“Someone must be feeling really good,” said my assistant when I walked in. “To what do we owe the honor?”
I laughed and waved her away.
“I’m just doing what I used to do when I first started the business. I had gotten away from it for a while, but that won’t happen again. I’m back, focused and better than ever.”
It felt really good to be back focused on work, but I had to admit that it was hard to really be focused on anything other than Elliot. It was a large part of the reason why I had thrown myself so hard back into work: I needed an excuse to get him out of my head. It wasn’t working, though.
The truth was that I was heartbroken. I know that it was me who ultimately made the decision to end things, but a part of me kept wondering if I hadn’t made a mistake in ending it so quickly. But, it didn’t really matter anymore. I was sure that it was too late and now I’d blown my chances with him. I frowned at the thought of having lost someone so wonderful.
My thoughts were interrupted when the door burst open. It was Tammy.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, not bothering to hide my surprise.
“I came as soon as I heard the news,” she said, out of breath. “The investor that wants to building is about to buy it. Not only that, he’s going to demolish it once he buys it and use it for something else.”
My heart sank. I felt like if this building sold from under me, it would take me years to realize my expansion dreams, if I ever would.
“What can we do?” I asked, starting to feel hopeless.
“Well, the first thing we need to do is go down to the real estate office and try to fight for the building,” she said. “You came up with a really good idea for us to team up. I think that now would be a great time for us to come together on this.”
“I agree,” I said. “There’s always strength in numbers. Plus, I like the way that you operate your business, so you would be a great business partner to have.”
She smiled at me. I smiled back. I was starting to like our newfound camaraderie.
“Come on,” she said, beckoning for me to come with her. “Let’s go down the real estate office. I’ll drive.”
I told Leah that I would be leaving and wasn’t sure when I would be back. We left, taking Tammy’s SUV. She drove like a bat out of hell, even running a couple of red lights to get there. I was sure that we were either going to be pulled over or be killed. When we finally got to the real estate office, she barely put the car in park before jumping out and running into the building. I followed closely behind her.
I heard Tammy talking to the real estate broker.
“The investor is here…” he said. There was a man sitting in the office already.
My heart sank when I realized who it was.
It was my ex, Jim. I was disgusted to see him. I could tell by the look of disdain on Tammy’s face that she was equally, if not more disgusted.
“What are you doing here?” spat Tammy.
“What does it look like?” said Jim, still as smug as ever. “I’m buying a new property to demolish.”
He smiled like he knew that he was trying to destroy our dreams. The smug look on his face made me even more determined to buy the building.
“I have my savings,” I said. “It’s well over $50,000. I would be happy to offer that as a payment for the building.”
“Me, too,” said Tammy. I have $35,000 that I can pay for the building. With our money together…”
“You still wouldn’t have enough money to outbid me,” said Jim. “$110,000 is still good, right Bill?”
“Uh, yeah,” said the real estate broker. “That will be fine.”
“Okay, well send my office the appropriate paper work and I’ll be in to finalize things in a couple of weeks.”
He tipped his hat at Tammy and I and walked out the door.
Pretentious douche.
“Ugh, I can’t believe it!” I cried once he had left. “Can you believe that of all people who could be here trying to steal our dreams, it would be him?”
“Honestly, I’m really not surprised,” she said softly. “He always was a buzz kill. He never had any real dreams of his own, so I’m not surprised to see him trying to destroy the dreams and goals of others.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised, either. The way that he had emotionally and physically abused me should have told me everything that I needed to know. He was a horrible man when we were together and, from the looks of it, he had turned into an even worse man as he had gotten older. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach.
“Can you give us more time to come up with the money?” Tammy asked the broker desperately. “I mean, I know it’s a shot in the dark and Jim already has your money, but would you consider giving us some time to come up with the money before you sell it to him?”
The room was silent as the broker looked at me, and then at Tammy and then back at me. He looked torn between a solid sale and taking a chance on us.
But, I was terrified of losing the building. I knew that it was my chance to expand my business and I wanted to take it.
“I can give you two weeks,” said the broker.
