AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Other than selling a share of the restaurant—if you’re lucky to find a buyer—I’m sorry, but I don’t think there is a better answer.” He wished there was. Hell, if his assets weren’t currently tied up in his company, he’d lend Joe the money, but he’d invested every last cent he had. He projected in a year he’d earn it all back and then some, but that didn’t help him right now.
“Keep looking,” Joe said.
Lucas ran a hand through his hair, trying to remain calm. If he learned anything from his father, it was losing his cool and yelling didn’t get him anywhere. Not that Lucas felt the need to yell, he just didn’t know how else to get through to Joe. He wouldn’t listen to reason and refused to see the reality of the situation.
He understood that Joe had relationships with people and he wanted to honor them and the business they had done over the years, but none of this was personal. It was a matter of staying afloat or watching the ship go down and refusing to try and save it.
“Grandpa,” Lucas said, hoping to reason with him, “this is business. Don’t make it personal.”
“Don’t make it personal?” he scoffed. “Al, my distributor, I used to bounce on my knee when he was three when he would come with his dad to do deliveries. Becky… her mother worked here every summer until she was twenty-two when she got pregnant with Becky and decided to go back to school and get a degree to have a better life for her daughter. I watched that girl grow from a wide-eyed, pigtail wearing little girl to a smart little woman. Pedro, my main cook, has been with me since he was sixteen. He’ll be forty-five this year. I watched him grow from a smartass teenager to a loving father of three beautiful girls. So don’t sit here and tell me it’s not personal, because this place, the people… are my life. It is as personal as it gets, which is why I’m telling you there’s another way. Please, figure it out.”
How the hell was he supposed to argue with that? For so long, Joe didn’t have family. The people he worked with were his family. Maybe Lucas could look things over one last time. Maybe he missed something that could be helpful. It couldn’t hurt to run the numbers once more.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.
“Good!” Joe patted his thighs and pressed up. His face squinted as he tried to straighten. “Getting old sucks,” he said.
“I told you ginger and turmeric,” a woman’s voice said from the doorway. “It will help with inflammation brought on by your arthritis.”
Joe grumbled as he turned to the curly salt and pepper haired woman with dark green eyes that matched her flowy shirt. She was an attractive older woman, a natural beauty with minimal to no makeup on. She had a few lines around her eyes that looked like they came from years of living freely and aging gracefully.
She had a row of bracelets up both arms and silver rings on almost every finger.
“Maybe if it didn’t taste like dirt,” he moaned.
“It doesn’t taste like dirt. Stop being a stubborn old man,” she said. She jangled as she moved into the small space.
Joe stood proudly, jutting his chin up high. “I am a stubborn old man.”
“Don’t we know it.” She moved around him and held her hand out to Lucas, the row of bracelets on her arm clattered together with the movement. Her other arm held a box. “Hi, I’m Martha. You must be Lucas.”
He accepted her offered hand, the cold metal of her rings pressing into his skin. “Nice to meet you, Martha.”
“I own Mind, Body, and Soul, only two doors down.”
Lucas snapped his finger and pointed at her. “The place with the big sun on the sign.”
“Exactly. The sun attracts positive people and circumstances. It helps you to radiate your true self with confidence. And that is what my store is all about.”
“What a bunch of nonsense,” Joe said, and Lucas stifled a laugh.
“Your grandfather isn’t a believer in holistic healing or freeing his mind of what society has drilled into him from birth.”
Joe pinned her with a look of displeasure. “She thinks you can achieve everything through an oil or a crystal.”
“Not everything,” she said. “Sometimes you need a special blended tea.”
“I rest my case,” Joe said.
Martha waved her hand at Joe, the noise of her jewelry echoing through the room, and turned her attention back to Lucas. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I wanted to stop by sooner but haven’t had the chance. Joe has been talking about your visit for months now.”
“Have not,” Joe said.
“I don’t know why men feel the need to hide their emotions. He was very excited to have you come even if he doesn’t act like it.”
Lucas watched as Joe rolled his eyes, resting a hand on the desk to help steady him. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was something between these two. While they didn’t greet each other affectionately, they were definitely giving off some sort of vibe.
“Are you two…?” Lucas asked, letting them fill in the blank.
