Worthy Opponents(30)

He sounded instantly uncomfortable. “Sorry, Spence, I was busy.”

“Doing what? If your house caught on fire, I’d call you.”

“I’m calling now, and it wasn’t your house. So I knew your kids were fine, it was just the store, and you said I didn’t have to come.”

“You could have called.”

“True. I didn’t think of it till now.” He was honest although not impressive. “And you and Weston looked cozy last night. I thought you hated him.”

“I do. I did,” she corrected herself. “He’s a nice person. That doesn’t mean I want to be in business with him or give up my store.”

“His wife is a total beast. She was pissed off all evening. She said she hates going out with him. She hates a lot of things. It was like talking to an angry porcupine all night.”

“You seemed to hit it off with the blonde on your other side,” Spencer commented.

“Yeah, I did,” he said in a noncommittal tone, and Spencer had the feeling that he’d spent the night with her, which was why he hadn’t called. She didn’t ask, and didn’t want to know. His not calling or showing up for the fire told her all she needed to know.

“I think we’ve about done it, Bill, don’t you?” There was a long silence at his end. It was what he wanted too, but he hadn’t expected her to be so direct, so soon. He wanted to see the blonde he’d spent the night with again. It had been an incredible night for them.

“I guess you’re right,” he said cautiously. “I thought we had a little more mileage left in us,” he said. But not Spencer, after the fire. He was just too cavalier and disengaged. What was the point of being with someone who cared so little about her?

“I don’t think we do,” she said coolly.

“I hope the agency doesn’t lose the Brooke’s account because of me,” he said. It was all he could think of now, and that he’d get fired if they lost the account. But Spencer wasn’t a vengeful person, he couldn’t see her doing that.

“Don’t worry, they won’t.”

“I guess that’s it then,” Bill said, and Spencer sat quietly for a minute. It had never been a big love affair and she wasn’t even sure she’d miss him. His not showing up for the fire, or even calling, finished it for her.

“Bye, Bill,” she said softly and hung up. And thus ended two years of dating Bill Kelly, as quietly as that, without a tear.

Marcy rented a temporary office, where she, Spencer, and Beau met on Monday to discuss the fire situation. The insurance adjuster had assessed the damage, which was considerable, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. The store staff had to do an inventory of the damaged items. The construction company had come by to assess what needed to be rebuilt and promised to give them an estimate by the end of the week. Mike was right. Now it was all about insurance. And they had to replace lost merchandise, if they could. Beau was working on orders based on what they’d seen. It was going to be a costly business, and the store would have to be closed at least part of the time during construction, meaning a loss of revenue, which they had insurance for too.

“And more bad news,” Paul said with a grim expression. “We had another leak in the warehouse and lost another fifty thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. Add that to the leak last week for a hundred thousand and the fire damage, and Spencer, I hope you’re willing to at least talk to Mike Weston now. We need money, and not just from the insurance people. We want to expand, in order to look to the future, and now we’re going to be closed for a month or two and we have to rebuild. Now’s the time to really look at our needs, see what kind of money we require, and how best to get it, and from whom. Mike Weston may not be the answer, but someone will have to be,” he said somberly, as Spencer listened.

“I’ll meet with him once and see what he says. But just because I sat next to him at the Met and he showed up at the fire does not mean I’m going to turn the store over to him. Let’s be clear on that. You set it up, and I’ll meet him. But I’m not giving up my business to anyone.”

“We need to think about moving too,” Marcy added. “I know you don’t want to,” she said to Spencer, “but at some later date, it might be the smart thing to do.” Spencer looked miserable when she said it. It was the last thing Spencer wanted to do. And she wanted even less to take on a partner.

Paul said he’d set up a meeting for her with Mike Weston as soon as they got organized after the fire, which wouldn’t take too long at the rate they were moving. Since she knew Mike now, and he had been kind to her, she was willing to at least listen to him.

Paul made the appointment for the meeting, at Spencer’s request, at the store. She had taken a basement storeroom and turned it into an office, so she could be on-site to see what was going on with the removal of debris, and the reconstruction. The contractor had estimated eight weeks. In the meantime, Spencer wanted to see everything that was happening. The meeting was set for the week after the fire. Mike met with his team about it before he met with her. He wanted all the figures available to them, and everything they could lay hands on, so he could understand Spencer’s needs even better than Spencer did, and that way he could make intelligent suggestions, in her best interests and his own. He wanted to offer a short-term plan and a long-term one, and hear her thoughts about them.