan. Seemed like a no-brainer when Deuce said we needed to change our investment strategy.”
“This doesn’t mean I’m going to agree to be your old lady.” I blurted it out, maybe because the thought was so tempting.
“I’m not trying to buy you.” He looked offended. “If you agree to be my old lady, I want it to be because you can’t imagine living the rest of your life without me in it.”
I nodded sheepishly. I knew he wasn’t that kind of guy. We weren’t there yet, though, and maybe we never would be. “What happens if we split up?”
“I said it would all be legal, and that stands,” Ace broke into the conversation. “It’s not contingent on the state of your relationship with Thor. If that becomes an issue and you don’t want to see him, I can order him to steer clear of the store.”
“Really?” I raised my brows, looking at Thor. “And you’d do it?”
Thor nodded. “I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I’d do it.”
My head was spinning. It was one thing to dream, quite another to have an opportunity like this land in your lap.
“You can take some time to think about it. Talk it over with someone.” Ace nodded toward the back.
“That’s the realtor over there talking to Deuce.
We’re still negotiating terms so we haven’t gotten a solid offer in yet.
I just wanted to make sure you might be interested before we finalized anything. ”
“I’m interested. Just a little stunned.”
“I get it. You’re considering it, though?”
I nodded. “Hell, yeah. I’m just not the jump-in-before-you think kind of person.”
Thor slung an arm around my shoulders. “Fuck, I can attest to that.”
I poked him with my elbow. “This is different.”
Ace grinned. “Totally different. A flower shop is a whole lot less trouble than agreeing to be Thor’s old lady.”
“Hey! Whose side are you on?” Thor shook his head, addressing Ace.
“There are no sides to that. It’s my decision,” I pointed out. “I already told you I’m not ready to become your old lady.”
The realtor’s voice interrupted us as he headed for the door. “I’m out of here for now. I’ll get back to you once I’ve had a chance to talk to the sellers.”
Ace waved his hand at the man, then turned back to me. “It’s going to take him a few days to get back to us. We’re just clarifying property lines, etc. You think about it, and if you decide you might be interested we can discuss terms and timelines for a lease.”
I nodded. “That’s fair.”
Deuce wandered over, giving me a friendly nod of the head before addressing Thor. “You pitch the idea to her?”
“Yeah. Maybe I should have mentioned it to her before we got here.” Thor shrugged. “It was a bit of a surprise.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s an understatement. But a nice surprise. It sounds almost too good to be true. I just don’t want to make a snap decision. I need to do some calculating and see if I’m ready to dive into being self-employed.”
“Fair enough.” Deuce tilted his head. “It’s a fairly gigantic leap. But you’re considering it, right?”
“I’d be an idiot not to.” I sighed. “Let me get used to the idea, okay?”
“Okay. If you have any questions, Thor knows where to find me.” He glanced over at Ace. “You ready to go?”
Ace gave a nod. He looked at Thor. “You two lock up when you’re done.”
“No worries. Just going to show her the rest of the place, and the apartment.”
The apartment? My brows rose in surprise.
“Let me or Deuce know when you make a decision.” Ace grabbed his helmet off the counter and jammed it on his head before following Deuce outside.
I turned to Thor. “Apartment?”
He nodded. “Upstairs is an apartment. Not a huge one, but it would work for us.”
“Us?”
“You.” He grinned. “But you’re going to be so happy, you’ll invite me to stay over lots.”
I shook my head. “How about you finish showing me the store and then we can go look at my” -- I emphasized the word ‘my’ -- “possible living space.”
“Good idea.” He headed toward the hallway Deuce and the realtor had come out of. “There’s a walk-in fridge back here, and a workroom for doing all those flowery things.”