“How is this possible?” the woman asked. “Check the address. Maybe one of us is at the wrong strip mall.”
Phinny searched her recent calls. “Let me call Dale.” The man who’d rented the place to her said it had been empty for nearly a year. As the phone rang, she headed outside to make sure Lachlan hadn’t left. She found him talking to Declan and another guy in the shade of the overhang. It was the large man she’d met in the perfumer’s tent, the one with two children. Brodie.
“I’m heading out,” Lachlan said.
“Oh, please don’t do that. I’m calling the property owner right now. I’ll take care of it.”
Ignoring her, the older man headed for his truck.
This can’t be happening. It had all seemed so simple. She’d been sure she could pull this off.
Fortunately, Dale answered right away. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Phinny.”
“Oh, hey. Everything okay?”
“No. We’re at the store, but there’s a group setting up for a volleyball tournament.”
“What? How’s that possible?”
“I don’t know, but they showed me their contract, and it’s for the same location and same dates.”
“Dammit. Hang on. Let me check the calendar.”
Lachlan drove the truck to the end of the lot, before backing into a space and turning around. Frantic, Phinny reached for Declan. “Please tell him not to leave. I’m going to take care of everything.”
“Yeah, you don’t really tell Lachlan anything,” Brodie said.
“What does that mean? He needs this.”
“You ever met a bison?” Brodie smiled. “That’s my uncle.”
Declan’s eyebrows shot up. “Lachlan’s your uncle?”
She felt so relieved to hear he had a family, especially Brodie and Rosie who both looked like good, kind people.
“Phinny?” Dale came back on the line. “Listen, it looks like my ex-wife rented the place out to the volleyball people. We have an electronic calendar, so she could see I’d already reserved the place, but she went ahead and deleted it so she could book this tournament.”
“What? Why would she do that?”
“Because she’s trying to stick it to me. Look, I’m really sorry about this.”
“This makes no sense. I paid you for it.” She paced a few steps away from the men. “You can’t do this. This man…he needs this pop-up. You can’t do this to him.” She lowered her voice. “He has no money. He’s trying to build a career here.”
“What?” Brodie asked Declan. “What’s she talking about?”
“Phinny.” Declan touched her shoulder to get her attention.
But she was listening to Dale. “If the club’s already in the store, there’s nothing I can do. My ex fucked us all over. What’s new?”
“Okay, but there has to be another location. He rented a huge truck for his furniture. We can go somewhere else. You said you own a lot of property.”
“Yeah, I do, but most of it’s fully rented, which is why I can’t sell them and cut myself off from my ex. I’m sorry, Phinny. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll refund you right now.” He disconnected.
“I can’t believe this.” She turned to the men. “I’ll find you a new space right now. I promise. This is not over.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Brodie didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the whole mess. “Besides, the signs lead people here. I’m not sure they’ll be interested in going to a second location.”
“But we could try. We can’t just bail on him. He paid for rental trucks.” Frazzled, she was losing her cool.
“Phinny.” Speaking gently but pointedly, Declan held her gaze with a powerful reassurance. “Lachlan’s okay.”
Brodie looked between them, clearly confused. “I don’t know what my uncle told you to make you think he’s hurting financially—”
“No, he never said anything. But he was…well…” She couldn’t tell him that the condition of the man’s boots and threadbare jeans made it obvious. “He drove customers away.” How did she get her point across? “Some steady sales could bring him a little more…security.”
“My uncle’s practically a hermit,” Brodie said. “He’s got a nice place of his own, but he prefers his cabin in the woods. He doesn’t need to sell his furniture.”
“Oh, okay. I’m sorry for assuming…”
“Nah, you tried to do a good thing for him.” Brodie waved Lachlan off before turning back to her. “Okay, I’m going to head out. Thank you for trying.” He got into his SUV.
Phinny stood there, defeated and embarrassed. “I can’t believe this. How in the world did this happen?”
He wrapped an arm around her, kissing her cheek. “You did nothing wrong.” Then, he started back toward the Jeep. “Let’s get out of here.”
She followed, and it felt like she was sleepwalking. Nothing made sense. “What a disaster.”
They got in the car and buckled up. “Look, this isn’t on you. You didn’t mess anything up. And no one’s pissed. Brodie thinks it’s nice that you tried to do this for his uncle.”
“He made it sound like Lachlan doesn’t need the money, so they must think I’m ridiculous.”
“He wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if he didn’t need your help. I get the impression he makes furniture but doesn’t bother selling it. And I think you’ve got a new client to add to your locally-sourced products. You can have a section of your shop with his smaller pieces.”
“If you knew his nephew, how did you not know Lachlan? It’s a small town.”
“I went to school with the Bowie brothers, but I didn’t know them well. I was into hockey hardcore at that point, and they were training for the Olympics. I had no idea they were related to Lachlan. He’s one of those legends in town. You’ll never see him during tourist season, but when he does show up somewhere, everyone notices.”
“How did he make his wealth then?”
“I don’t know about him, but Brodie’s dad—I’m guessing Lachlan’s brother—was a venture capitalist. They’re well-off.”
“And by well-off, do you mean comfortable?”
“I mean billionaires.”
The man was a billionaire? And she’d… “Oh, God.” She lowered her head into her hands. “Kill me. Kill me right now. I made such a fool of myself.”
“I can promise you no one thinks you’re anything but kind and generous.”
No matter what anyone said, no matter that Dale and his ex were vengeful and messing with each other, the only thing the Bowie family would remember was that Seraphina Crutchley had screwed up royally. That their uncle had gone to the exhausting work of loading an entire moving van full of heavy furniture only to discover the space had been double-booked.
Word would spread fast of her incompetence.
How could she ask people to sell their goods in her shop now?