Page 9 of The Hampton Beach Café 5
Oh, seriously? Today? He had been getting more and more pestering about the sale of the café. He really didn't seem able to take the hint.
Although, she did have to admit that it was a good opportunity to question him about the revelation Kennedy had treated them all to while visiting her mom.
She waved back, then held up all five fingers and nodded towards Lauren––she'd be with him in 5 minutes.
“Lauren, please take a seat, and I'll grab you a coffee. Then I'll let Vincent know that you're here.”
Finally detached from the cloying woman, she approached Vin, who was standing behind the counter with Lucinda.
“Lauren has an interesting proposition,” she said quietly. “I've implied that you have several private commissions right now, so anything you do for her is limited unless you decide to actively take it on. Don't agree to anything on price––she's already tried to be sneaky with percentages this morning and I don't want her trying to pull a 'oh, we already agreed' move. It's pretty big money, though, to be honest. A decent opportunity.”
Vincent nodded. “Okay, I'll go talk to her... how much money, exactly?”
Frances smiled. “Six of her regular guaranteed price, plus any auction profit on top split three ways.”
“An auction?” Lucinda said warily. “Here?”
“Yeah, why?” Frances asked.
“Oh, I don't know,” she said, suddenly blushing. “For some reason, the thought of it makes me nervous. Like, not as nervous as if you were talking about having a poker night, but the same... flavor, I guess, of nervous.”
“We don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable,” Vincent cut in, placing his hand over Lucinda's.
What was that!? The last time she and Lucinda spoke about her gambling issue Lucinda had been pretty set on not telling Vincent at all... but from the soft smile on her friends’ faces, Frances guessed things had changed.
“Exactly. If you're not comfortable with it, then it's an automatic no,” Frances said, echoing the sentiment.
“No,” Lucinda said firmly. “I think it’s a good level of discomfort––it’s not like I’ll be buying anything anyway. It might be good for me…”
Frances smiled at her friend. “Well, if at any point it gets too much, we can have a plan and a backup plan, and a contingency backup plan, okay?”
The way Lucinda was smiling made Frances feel like she had butterflies––it had been a while since Luce had looked so free and excited without the tinge of discomfort that had plagued her for several months.
As she made her way across the room to Clarkson, she smiled at Lauren, who was tapping away on her phone and looking severe. She didn’t look up, which Frances was oddly grateful for.
“I really think it's time to sell, Frances,” Clarkson said as soon as Frances sat down, his voice laced with urgency. “We've been talking about it for months now, and I know you're attached to the place, but we need to start thinking about the numbers. The tourist season is finishing up, and if we list now, we'll get the most favorable offers––people will see the margins and be thrilled!”
“Hello Frances, how are you? Great, thanks for asking, Clarkson. It’s been a weird week. How are you? I’m well, Frances, so polite of you to take an interest in my wellbeing––good manners are so rare these days…”
“Sorry,” Clarkson said, cutting her off, “that was a bit rude… I’ve been having this conversation with myself for about half an hour already. Forgive me?”
Frances hesitated, her mind racing. She had grown to love the coffee shop and the community that had formed around it. She didn't want to let it go, not yet, but she didn't want to go back on her agreement with Clarkson either.
“Sure,” she said, “why are you so worried about it right now?”
“Time feels like it’s running out, there are several other well-priced comparable businesses on the market right now and if we wait, the best buyers will already have committed to those.”
She didn't like the way his voice strained on the last part of his sentence––it was like he was fighting back tears or something. The comps he had shown her last time were a far cry from where they really needed to be if she was going to break even on this place. She knew he was waiting for a reply but she couldn't help but flash back to the day she had bought this place with pretty much every cent she had, and all to keep it out of the hands of some rancid developer types... if she sold now, what was the guarantee that she wouldn't be selling to someone like that?
“I understand where you're coming from,” she said slowly. “But I think we should wait a little longer. We need to build up our profit margins and show that the business is sustainable before we put it on the market. I don't want to sell and have it all fall apart after we're gone... and if it doesn't look strong enough, it might attract the exact type of person I didn’t want to get this place when I bought it. It would have been devastating then but now? After all the work and love I've put into it? I don't know how I would handle finding out some jerk had knocked it down to build a hideous postmodern monstrosity.”
“Monstrosity?”
Pausing her tirade, she looked over at him and saw that he seemed almost upset. Like she was being mean…
“I mean, some of them really are hideous, Clarkson…”
Clarkson looked frustrated, but he didn't argue. Instead, he cleared his throat and shifted the conversation to a different topic.
