Page 26 of The Hampton Beach Café 6
“Fine…” he said bitterly, “…but you won't see a cent of my inheritance!”
If that was supposed to be a kicker, it flopped—badly.
“Good,” Frances said. “I don't want it. I have everything I need.”
Malcolm swallowed hard, turned on his heel, and stormed out of the door—slamming it behind him like a disgruntled teenager.
Frances sighed in relief and all but collapsed into the chair.
“Coffee?” Lucinda asked.
“Yeah...” Frances replied.
As Lucinda bustled around behind the counter making coffee, Frances texted Alex.
To Alex:Thank you, it worked. Coffee?
She locked her phone and set it face down on the table as Lucinda rejoined her.
“What was that?” Frances asked. “I was trying to take care of our loan situation.”
Lucinda laughed. “Yeah by committing a reasonably serious crime.”
“I wouldn't have actually done it...”
With an over-exaggerated sigh and roll of her eyes, Lucinda turned to look at her.
“That’s not the illegal part. The blackmail is.”
Frances knew that, of course, but she didn't think it was exactly blackmail—morally speaking, anyway.
“Well, now that he's not a problem anymore, and not an option anymore either…” Frances said, “…what are we going to do?”
Sipping her coffee, Lucinda leaned back in her chair and smiled.
“Well, you got me thinking. I really love being here, working with a few choice coaching clients and spending the rest of my time here with you and Vincent,” she said. “The other day you raised the fact that I spend a lot of time and energy on this place but don't have a stake in it, and you couldn’t give me a stake in a business so heavily in debt. Well, my dad left me a substantial trust fund. He refused to tell me where the money came from, but I am pretty sure it's from him gambling, and you know how I feel about that. So I've never touched it. I propose that I use it to pay off as much of the loans as it will cover, in exchange for a partial stake in Café Bruno. What do you say?”
Speechless, Frances stared at her friend open-mouthed for a few seconds before she realized that she probably looked just as stupid as Malcolm had done and snapped her mouth closed.
“Your inheritance, though, really?”
Lucinda shrugged. “I was planning on parking it in a high interest savings account and willing it to Gamblers Anonymous when I died. This way though, it helps us both. I have issues with my dad but I know he gave it to me with good intentions…I think he'd be happy with me using it this way.”
Frances didn't really have to think about it, but she felt like she should for a minute before rushing in to it.
“Yes,” she said, in significantly less than a minute. “If you're happy to do that, then, let's do it.”
Lucinda grinned, lifted her coffee mug, and offered it to Frances to clink.
“Cheers to that,” she said. “Let's do it.”
SIXTEEN
The last few weeks had been a strange kind of bliss. Between meeting the other people Martha had gathered together to take Clarkson to task and welcoming her mom to Café Bruno, Frances had barely stopped to breathe.
The only thing she had made extra time for was planning—loan repayment and consolidation of the rest, signing Lucinda into the ownership of the place, and final touches for the auction with Lauren Daniels and Vincent's art. And maybe, most exciting of all, the fall and winter season plans for Café Bruno.
The day was just starting, and Frances looked toward the front door expecting Alex's arrival.
