Page 100 of Need You
They unloaded her portfolio first in the trunk of the Tesla, then walked to the Morning Glory. Deb was waitressing and got them a quiet booth in the back and rushed off to help someone else.
“I guess the summer crowds are gone,” Delaney observed. The restaurant was almost deserted.
“September. Everyone goes back to school. But as soon as we get our first dump of snow they’ll be back.”
“You been busy?” She tried to make it sound casual.
“Yeah. There’ve been a couple of burglaries. Vacation homes up near the resorts.”
“Oh no.” Glory Junction had a relatively low crime rate, but like any other place, bad things happened. “You catch the culprits?”
“We’re working on it. I can’t get into it, but it’s kept me busy the last few nights.” He glanced across the table at her and she wondered if he was trying to tell her that was why he hadn’t come calling. She’d left it up to him.
“I hope you catch whoever did it.” She leaned closer and asked in a soft voice, “Anything new with the mayor?”
“Nope.” His gaze ran over her, lingering on her low-cut top, male appreciation gleaming in his eyes. “I thought we should clear the air . . . you know, after last week.”
“Okay.” Delaney waited for him to say more but her cell rang and she pulled it out of her purse to look at the display. Her lawyer. “I have to get this.”
She walked outside and leaned against the diner’s exterior wall to take the call. “Do you have bad news for me?”
“Robert’s attorneys filed a request for a clarification from the court. We could hear something anytime and I wanted you to be prepared.”
“What if the judge says that I have to take the Delaney Scott label off my existing merchandise? How do we handle that?”
“We could appeal,” Liz said. “But that could cost as much money as removing the name.”
Delaney doubted it. Not only would removing the labels be a major expense but the items wouldn’t be worth much without them. The best she could hope for was selling them to an off-price store.
“Let’s wait for the clarification before we come up with a game plan,” Liz said. “I still think we were right all along.”
Delaney desperately hoped so.
Another call came in and Delaney checked the ID. “Liz, my real estate agent is on the other line. Let me know if you hear anything.” She quickly clicked over before she lost the call. “Hello.”
“We’ve got an offer,” the agent trilled in a singsong voice.
“A good one?” If the judge’s clarification was in Robert’s favor, the proceeds from her house would be a godsend.
“An excellent one. I’m sending you an e-mail with the offer attached. Take a look and call me back. We have forty-eight hours to counter.”
“Okay,” Delaney said, a bit overwhelmed. She hadn’t expected a house listed at four million dollars to have buyers this fast.
She went back in the restaurant. “I just got an offer on my house. And my lawyer called to tell me that Robert’s legal team asked for a clarification from the judge on whether I can sell existing merchandise under the Delaney Scott label.”
“What happened?”
“The judge hasn’t responded yet.”
“Is the house offer a good one?” he asked.
“I haven’t seen it yet.” She scrolled through the phone to see if her agent’s e-mail had come through yet. For some reason she felt funny about Colt knowing the price, even though anyone trolling Beverly Hills real estate listings could find it. It was just so excessive to the point of being vulgar. At least to someone who had come from her humble beginnings. “Here it is.”
Deb came to take their orders and she waited to pull up the attachment. Colt ordered a roast beef sandwich and potato salad. She got the Cobb. Customers started to filter in and Deb took off to seat them.
“Well?” Colt asked, craning his neck to see the e-mail on her phone.
She tapped on the document icon and breezed through the fine print until she got to the offer price. “It’s pretty close to what I was asking.” Delaney would let her agent advise her on whether to counter with something higher, but if the buyer wouldn’t come up, she’d take it.
