Page 74 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

“Then shouldn’t we be offering them more? It is possible that another buyer might swoop in, and then we’d be up the creek again.” Sure they looked like crap now, but there was nothing but potential there. And we already had a plan to fix the team!

Swanny smiled. “Again, I’m impressed. You wouldn’t have been able to make that evaluation a few months ago.”

“Maybe. Greg and Amanda gave me a lot of responsibility and trust because they were confident enough to admit they knew nothing about hockey—you know, beyond the basics.” An uneasy feeling hit my stomach as I said that. They trusted me, and the whole time I was trying to engineer this sale. “Selling is the right thing for them to do, right?”

“Since you’ve seen their financials, you know that selling is the only way to go. There’s something called opportunity cost too. The Richardsons could be investing their money in things that are a lot more profitable than a struggling hockey team.”

“It won’t be struggling once we put our new plans in place. We’d pay more if the Vice were in good shape, right?”

He nodded. “Of course. And confidentially, it’s not the best time for the Coopers to swing a big purchase.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our owners are in the mining business and it’s cyclical. They’ve got a new mining project coming on-stream, so it’s not the best time to buy the Vice. They’d prefer to do this in a year from now. But we convinced them we can’t pass up this opportunity, so they’re willing to borrow to finance.”

Amazingly, I now understood most of this answer. The Coopers’ own money was tied up, so they’d have to hit up the bank.

“So, they don’t have the cash flow right now?” I asked.

Swanny whistled. “Man, placing you with the Vice was one of my better ideas.”

“Yeah, right. You can’t take credit for all my hard work. Or the fact that Amanda can explain things better than you.”

“You keep mentioning her. To be honest, the way you two got along at that first meeting, I was sure you weren’t going to last past the two-week trial. But when I called, both Greg and Amanda were impressed.”

“Really? What did they say?”

“Well, Greg was really enthusiastic. He said you had a great hockey mind. Amanda said something about you’re not being as clueless as you acted, but in a more polite way, of course.”

I smiled. That had been in the early days, when she still hated me. But how did she feel now, that was the real question?

“Okay, when are we taking this crappy offer to the Richardsons?”

“It’s not crappy. It’s fair,” Swanny protested. “I need you to get onside because you’re going to be a key part of selling this deal, since you know these people the best.”

“Yeah, I do, and that’s why I’m worried about this offer being good enough. People make the mistake of thinking that because they’re rich, money doesn’t matter to them. Nobody knows the value of a dollar better.”

Swanny curled his lip. “Oh, I get it. Rich and cheap.”

“No, I’m explaining it wrong. Jeannie is a huge supporter of charities, and they’re all very generous. But they’re very conscious of when people try to take advantage of them.”

“Jeannie? You’re on a first name basis with Mrs. Richardson? Shoot, Lucky, I’m sending you in every sticky personnel situation we get. But relax, I hear what you’re saying, but it sounds like they’d like to get out of the hockey business. They asked you to facilitate the sale, right?”

“Yeah.” But the agreement to sell had come out of nowhere, and I was still unsure about how everything went down.

“I’ve set up a meeting at the Vice offices on Monday. The whole family will be there, including your buddy, Jeannie. Not Thomas, of course. I haven’t been able to get any details on what happened with his lawsuit, but I heard a rumour that he’s been looking at office space, so he may have some new venture in mind.”

Monday. Amanda hadn’t tried to contact me since that disastrous meeting in her office. All this week, I’d felt this sense of something being missing, like my leg was cut off. There was no denying I missed everything about the crappy Vice offices—the job, the feeling of being needed and respected, and most of all, I missed talking to Amanda. Once I got over being upset, I’d texted and called her but had gotten no response. But she would be at that meeting, and afterwards maybe we could get things straightened out. I deserved to know what the hell was going on.

32

Let’s Make A Deal

Chris

Going backto the Vice offices with Swanny felt like coming full circle. But now these dark offices felt more like home than PacTel Arena.

“Chris, you’re back!” Tori jumped up and gave me a hug. But she looked different somehow, more corporate. She was wearing a jacket and a high-necked blouse, and Tori’s boobs were usually on full display. I suspected that Amanda was somehow responsible for this fashion change.

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