Page 30 of Stuck with the Grump

Tyson chuckled. “Well, I’m about to throttlehim. I saw those pictures on the internet, and you two looked like you were getting pretty close at the grocery store.”

“Shut up,” I said, my face flaming as I crossed out yet another location on my list. “It’s not like that at all between us. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Good, because best friend or not, I will swim through the floods to commit crimes if he doesn’t keep his hands to himself. You’re still my baby sister.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Excuse me, I’m a grown woman. And you’re being dramatic.”

“I’m just speaking my truth. But, I have to get going, Leigh. I have another call coming in. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Love you, Tyson,” I said, missing my brother. Even though we both lived in New York, he was a wandering soul and was gone from the city more often than he was home. It had been a while since we had last seen each other.

“We’ll meet up when you’re able to come home and you can tell me all about your gallery. Love you too, Leigh.”

As soon as the call ended, I groaned and dropped my head onto my paperwork. Finding a place for the gallery was more difficult than I anticipated. Most of the places in my price range were out of the way of foot traffic. Foot traffic would keep the doors open between selling art.

With a deep breath, I propped myself up on my elbows again, blowing away a strand of hair that had fallen on my face.

“What’re you doing?” Clarke asked, amusement in his voice as he sat on one of the barstools at the island.

“Working.”

“While lying on an island.”

“Unconventional is my middle name.”

His smile wrinkled the corners of his eyes. “You definitely are. Anything I can help with?”

I bit my lip and tapped the end of my pencil against my notebook. I didn’t want to have to cave and let go of my pride. However, I needed someone’s brain to pick, and he was the one who had built a successful company.

“I have no ideas about a good location for the gallery. I know what I’m looking for but the where still escapes me.”

“Can I see?” he asked, gesturing at the notebook with the pictures of properties. I slid it over to him and started tapping my pen against the countertop. “Leigh, stop that. It’s annoying.”

With a smirk, I gave a final loud tap before putting the pen to the side. “I talked about all of these places with Tyson, but he doesn’t think any of them are the right fit either.”

“He’s right about that. Location is everything for an art gallery. You want to have loyal people who buy works but also complete strangers who can pay fees to get inside and look.”

“I know. It’s why I can’t figure out where I should open the gallery.”

He thumbed through the pages for a few moments before looking up at me. “I know of a place that’s going on the market in a few weeks. I think it has everything you want.”

“I feel like there’s a but coming,” I said, twirling a loose strand of hair around my finger.

“But it is definitely out of your price range.”

I groaned and dropped my head to the counter again. “That’s just great. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t want to open the gallery and then have it fail within the first year.”

“I know you want nothing to do with my money, but as a silent investor, I would be able to help you get the location.”

I bit my lip as I lifted my head and looked at him. Getting the right location was important to me but I wanted to do it with as little help as possible. I wanted this business to feel like it was something I had built from the ground up, not something my brother’s company had supported me through.

“I don’t know, can I have some time to think about it?”

“Of course,” he said, pushing the notebook back to me. “I have to go work on some other things for the embezzlement case. If you need anything else, let me know.”

Before he left, he scribbled an address on a corner of the notebook. I grabbed my phone and looked up the address, my breath catching in my throat. It was perfect. The building was old and dated but it was nothing a little facelift wouldn’t fix. The bones were good, it was everything else that needed some extra love.

The building looked like an old warehouse right on the water. It was in a popular part of the town that had a young but affluent crowd. Being right on the waterfront would attract people walking by. Big windows overlooked the water.

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