He was nervously awaiting Butch’s arrival at Wharton’s when Mary Vaughn came in. She spotted him and immediately headed for his table.
“I thought I’d hear from you by now,” she said. “You haven’t answered any of my calls.”
“Patience, Mary Vaughn,” he chided. “I’ll call when things have fallen into place, hopefully before the end of today.”
Her expression brightened. “Oh? Shall I call you later?”
He grinned at her eagerness. “No, I’ll call you. Either way. I promise. Now scoot on out of here. I have a business meeting, and the gentleman just walked through the door.”
Mary Vaughn turned to look and a huge smile immediately spread across her face. “Hey, Uncle Butch, what are you doing in Serenity?”
Ronnie stared as she threw her arms around Butch and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to his cheek. “You two know each other?” he asked.
Butch grinned. “This little gal is my favorite niece.”
“I’m your only niece,” she corrected.
“Still my favorite,” Butch said. “Her mama’s my big sister.”
Ronnie shook his head. “Small world, isn’t it?”
When Butch sat down, Mary Vaughn dragged a chair over to the end of the booth without waiting for an invitation. “Okay, spill it. What kind of business are you two doing together? I’m asking as family.”
Butch gave her a chiding look. “And I’m telling you, as family, to get lost and let us menfolk do our thing.”
“If I didn’t know there’s not a sexist bone in your body, I’d be offended by that,” she grumbled, but she stood up. Turning to Ronnie, she said, “We’ll talk later, you hear?”
“I’m sure we will,” he said, grinning.
After she’d gone, Butch regarded him curiously. “How does my niece fit in with this idea of yours?”
“She’s the Realtor for the property I want to buy here in town,” Ronnie explained.
“Ah, so she’s hot on the trail of a big deal,” Butch said approvingly. “That girl always was a go-getter. I’m surprised she walked away just now.”
“So am I, to be honest,” Ronnie replied. “But I think we can count on the fact that she won’t let this drop.”
Just then Grace Wharton walked up to take their order. “Coffee for you, I imagine,” she said to Ronnie, then smiled at Butch. “What about you? You in the mood for breakfast? We make a mighty fine omelet here.”
“I ate breakfast hours ago,” Butch told her. “Coffee’s fine.”
Grace continued to hover. “You and Dana Sue going to the fall festival this weekend?” she asked Ronnie.
He stared at her blankly. “I hadn’t even thought about it, to tell you the truth. Since Annie’s been sick, I’ve lost track of everything.”
“Well, the three of you should go,” Grace said. “You remember how Annie used to talk you all into buying her something from just about every vendor there because she felt sorry for them if it looked like they weren’t doing much business?”
Ronnie grinned. “That child ended up with a lot of junk that way. Half of it always wound up in our next garage sale,” he recalled. “You’re right, Grace. I’ll talk to Dana Sue and Annie about going.”
Grace beamed at him. “I’ll get your coffees right now,” she said, bustling away.
After she’d brought the coffee, Butch settled back in the booth. “You have some facts and figures for me?” he asked.
Ronnie took the folder from the seat beside him and handed it across the table. Nerves on edge, he sat silently while Butch went through the paperwork.
At one point, the older man’s eyes widened. “There’s this much development in the area?”
Ronnie nodded. “If anything, that’s a conservative number. Those are just the projects that have already gotten governmental approval and permits. I got the list at city hall. There are at least one or two more with proposals before the planning commission.”
“Impressive,” Butch said. “And you think you can make deals with them?”
“Some of them, anyway,” Ronnie said. “I’ll know more when I speak to some of the developers directly, but I didn’t want to do that yet, not until my idea is a go.”
Butch nodded. He reached the last piece of paper in the file. “This your bottom line, then?”
Ronnie nodded. He’d tried to keep the figure conservative, too, but even so, it was a lot of money—though maybe not to a man like Butch.
The older man lifted his gaze and studied him. “You kept this low so I wouldn’t turn tail and run, didn’t you?”
“I tried to be realistic about what I could get by with for start-up costs,” Ronnie corrected.
“You’d be out of business in six months,” Butch said flatly. “Start-up never goes as smoothly as anticipated. Clients never pay exactly when you expect them to. You need a cushion in here, so you don’t go bankrupt before you’ve had a chance to prove yourself. Worst mistake a start-up company can make is to be undercapitalized.”
“I didn’t want to—”
Butch cut him off. “You didn’t want to presume on our friendship,” he said. “But this is business, Ronnie. If my investment’s going to pay off for both of us, we have to approach it that way. No shortcuts. No attempt to get by on less than you’ll need.”
He took out a pen and wrote on the bottom of the page, then pushed it across the table. “I’d say that’s a more realistic figure, wouldn’t you?”
Ronnie gaped. It was forty percent above his own estimate and more than he’d ever dreamed of asking for. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure that’s what it’ll take if you want to do this right,” Butch said. “That’ll give you enough cushion for a couple of years so you can get yourself on solid ground.”
“You have that much confidence in this idea?” Ronnie asked, hardly
