Page 32 of A Little Thankful

“You want to contact who?” Mace asked.

“The real estate agent handling the old lumber warehouse,” I repeated.

“I know her,” Forrest said. “I do her taxes, but why do you care about the old lumber warehouse?”

“I’ve got a potential plan, and if it works, I won’t have to ever return to San Francisco. Not even for the meeting on Monday. The client can come here.”

“What are we waiting for. Let’s call the agent,” Hunter said, standing.

“Already texted her,” Forrest said. “She can meet us in front of the place in thirty minutes.”

“You’re amazing,” I told him, kissing him on the cheek. I turned to Dr. Charles. “You can just leave all the paperwork and if we ever decide to open it, I’ll give you a call. Thanks so much for stopping by. If this works out, you may have changed my life… all our lives, and you did it without opening that envelope.”

She pushed her chair back and stood. “Believe me, it was my pleasure.” Then she handed me a sealed envelope, and shook my hand. “I’ll send you my bill. Oh, and I hope it all works out for you. Those three men are some of the best people I know in this town. You couldn’t be connected to a better trio. Glad you’re back, Sage Pilgrims. This town needs more people like you.” Then she hugged me, and I about fainted right there. Dr. Charles rarely hugged any of her patients. And when she did, they were either next to death, under ten, or someone she truly admired.

“Thank you,” I told her as we stepped apart.

“Good luck,” she said gazing at all four of us. “Now get out of here, because I heard Jess Hall was looking to buy that building for Dragonfly Designs. She might have already put an offer on it or she’s getting ready to. Either way, get yourself over there, and outbid her. The owner is eager to sell.”

“Oh yeah,” Mace said. “Who’s the owner?”

“I am,” she said, as a wide grin stretched her lips, and she snitched a cookie from the plate.

THE OLD LUMBER warehouse, a red-brick expanse of windows and space, was in better shape than I thought, and much bigger than I hoped for. Also, it came with several acres of land, a lovely four-bedroom cottage, and the river ran right behind it. Pine trees and spruce trees shaded both the warehouse and the cottage, which was located far enough away from the warehouse,that I could live there. The location was perfect for whatever kind of venue I wanted, considering all the parking that could be available. The whole thing was up on a natural incline, so now that the flooding was under control, no way could any of the water ever reach the buildings.

“This place is perfect,” I told them. “I could run my own business from here. It’s bigger than what I imagined, but that just gives me more room for expansion. I want to create a type of stage like Tony Robbins… a Zoom Mecca on the West Coast. I can bring in influential speakers from all over the world to talk on my stage, not only about your mindset for sports, but your mindset in general.” I stood in the middle of the building, opened my arms, tilted my head back and twirled around. “I love it here!”

“Then let’s buy it,” Mace said.

“Yeah, we’ll all buy it, and you can run the business,” Hunter added.

When I didn’t hear anything from Forrest, I stopped and we all looked at him.

“I’m thinking. Calculating. Running the probabilities in my head. We can’t just jump into things without some sound numbers behind us,” he said.

“Well get out your damn calculator and figure it out,” Mace ordered.

“It’s not that simple. First, I’ll need the price.”

“A steal at two point six million,” I told him.

“That’s a great price, but still, where the hell are we supposed to get that kind of money?”

“I have some money in a trust fund that my parents gave me when I turned twenty-one for any business venture I wanted to start,” I said. “It’s been accumulating money ever since I turned sixteen. It’s almost worth the entire price of this place.”

“Okay, that could work nicely, but you don’t want to use your capital to purchase anything this size. You’ll want to get a loan against it,” Forrest said.

“He’s right,” Mace said. “I learned that from my grandfather when I took over his business. Plus, you’ll want to make this place your own. And if the folks at Dragonfly aren’t too angry at us for outbidding them, they’re the perfect group to implement your vision.”

“Plus, we’ll need some cash to retrofit this place and bring it up to code,” Hunter said.“As it stands right now, you couldn’t sponsor a pickle ball match in here, much less bring in speakers, or build a set of any kind. This place is a fire trap. But I can tell you exactly what you’ll need to do, and help get all the paperwork done in no time.”

They stood together a few steps away from me and for the first time in my adult life, I fell in love, totally and completely. They not only complimented each other, but they completed me, and my sweet baby girl. They were the piece that was missing in my life. They were my happily ever after, and I’d be a fool to let them go.

My grandmother was right, I had no life in San Francisco. My life was here, in this building, on this land, in this town.

I walked right over to them, got in real close, and kissed Forrest first, like my life depended on it, which, at the moment it did.

Mace and Hunter whistled, and I turned and crushed Mace’s lips with a kiss that caused my knees to buckle.

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