Page 76 of Artfully Wild
“Yep.” He pulls a large stack of paperwork from under his arm and hands it to me. “It’s all ready to be signed.”
Dad picks that moment to find me and walk over. I hadn’t told anyone besides Jacob what I had planned to do. For all Dad knows, he is witnessing me receiving the paperwork for selling the store to Camp right now.
“Ah, George!” Camp booms. “It’s good to see you!” He claps him on the back after drawing him into a crushing hug. Dad pats him back, the way that guys do.
“Finally got her, didn’t you?” Dad asks and I know by “her,” he doesn’t mean me.
“Ahhh, I’ll let your daughter here answer that one for you. I’ll tell you what, though, she’s one hell of a businesswoman. I’ll catch up with you later, Georgie. You two talk. I have someone I need to see anyway.” He gives Dad one last pat on the shoulderbefore he walks over to the booth closest to us,Books & Beansscrawled at the top.
“So,” Dad starts, gesturing to the paperwork in my hands. Instead of answering, I just hand the papers to him.
He takes them and skims through the first few pages until he realizes they aren’t pages selling the store over to Camp.
“You’re…”
“Rebranding,” I finish for him, trying to keep the tears I feel stinging behind my eyes at bay. I know what this store has meant to him over the years and while I did take it over for him, I did it for me too. The store means a lot to me too and it’s been a part of my life just as much as it has been a part of his.
“It’s a partnership, to be exact,” I explain further, taking the papers from him and putting my arm through his, walking down Main Street through the festival. “He’s investing and his marketing team is going to help me completely rebrand the store. An outdoor store with an artistic flair. The loft will become a gallery for my art of landscapes of Blue Grove and local wildlife. I’ve gotten really good at painting animals thanks to the auction. Well, I’ve always been good at it, but my confidence has grown more. And most of the storefront will be the same, but more clothes will be tailored with more sensitive fabrics in mind for people like me.”
He nods his head to the side, thinking. “This is….amazing,” he says. “It’s not something I’ve ever seen before, but I think that’s why it’s going to succeed.”
“Camp wanted to buy the store, but I told him I had no intentions of selling. Well, what I actually did was rip up his offer right in front of him and laid the scraps of it on his desk.”
Dad’s booming laugh is louder than I’ve heard in years and he doesn’t stop. I join in and we draw in a few weird glances from tourists and a few soft ones from familiar faces. He sighs and wipes the tears from his cheeks, from laughter, and from something else, I’m not sure.
“Your idea for this store is something unique to this town and it wholly encompasses who you are. I don’t think there’s any better description than the one you chose. You’ve been artfully wild your whole life. It’s only fitting you make that part of your living.”
He pauses and more tears shine in his eyes.
“Oh, Skylar. I am so damn proud of you. For doing this for you.”
“Thank you, Dad. I am too.”
And for once, I don’t think I’m agreeing just to agree. I actually believe it. I’m proud of myself.
Giving me a side hug, he squeezes my shoulders and kisses the side of my head before Mom finds us, melting into his other side.
“There you two are.”
Charlotte is close behind, Ethan trailing her with two hot chocolates in his hands. Elias brings up the rear and I catch him eyeing Charlotte’s ass. I raise my eyebrows at him and when he notices me looking he quickly moves to his son’s side acting like he wasn’t just lingering behind them on purpose.
“Aunt Sky! I got us some hot cocoa! I bought it myself from the last game I won against Uncle Hud.”
“You’ll have to let him win one of these days, kiddo. I don’t know if his big fat ego can handle many more losses,” I joke, taking one of the cups from his hand.
“Hey! I could win if I wanted to!” Hudson yells over from his booth set up a few feet away from us. There’s an older couple talking with Avery over one of his bear carvings as he steps aside to join us. He glances over his shoulder making eye contact with her before fully leaving the booth and when she gives him a nod and a wink, he gives us his full attention. Well, whatever he considers his full attention. Because at least 80 percent of his attention is on Avery 100 percent of the time.
“How’s Jacob?”
“Doing okay. Better now that he has some answers, I think.”
“So, you sticking around?”
The whole family knew about the reason behind the trip to the ski resort, but none of them knew the outcome. Besides Dad now. It’s not that I was afraid to tell them—well, I was a little afraid—but Jacob and I were also trying to get everything done for the auction and then he had his seizure so there was no time to update them really.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” I smile.
They all cheer and clap like I just did some kind of circus trick in the middle of the street.
