“No, they’ve just come to you with a proposition. I could sit down in the morning and write them a very nice letter telling them that you’re not interested and that would be the end of it.”
Kara sighed in relief.
Courtney reached over and touched her arm. Kara looked up from the paperwork questioningly.
“I’m not saying what you should or shouldn’t do—that decision is yours. The one thing you should consider, though, is the amount of money they’re offering. If the company can get the zoning to build a high-rise building on the site, then it’s worth every penny, but that’s not a sure thing. The development firm is gambling that they can get the approval and are offering you a substantially higher than market value amount for the land because of it. If they can’t get the zoning, then the land value is realistically worth about a third of this.”
Courtney tapped a long, red-manicured nail on the paper between them. “You may never be offered this much money for the garden center and its land again once the courts determine the proper zoning for the entire parcel of land. And you can be sure that when Mayor April and the Larkin Bay town council hear about this proposal, they will contact the surrounding towns and coordinate bylaws with all of them to cover it. But that will take time, which is why the property developers want to get you to sign this quickly.”
“It is a lot of money,” said Kara sadly.
“It’s certainly a lot to think about,” agreed Courtney. She pushed her chair back and got to her feet. “But now at least you have all the details, so I say let’s go for lunch and forget all about it for a while.”
Kara stood and smiled at her friend. “That sounds great. I’m suddenly starved. I guess being offered money can make a girl hungry.”
Courtney smiled back. “It certainly can,” she replied. After shuffling the papers into an envelope, she handed the documents to Kara, then left the law office’s conference room to fetch her jacket so they could leave for lunch.
While she waited for Courtney to return, Kara walked over to look out the boardroom window, admiring the panoramic view of Lake Street that the second-floor location afforded her. She turned when she heard footsteps behind her.
“Hey,” said Scott from where he was leaning in the boardroom’s open doorway.
“Oh, Scott. Um, hi!” Kara blushed. She had wondered if she might run into him here today. If she was honest, he was another reason she’d chosen to wear this pretty outfit.
“How did it go?” he asked with a smile.
“Fine—good, in fact,” answered Courtney, returning and pulling on her jacket. She looked from one to the other with a puzzled smile. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other.”
“Scott came to the garden center to buy the planter out front,” Kara told her.
“Oh, right. That makes sense. I’d forgotten about that.” Courtney nodded. “Well, the firm presented a very generous offer, and now Kara has to discuss it with Mark and mull it over. She has plenty of time to think it all through—a month—and we can extend that too, I think, if necessary.”
Scott nodded at Kara. “That sounds interesting.”
“We’re going for lunch.” Courtney glanced over at Kara, who nodded. “Do you want to come with us?” she asked him.
He shook his head, and Kara saw genuine regret in his eyes.
“I’d love to, but I can’t,” he replied. “I’m meeting with Clara MacDonald in about twenty minutes. I was just trying to figure out how to prepare some tea for her. She specifically asked if we had chamomile, and I meant to pick some up, but I forgot. Actually, I didn’t forget, I’m just not exactly sure what that is, and when I looked at the grocery store, I couldn’t find any,” he confessed.
Kara and Courtney both laughed.
“You’re helping Clara? Well, if you really want to impress her, I’d not only get chamomile tea, but I’d scoot over to Jaycee’s Bakery and grab some peanut butter cookies too. Clara loves them and is always over there talking about buying some but never does because she worries about the calories,” Courtney said and rolled her eyes. “As if a woman who just celebrated her ninetieth birthday has to worry about calories.”
“Why don’t you get both at the bakery?” Kara suggested. “Jaycee would sell you some tea bags along with the cookies if you asked her. I know she sells chamomile tea by the cup there. I’ll call ahead so they can get both ready for you, if you like. If you hurry, you can still be back here in under twenty minutes.”
Scott gave a thankful sigh at Kara’s suggestion. “Good idea,” he agreed, “and thank you!”
As Kara watched him turn away to run his errand, she admired his broad shoulders, which strained slightly under his pressed shirt, and his wavy blond hair, which curled nicely against his collar. “Now, that is one fine-looking man,” she murmured to Courtney when she was positive he was out of earshot. Reaching over to the chair to find her purse, she dug out her phone so she could text Jaycee and let her know what Scott needed.
“Yes, yes he is, but I’m not supposed to notice because I already have a fine-looking man of my own,” replied Courtney, waving a sizable twinkling solitaire diamond on her finger between them. “So if you’re interested, Scott’s all yours. I think he’d make someone a very happy woman.” She laughed, and Kara felt her cheeks heat as she ducked her head and sent a message to the bakery.
A short time later, both women were sliding into a booth at the Cup of Joy café.
“It’s so nice here,” Kara commented, looking around the brightly decorated restaurant. “I’ve never been here, and it’s been open for over three months. I obviously need to leave the garden center and get out more.”
“Well, if you sold it, you could do that. That is one benefit of selling. You’d have more free time for things like this. Running a business is very time-consuming,” said Courtney, picking up a menu and running her finger down the luncheon specials.
Kara frowned. “But I love the garden center. I enjoy working there and knowing that I’m carrying on my mom’s business. It’s a part of who I am. I could no more sell it than I could give away Maeve,” Kara declared, picking up the sheet listing the café's specials off the table.
Courtney closed her menu, put it down gently on the table, and looked at Kara seriously. “Well, then, there’s your decision. If you’ve already figured that out, I’d advise you to hold on to the place with both hands and fight anyone to the death that tries to take it away from you.”
Kara looked at Courtney, her mouth gaping open in surprise. She’d never heard her friend sound so ferocious. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess it does seem pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?”
Courtney looked away from her and signaled to the server that they were ready to order, so Kara hastily picked up the menu and perused the options again.
“It may not be,” Courtney replied, glancing over at her. “They are offering you a substantial amount of money for that location—enough to set you, Mark, and Maeve up for the rest of your lives if you’re careful and invest it properly. So you have to decide what you want more in life—financial stability or to work in the family business. I suppose you could also sell the land and set up a garden center somewhere else close by too. Then you’d have the best of both worlds.”
A server stopped at their table so each woman could place their order, and after he left, Kara looked at Courtney, tapping her fingers on the table as she struggled to put her emotions into words. “I know it may make sense on paper but, I’m not sure moving the garden center somewhere else would make me happy. I love the idea of having new buildings, but I don't think I could replicate the atmosphere of what we have now. It’s not just working in a garden center that I love; it’s working at my family’s garden center, the place my mother built here in Larkin Bay.”
“I see.”
“Moving it somewhere else just wouldn’t be the same,” Kara added glumly.
Courtney sipped the lemon ice water the server had placed in front of her and studied her friend for a long moment over the rim. After she put it down, she shrugged. “I can write them a letter tomorrow morning, if you like, and turn down the offer.”
Kara’s eyes widened as she looked across the table. She lifted one hand. “Well, it’s not quite that easy, I’m afraid. The garden center has debt, and I have Maeve to support for the next twenty years. Also, Mark needs to have a say in this as well. I can’t make this decision without consulting him first.”
Courtney smoothed the napkin on her lap. “Well, you have thirty days to decide. So I suggest you take the next few weeks to think the offer over, and talk to Mark and when you’ve reached a decision, just let me know.”
Kara nodded at her friend, then lifted a hand to her face as she suddenly felt tears springing up in her eyes.
“Oh, honey.” Courtney reached across the table and covered Kara’s hand with her own. “Try not to worry too much about it. There’s no real wrong answer here. Either way, you and Maeve are going to be just fine.”
“You’re right,” Kara said, taking a deep, shuddering breath and wiping her napkin across her eyes. “If anything, we should be celebrating. It’s not every day that someone comes into my life and offers me more money than I could ever dream of.”
Courtney lifted her water glass and tipped it forward to tap the top against Kara’s. “You’re right. So here’s to, uh, money! Oodles and oodles of money.”
Kara’s lips wavered for a moment before settling into a smile. Picking up her glass, she tapped the top of Courtney’s glass back. “And to friends,” Kara added. “Let’s not forget to toast the most important thing in life.”
“Yes, of course—to friends,” Courtney echoed with a big smile, then settled back into her seat to enjoy the rest of their lunch.
Chapter Eleven
Scott smiled as the movers carried the last of his furniture into his new apartment. When everything was finally set in place, he shook each man’s hand, tipped them lavishly, and, after thanking them all for their help, sent them on their way.
Falling into his familiar down-filled leather sofa, he stretched out. “It’s so nice to have my own place again, finally,” he moaned.
