Page 25 of All Mine

“Absolutely,” Bethany chimed in. “How many would you like?”

Jonah returned the coffee pot to the burner and followed me back into the kitchen after I’d finished with the muffins.

“So, how’d it go?” he asked.

“About like you’d think. He claims that it’s a client of his trying to buy the land, and if he doesn’t make the sale, then someone else will.”

“But, Lewis wasn’t in the market to sell it,” he said. “That’s weird. Did he say who the client was?”

“No.” I slammed the empty tray on the counter. “It makes sense; this place is across the street from the lake. Guess it was only a matter of time before the vultures came.”

“What are you going to do?” Sloane asked.

“If I can’t talk Lewis out of selling, maybe we can get the place on that national register of historic places?”

Jonah shook his head. “That won’t work. Being on that list doesn’t stop the homeowner from selling or bulldozing.”

“Really?” My heart sank. “Anyway, I’m sure you two have your own jobs to deal with today and need to get out of here.”

“Are you working today with Eden in town?” Jonah asked Sloane.

“You like the little red-head?” Sloane teased.

“No,” Jonah replied, taking off my apron and handing it over. My intuition said that he had a thing for Sloane, and she was oblivious. And I didn’t want to pop our friendship group bubble by pointing it out yet. Sloane wasn’t any readier for a relationship than I was.

“I may get some writing in later. Although, I’m behind already.”

“You just had a release,” Jonah said.

“Welcome to the book biz,” she quipped. “Whenever you’re ready to get back out there, I’ll grab Eden and go.”

“You ladies have a good day,” Jonah said. “Try not to fret too much about it.” He patted my shoulder and left.

“Are you really going to let Eden stay with you?”

Sloane shrugged. “If she wants to stay in the apartment, I don’t see the harm… I guess.”

“There’s the spirit,” I said, heading to the front counter pleased that at least something had gone my way. I’d plot my revenge while I worked.

That night, after the five businesses in the row closed, the owners of each one sat around my dining room enjoying pastries and coffee. I’d explained our predicament and who Camden Carter was.

“If they tear these houses down, it’ll take months to build a new building. And we’ll be out of business for months. That is if we can even afford the rent in the new building.”

“What are we supposed to do about it?” Isaac, who owned Valley Sandwich, asked.

“We need to come up with ideas for ways to keep this from happening.” The bakery was my life and my livelihood. I was not about to give it up without a fight.

“I don’t know what we could do,” Colleen from the General Store said.

“Yeah, this is the risk we take when we rent a space,” Rishi added. He owned the ice cream shop. “It happens all the time. I know you’ve only been in business a short while, but you’ll get used to it.”

“But, if we all got together and talked to Lewis and voiced our concerns? I mean, he wasn’t in the market to sell, and he still might not be.”

“Dude, Lewis is a terrible landlord.” Brody shifted in his seat. He and his partner ran the kayak rental store. “Darren and I were already thinking about moving. I mean, the location is great, but the old house doesn’t fit our needs. We’re paying for a lot of indoor space we don’t really need. We talked about turning part of it into a restaurant, but you have breakfast and dessert, and Isaac has lunch and dinner. And with Adrian across the street, we don’t have a viable way to expand here. We’re looking for an opportunity farther around the lake or upriver.”

“There are plenty of ways you can expand your shop inside to include things for fishing: rods, reels, gadgets, bait, tackle…”

“Yeah, but we like kayaks,” Brody said, then shoved half a pastry in his mouth.

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