Page 49 of Romancing My Grumpy Goalie

“I’ve just gotten some news!” Mrs. Wheaton lowers her voice like it’s top secret. “The Maple Creek Antique Mall is for sale. It’s a prime location. From what I understand, the owner is retiring and wants to travel the world. The place is huge and already comes with twenty vendors selling their wares.”

My location is so out of the way I can hardly get any traffic. This could be the solution to all my problems.

Lucas stops talking to Nolan and stares at Mrs. Wheaton.

“Can you imagine having the money to do all that traveling? Mr. Wheaton never had enough from his teaching retirement for that kind of luxury. Don’t get me wrong. We do okay for ourselves. But not like that!”

“Their antique mall must have been quite profitable.”

“Oh, yes!” Mrs. Wheaton crows. “Those antique malls are all over the place from here to Roanoke. Folks around here snatch those antiques up. It’s a huge moneymaker.”

Lucas rubs his chin thoughtfully. “You don’t say.”

“You thinking of buying it?” Aubrey asks him before shifting her gaze to me.

“It’s an option.”

“We have a lot of older homes, and folks like to fill them with furniture from the time period,” Mrs. Wheaton explains.

“Some people want to refinish the furniture themselves,” I add.

“Like what you did with the shelves in your shop,” Aubrey says.

“Yes. There’s a lot of money to be made in flipping furniture. Many of those antique malls are full of brightly colored furniture people picked up cheap,” I say.

“My favorite antique malls are the ones where they have handmade goods as well as the older furniture and books and dolls.”

“Like your shop,” Mrs. Wheaton says to me.

Could I expand my boutique into an antique mall?

After Aubrey and her mom wander off and Lucas and Nolan have done all they can to the RC car for now, Lucas and I end up on the park bench by the playground. Nolan plays happily, swinging from the monkey bars. This day has felt more natural than anything has in a long time. The more time I spend with Lucas, the more he makes sense.

“Thank you for being there for Nolan today,” I say.

“My stepdad was like that for me. He was there for me when my dad left. We’re still really close.”

My heart aches to think this won’t last. Lucas will get picked back up by his old team and move back to Atlanta.

In the meantime, it looks like I might have a few ideas of how I can boost my business in a big way. And that means staying in Maple Creek. I could never ask Lucas to give up on his dreams.

Nolan rushes up to us. “Lucas, can you be my real dad?”

“You already have a real dad. And I’m sure he loves you very much,” Lucas tells him.

“But he doesn’t live here anymore, and he doesn’t want me to come see him this summer,” Nolan explains.

“Life can get complicated, but you have to have patience for the people who love you. Sometimes they’re still learning.”

“You should be focused on your game,” I say. “Isn’t the championship around the corner?”

He shrugs. “This feels more important.”

Lucas is better with him than I am. I probably would have said all the wrong things.

I stand. “Time to go, Nolan.”

“Aw, I wanted to run the RC car again,” Nolan protests.

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