Page 43 of Landlord Wars
Glancing around, I wasn’t so sure he could get things running smoothly. This would be a tough one for me to untangle, but I loved this sort of challenge. “I don’t mind helping.”
Victor gestured for me to enter the shop and followed behind me. “Forget all this. I have something more important to talk to you about. Do you remember when I hired you that I told you I’d retire soon?” Yeah, and I’d hoped he hadn’t been serious. Working for Victor had been a dream, and I wanted it to continue. I wasn’t ready to find another job. “I said I would give you as much experience as possible, remember? Well, time’s up. I’m retiring.”
“Now?” My voice came out in a squeak.
This was too soon. No one would hire me with less than a year of managerial experience. And there were only a couple shops like Victor’s in the city to begin with. But Victor had worked his ass off for decades; who was I to begrudge him his retirement?
“I understand,” I said, my heart sinking.
The plans I’d laid were once again not going well, although this time it wasn’t due to my neurosis. I’d have to find another job immediately if I wanted to hold on to my apartment and continue helping Elise with tuition and Mom with her bills. I pressed my fingers to my forehead at the pressure building behind my eyes.
Victor touched my shoulder and smiled gently. “Sophia,” he said. “I’m not laying you off. A couple years ago, I couldn’t have imagined being able to hand off the business to someone else. But everything changed the day you walked through the door. You have the passion and talent I was looking for in a design manager, and you’ve even grown the business in the short time you’ve been here. I’m offering for you to take it over.”
This was the second time in the last twenty-four hours that my brain couldn’t catch up to reality. First with Max and that naughty kiss, and now with Victor. “Wait, what? Are you serious?”
He laughed. “There’s no one I feel more comfortable entrusting the business to than you, not even my son.”
I swallowed, holding back a well of emotion. From the moment we met, Victor had felt more like a father figure than a boss. And now he was offering me something I’d only dreamed of having sometime in the distant future. It felt too good to be true.
“You’re the best boss I’ve ever had,” was all I could come up with, blinking back tears. “When I finally managed to branch off on my own, I thought I’d be building from scratch. I never dreamed of anything like this.”
Victor rubbed his jaw and looked around. “Not from scratch, but things don’t look too good at the moment, do they?” He chuckled. “Today’s chaos is my fault. In all honesty, I don’t have the energy anymore, and I want to retire.”
Regardless of how incredible this opportunity seemed, the truth was I’d only just moved out of my mother’s house and was barely keeping my finances in check. “I’m honored that you would consider entrusting the business with me, but I don’t think I can afford it.”
His face brightened, a twinkle in his eye. “I already thought of that. From what I’ve gathered, you’re the sole provider for your family, and that’s a big responsibility. If you run the place, I’ll maintain the capital so you don’t have to. I have no doubt you’ll build the business in ways I never could, and in turn, I’ll take a portion of the profit. We’ll set up a contract so that you can buy me out over time. It would be an investment for me and a career for you.”
He looked around the storefront. “I love this place, but I just can’t do it anymore, doll. I’m in my fifties, but physically I might as well be fifteen years older. Tim is threatening to leave me if I don’t step back and reduce my hours.”
Tim was Victor’s boyfriend of twenty years. Victor had come out later in life after a rocky adolescence of trying to fit in. He’d had a son with his one high school girlfriend when he was just eighteen—talk about surprise and confusion mixed together. But Victor had always said that raising his son was the best blessing he’d ever been given. He’d also stayed close with his son’s mother, regularly checking in on her.
“Tim would never leave you,” I said. “He adores you.”
Victor smiled. “Maybe, but we’d like to live out our golden years together, and he deserves more of me. You’ve already brought in new clients with your unique twist to green design, and our customers are beginning to associate the place with you. It’s as much yours moving forward as it is mine.”
“But I haven’t even been here a year,” I said, still unable to believe his words. Was I the only one thinking logically?
“And every client we have asks for you,” he pointed out.
He was flattering me. Maybe. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that he was offering me a golden opportunity. “I love the idea. I’m just not confident I can do it.”
“I know it’s a lot, but think about it, okay?” He looked down at his phone, which had begun to ring nonstop. “I’ll have my lawyer draft a business proposal. There’s no rush. If today hadn’t been so chaotic, I would have taken you out to lunch to discuss it. But”—he crossed his eyes comically—“things didn’t go according to plan.”
I chuckled. “I will consider it. And no matter what I decide, thank you, Victor. It’s a huge honor that you’d think of me.”
He grinned. “If I’d had a daughter, I would have wanted her to be as smart and tenderhearted as you, Sophia. Instead, I have an incredible son, who sadly works as an engineer.” He shook his head. “How did an artist produce an engineer?”
No one was more committed to their son than Victor, no matter how much he poked fun. He talked lovingly of his son and his son’s long-term girlfriend nearly every day, and I was fortunate to have Victor rooting for me too.
I never had time to think about how much I missed my dad. I’d hit the ground running to help my mom, and I never stopped. But times like this killed me in all the best ways, reminding me how much I missed having a father and how lucky I was to have people like Victor in my life.
I reached over and hugged him.
He gave me a tight squeeze before pulling back and shouting at workers near the front door, “Hey, hey, not there!”
He shook his head, holding up his phone and showing me six phone calls he’d missed during the few minutes we’d spoken. “These knuckleheads. I better do a better job of taking over James’s coordinating. In the meantime, would you be able to run one errand? I wouldn’t normally ask on your day off, but this is a top-tier client who reached out. Can’t say no when influential people come a-calling.”
“Gosh, no,” I said. “Half of the business I’ve brought in has been through word of mouth from large clients I’ve acquired. Word of mouth is everything. What’s the address?”
