Page 54 of Holding Grace

Chapter 19

Grace

I stood looking around the space while Mercy and Ace debated back and forth about its pros and cons.

From what I was picking up, there were far more cons than pros.

“This place could be gorgeous with the right finishes.” Mercy turned in a circle, looking high up on the expansive walls at I wasn’t sure what.

“It could,” Ace agreed, “if we could get it into decent enough condition for finishing. From what I’m seeing, that looks like a longshot. A frustrating, expensive longshot.”

“It has its challenges,” Mercy conceded, “but we’ve dealt with other challenging properties. I could shoot whoever had the brilliant brainstorm to paint the exposed brick walls solid black from floor to ceiling” – she shot a disgusted look at one of the walls in question – “but once the paint is off and the floors are leveled and refinished...”

Ace spoke as Mercy trailed off. “The brick is in crap condition, though. You’re going to lose at least some of it getting the paint off. You can tell here and here” – Ace pointed out a couple of spots where the brick had started to crumble – “that moisture has gotten into and behind it. We’d need to pull part of that wall down just to see what we’d be up against. The floors on this level might be salvageable. Upstairs may be another question.”

We were on the ground level of a three-story shotgun-style building, where the rooms on each floor connected front to back directly, with no hallway between. Mercy and Ace had shared that it was an unusual design for the area, and I could see why Mercy wanted the building. It had charm and appeal despite its rough shape.

Now that Ace had pointed out a few damaged bricks, though, my eyes began to pick out more and more.

Mercy huffed in irritation. “I hate water. It’s so freaking destructive.” She let out another breath as she looked around the space again. “I hate even more when I have to agree with you. But on this one, I do. If there’s potential water damage in the walls on the ground floor, it can only get worse as we go up. And God only knows what’s going on with the roof. It’s probably a disaster.”

“Probably,” Ace agreed. “Sorry, I know you really wanted this one.”

“I did. The rental market in this area is right on the verge of taking off. Location wise this building is perfect but otherwise” – she shook her head regretfully – “not a good bet.” Mercy caught my eye and shrugged. “And that, Grace, is how not to buy a building.”

“It sounds like the best call. It was interesting to see the process, both here and at the first place we went.” We’d walked through a commercial space before this one that Mercy and Ace had agreed Baron Properties would bid on. “Thanks for letting me tag along.”

“Absolutely.” Ace followed Mercy and me as we made our way to the door, careful of debris and rough spots in the flooring. “Feel free any time. The more you see the whole process, the better you can understand the business.”

I rode back to the office with Mercy, feeling a rush of happiness at the sight of the flowers sitting on the corner of my desk.

I’d split the huge birthday bouquet I’d gotten on Sunday, leaving half of it at my apartment and bringing half of it into the office so I could enjoy it both places.

It was bright and cheerful and, though it had been part of my gift from everyone, made me think of Michael every time I looked at it.

Not that I needed the reminder. He was taking up a lot of space in my brain no matter what I was doing it seemed.

He let me know he was thinking about me, too. He’d texted “happy independence day” to me that morning, which had made me laugh. I’d never thought of the day I’d run – scared and having no idea what to do other than just go – as my own personal day of liberation, but in a sense it had been. I loved that Michael had taken a day I was a little ashamed of and made me see it in a positive light.

That text had been followed by another.

---