Worthy Opponents(57)

“We sign the deal when he draws up the papers, and that’s it.” She was ready to sign away her life, and the company she loved.

Spencer went to see two more temporary locations with Marcy that afternoon that were even worse than all the ones they had seen so far.

She was thinking about Mike as they rode back to the office in the darkened store with the boarded-up windows. They were waiting for the new ones to arrive, unless they left them that way when they put the building on the market to sell.

“He kissed me the other night,” she said in a soft voice in the cab, and Marcy stared at her.

“Who did?”

“Mike. I cut my arm after the shootout when I went into the store to check on things. He went to the hospital with me when I got stitched up.”

“You never said you got hurt. And what was he doing there?”

“He came to look for me when he figured out where I was. He called me. I was there in the side street while the shooting was going on.”

“You never told us that either.” Marcy was staring at her intently, and at the dazed look on Spencer’s face.

“He spent the night in a chair, watching me sleep when I got home, to make sure I was okay. He kissed me when he put me to bed.”

“And sat watching you all night? And didn’t sleep with you?” Marcy said, and Spencer nodded.

“For God’s sake, he’s in love with you. That’s why he made you the offer he did in the first place. This deal is nothing compared to the investments he normally makes. I’ve read about him on the internet. The man is considered a financial genius. The last thing he needs is a small department store. I’m surprised his investors even let him do it. He usually makes billions for his investors on his deals. He won’t with this. It’s all about you, Spencer. Now it makes sense. It didn’t to me before.”

“Why not?” Spencer looked surprised.

“Because there isn’t enough money in this deal for him and his investors. It’s peanuts to them. This was all about you from the beginning. And if he kissed you and didn’t sleep with you the other night, I can tell you for sure the man is in love with you. Men don’t sleep with you when they love you, but they do sleep with you without a second thought when they don’t. It’s ass-backward, but that’s how they are. He could have had sex with you the other night after the hospital, and he didn’t. Instead, he sat up all night in a chair and watched you. Now it makes total sense, and he’s not going to want seventy-five or eighty percent ownership of your store without you. That ten-year contract was practically a marriage proposal. He won’t want this deal without you. I’m sure of it.”

“You don’t think he kissed me to make me take the deal?” Spencer asked.

“Absolutely not,” Marcy replied.

“So, what do we do now?” Spencer asked her, looking baffled, but Marcy was a very smart woman, and she was usually right.

“You wait. That’s all you do. For him to come out of the woods where he’s hiding and declare himself like a man. And if he doesn’t, you don’t want him anyway. But I think he will, and you’ll be hearing from him soon.” Marcy sat back in the cab with a smug look on her face, and Spencer laughed.

“I think you’re crazy, Marcy Parker. But I hope you’re right. If you’re not, I just handed him my grandfather’s business on a silver platter, and I’m out of a job.”

“Don’t worry, you’re not.” Marcy patted Spencer’s hand, and looked out the window with a knowing smile.





Chapter 14


Spencer spent the morning in her old office at the store, thinking about her exchange with Mike the day before. Marcy and Paul were in their offices too, and their secretaries had come in. The rest of the store was empty. There wasn’t a sound in the building, and Spencer left her office to walk through the silent store, going from floor to floor, remembering her grandfather and the many times she had walked the building with him, and the wise things he had told her. She sat down on a couch in the designer dress department, laid her head back, and closed her eyes. She could almost feel her grandfather standing next to her and hear him in her head.

“Fight for what you believe in, Spencer,” he always told her. “Never give up.” “Don’t sell yourself short.” “Even if you’re the only one left standing, keep fighting.” And she hadn’t. She had given up, and given in to Mike the day before. She was handing over the store to him and everything it meant to her. She couldn’t let that happen, but she had.

There was no sensible way for them to stay in their location. She could no longer protect the building from what the neighborhood had become. She had to move forward with the times, she knew that too, and instead she had handed it all to Mike and was willing to walk away. She had given up. She had let the flame go out, in herself. She hadn’t signed the deal yet, but she had given him her word. She was willing to give him seventy-five percent ownership in the business, and he didn’t deserve it. No one did. He hadn’t built it, she had, and her family had. The store was seventy-three years of her family’s history, and she was letting it slip away. She was ashamed. And what would she tell her sons one day? What would she teach them? To fight? To hold on? To be strong and brave, or to give up and run away? She was running and she knew it was wrong. But how was she going to find a new building? Where would she find the money? She had nothing to sell except a store full of beautiful objects. But she didn’t have enough to buy a new building, or even lease one. And moving uptown or downtown would be so expensive. She kept trying to think of a way out that didn’t mean giving up three quarters of her business to Mike Weston and his investors. They were going to ruin everything.