A Little Too Late (Madigan Mountain #1)(70)

Every single employee within shouting distance turns to stare at me, open-mouthed. I can see all their tonsils.

Shit.





CHAPTER 32




A BEAUTIFUL PATINA





REED

After a busy twenty-four hours, I pull up to Block’s farmhouse in Penny Ridge and climb out of another rental car into the snow. This time I don’t hide in the shrubberies. I walk right up onto the porch and knock.

It’s not as much fun, to be honest, and I wish I had Ava at my side, but this is something I need to do on my own.

I use the brass door knocker to make my presence known. For a long minute I fear that I’ve miscalculated. Flying all the way here and then showing up unannounced to talk to a man with a grudge against my family? Yeah, this could go wrong in a hundred ways.

But I had to try.

Just when I’m sure that nobody is coming to the door, I hear footsteps. The door swings open to reveal a well-to-do cowboy entrepreneur named Tucker Block.

And he looks confused.

“Hi,” I say quickly. “My name is Reed Madigan.”

“Ah,” he says, and his bushy eyebrows fly up in surprise. “Interesting.”

“Could I come in?” I try.

He hesitates for only a beat, then he swings the door open wide. “Not sure I can help you.”

“I’m not sure you can either,” I admit. “But I had to ask. I know you have a deal to sell the apron land to the Sharpes. I’m here to ask you to reconsider.”

He leads me into a parlor that’s just off the front hall. “Why would you want to do that?” he asks, settling into an antique chair.

I glance around the room and wonder why a bachelor would live alone in this enormous house. Maybe that will be me someday—rattling around in a California mansion, paying people to dust furniture that doesn’t get much use.

“Okay, so, I’m sure you know my father has an offer to sell the ski resort.”

“For a lot of money,” Block adds.

“Right. He wants to retire. But I’m not sure the Sharpes’ development plans are in synch with the character of the town. And I thought we could all do better.”

“Better on price?” Block asks, his bush eyebrows drawing together.

“No,” I admit. “Not on price. Not at first, anyway. My motivations aren’t financial.”

Block sighs. “Well, my motivations are financial. I want to retire too, Reed. I’m ready. And I am disinclined to turn down the pile of cash the Sharpes are offering me.”

“The money is attractive, I’m sure,” I say carefully. “But what if you could have a say in the design? You’d help me secure all the property rights, and then we’d buy the land from you. I bet your deal with Sharpe depends on what they’re able to construct, right? And if they can’t build the massively ambitious project they showed you, then you probably won’t see all that cash, anyway.”

He frowns at me. “How much do you know about this private transaction?”

Honesty seems the best policy here since I’m running out of time. “I saw the plans, but I’m only speculating on your compensation package. If I were the Sharpes, I would have offered you an initial lump sum payment for the land, plus a back-end profit share.”

“Hrmh,” he says in a way that conveys I’m probably right.

“But your long-term profits could vanish if the town planning board shoots down a proposal which would massively reshape the character and traffic pattern of Penny Ridge.”

Block pinches the bridge of his nose. “That thought had occurred to me as well. Although the Sharpes are very persuasive. They have a track record. They were able to triple the size of two other resorts they purchased.”

“They are persuasive, because they don’t care who they harm. They commonly violate their building permits, choosing to pay fines rather than follow the rules. The township where they bought one of their golf resorts is suing them for seventeen million dollars. The Sharpes’ plan is to drag out the lawsuit as long as they can, hoping the township’s legal bills are so crippling that they just give up. These aren’t people that you want to do business with.”

Block’s jaw hardens. “Then why are you here? Why am I getting this speech and not your father?”

That is, of course, the real problem. “He needs to retire. His new wife wants to travel. He doesn’t have the bandwidth to take on a project like this. But I do.”

He regards me for what feels like a long moment. “Do you work in commercial real estate development, Reed?”

“Nope,” I say, going once again with honesty. “But I’m well connected to people who can help me figure it out every step of the way. Raising investor money is my day job.”

He shakes his head. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m kind of with your father on this one.”

“Explain that to me,” I say before I can think better of it. “Why you and my father never agree on anything.”

He makes a face, and I wonder if I’ve just worn out my welcome.

On the one hand, my mother’s been dead for over a decade. It really doesn’t matter what transpired over thirty years ago, does it?

On the other hand, if Ava left me for another guy, I’d rather punch him in the face than do business with him.