Page 36 of Sunset Tides
It didn’t look good. There was a huge turnout, well over a hundred people, and despite what Lillian had said, not all of them were friends.
They were joined by an older man and woman whom Lillian introduced as Claire and Chip.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Rob offered a handshake to Claire first. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
That wasn’t true, of course. Lucy never told him anything. It had become a game for him to try get any information about her life. Perhaps this group would be more illuminating.
“We’ve heard about you, too,” Chip said, returning the handshake.
Rob caught what he thought was a look from Chip and decided to see if he could figure out what it meant. “Would you say what you’ve heard about me have been complaints?”
Chip stared straight ahead at the auctioneer. “If you have to ask, you already know.”
They both laughed, unnoticed by the rest of the group. Claire and Lillian were huddled together, whispering, and Marty was texting.
Rob was looking around at the crowd when he caught Marty’s eye.
He put his phone into his pocket and walked over. “So, Rob, how did you get involved with the farm?”
Best to keep it general. “My company was trying to buy the farm’s debt to restructure it. Do you work in finance?”
“I don’t,” Marty said. “And I can’t say I know much about restructuring debt.”
Good. Rob preferred if no one knew what he was there for. True, he wasn’t after Grindstone anymore, but surely Lucy, who believed in the power of community, wouldn’t appreciate what he was about to do to that hotel.
Even if she found out and wanted to stop him, it was too late. When Rob told his boss about the plan to declare the area blighted, he immediately got a team of five people to help with the paperwork.
It was complicated and tricky, but they had swiftly gathered all the evidence needed to prove the area needed to be condemned. Under eminent domain law, their proposed development plan to improve the properties would seal the deal.
If all went well, they would send certified letters to the property owners next week informing them of the final action: a vote by the county to condemn the area.
If Lucy caught wind of it, she wouldn’t like it. Hopefully she wouldn’t try to take it up as her next cause. It would be a disappointment for her. Rob and his team had done everything by the book, and eminent domain was nearly impossible to fight. Also, he was really enjoying spending time with her, and he didn’t want to start a fight.
Lucy rejoined their group just as an announcement rang out that the auction was about to begin. She jumped at this and ran off again, finding Fiona in the crowd.
The first items up for auction were the farm’s three copper pot stills. Rob didn’t know much about farm equipment, but he knew these were for apple whiskey distillation. As a bonus,they looked kind of snazzy, all shining in the sun. He could see a partner at OSS buying one to display at a party. A waste of money, of course, but partners had plenty of money to waste.
The betting didn’t start terribly low, unfortunately for Grindstone, but it didn’t go far either. Fiona placed the first bid, and despite the auctioneer trying to press the price up, no one spoke. Fiona won the first pot still, and the little group surrounding Rob cheered quietly.
They repeated the process for the other two pot stills and then moved on to the other whiskey-making equipment. These weren’t as cool looking and Rob didn’t know what the pieces were called, but he paid attention as a small bidding war broke out for a fermentor and a bottler.
Fiona fought fiercely, but ultimately gave in on the bottler. It was her first loss, but from what Rob could see, she didn’t seem overly torn up about it.
The auction went on for another thirty minutes, with Grindstone winning almost every item at a bargain cost. It was going well until the apple harvester came up for auction.
Lucy had mentioned this one might be tough to keep. A new apple harvester retailed for a hundred and thirty thousand dollars; however, Grindstone had gotten this one at just over half that price.
The bidding started with Fiona, but quickly escalated to a hundred thousand dollars, bouncing between four other attendees.
Once it hit one hundred and twenty-five thousand, Fiona stepped back. Rob stared at her, trying to read her expression. She was calm and collected, studying the sheet in front of her.
The auctioneer called out that the price was going once.
Fiona looked up.
“Going twice!”
She frowned, murmured something to the man standing next to her, and nodded.
