Worthy Opponents(56)

“I actually invited you here to tell you that I accept. I really don’t have a choice. We need an influx of money to keep the name and the store alive. It won’t be the same store under different ownership, but I hope you’ll do your best to respect what it was,” she said with quiet dignity, to such a degree that it tore at his heart. She looked so brave and strong as she sat there watching him. He wanted to put his arms around her, but not while they were talking business.

“Don’t forget that part of that deal was a long-term management contract for you to continue running the business as you have until now, so that it does, in fact, remain the same store. We offered you a ten-year contract,” he said, “at a high salary, to protect the brand.”

“I couldn’t do that,” she said quietly. “I’d be willing to stay for the first year, while I still have majority ownership, but once that changes after a year, I wouldn’t want to stay. It would be too painful to watch everything change.” So, she was willing to break her heart and give him her grandfather’s business on a silver platter, but she was not willing to sell herself as a slave, at any price. “I wouldn’t be willing to stay longer than that first year,” she said firmly, “but you’d have the store, and all the information I could provide before I leave. I could use that year to make sure that the transition goes smoothly,” she said with a sad smile.

“You’re the life and soul of that store,” he said passionately. “Without you, it would be meaningless, just a store like any other, with a lot of expensive merchandise. You’re what makes it all work, Spencer.”

“You’d have all my notes and our records to follow. You could easily do it without me. You’d have the template for it. You won’t need me at all.” But he did, in more ways than she realized, and just as much for the store. She was a beguiling creature with a magic touch, like the homeless program she had organized that was working so well. It was a gift from the heart. What she was offering would have no life and no soul without her, but he also understood from what she was saying that she couldn’t be bought. Basically, she was handing over her business to him, and her grandfather’s dream, and planning to jump ship in a year, once she no longer had control. After that, she had no interest in staying. In a way, he didn’t blame her, but the deal was much less appealing without her, if at all.

“I’ll have to think about it,” he said when he stood up. “I’ll let you know.” He was shocked that she had accepted his terms and was willing to give him majority control, on his terms, but she was no longer part of the deal, which took all the magic out of it for him. He was excited to work with her, but not just to oversee a high-end store. And he knew perfectly well that without her, the soul of Brooke’s would be gone. She was the ephemeral secret ingredient that made it all work.

It had been a huge step to be willing to give him eighty percent of the business, and essentially total control, but that was all he would have. Control of something he didn’t want without her. He had overplayed his hand. The master negotiator had failed. She had won. And they both lost in the end.

He looked subdued when he left a few minutes later, with much to think about. He looked at her longingly and wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t dare.

Spencer met with Marcy and Paul the next morning and told them what she’d done.

“I took the deal,” she said sadly.

“What deal?” Paul looked confused. “Did they offer us a new deal?” He looked hopeful.

“No, it’s the deal I turned down before. I give up forty percent of my ownership the first year, another twenty percent the second year, and twenty again at the end of the second year. He reduced it to fifteen percent, which would give them seventy-five percent ownership within two years, and majority control after the first year. I refused the ten-year management contract they offered me. I don’t want it. I couldn’t do a good job for them once they own me. They offered me seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year for ten years, which would give me financial security for a decade. I don’t care. I don’t want it. They would own me like a slave, and once they have majority control, you know they’ll change everything.”

“They’d probably fire all of us,” Marcy said. Paul was shocked that Spencer had accepted the rest of it. She was giving up, beaten by events.

“Maybe I should just sell them the whole thing outright. It won’t be the same after this. But I told him I’d only work for them for the first year to help them set it up. But after that I’d leave and it’s their baby.”

“What did he say?” Marcy asked her.

“He said he’d have to think about it.”

“Do you really want to accept those terms?” Paul asked her.

“No, I don’t. That’s why I turned him down before and was willing to fight to the death. But too much has happened now. We really have no choice. It’s pathetic. It took me seven years to destroy what my grandfather took sixty-two years to build. Even my father didn’t do as much damage in four years as I have, and he did a pretty lousy job, and never liked the business. I’ve put my heart and soul into it, and look where we end up.”

“It’s not your fault, Spence.” Paul tried to reassure her. “Times have changed. You can’t fight the deterioration of the neighborhood to this degree. If your grandfather could have guessed there would be a drug war here on our doorstep and in the store, he’d never have bought here. Between the fire and this, and the importance of the internet, it really is too much. So, what happens next?” Paul asked her.