Page 53 of Friends That Heal Us
“She wanted to sell everything instead of piece by piece.” She looks down at her paper in her hand. “It’s been on the market for a while. I’m sure I can get you a good deal since she’s eager to sell.”
“Why did she close her bakery down?” Ezra asks as he’s checking out the electrical. It’s good he’s here looking with me. That’s not the stuff I would even think to look at until I need it.
“She moved to another state.”
Ezra asks over his shoulder. “Did she have a lot of traffic come through?”
Carol’s eyes go wide. “Oh yes. She had excellent traffic.”
Before I can say anything, Ezra says, “Everything works—electrical, and gas, all that stuff?”
She nods. “Yes. Everything runs.”
“Would it be possible to have my guy come look at everything?”
“Of course,” she answers with a smile.
Ezra being assertive and taking control does something to me I can’t explain. I’ve never had this before. It’s turning me on in ways I never expected. There’s something attractive about the way he throws himself right in, looking at stuff and asking questions. I’ve never had a man step up before and take the lead. Sometimes I wished for more of that, and I never got it.
“What do you think?” he turns around and asks, locking his eyesight on me.
I blink back my stare. I was in such a daze staring at him. “Huh?” I ask, catching both of their eyes on me.
“What do you think?” Ezra asks again.
“Umm.” My daze is still taking me over. My tongue is twisted; I can’t even think of what to say. “It’s great.”
“I’ll let you two talk it over while I take this call outside.”
I nod with a smile.
“Hello,” I hear in the distance with the clicking of her heels as she walks out the door.
“So what do you think?” he asks cheerfully.
“I think buying this would be way less stressful since everything is already here.” I walk over to the oven, open it, and look into it as if I’ve never seen an oven before.
“Hey, man.”
My head jerks back as I turn around and see Ezra on the phone.
“I’m good. I wanted to see if you could come inspect a place for me, make sure everything’s running?” He pauses to listen. “Yeah. If you’re free right now, that would be great. I’ll text you the address.” Another pause. “Okay. See you soon.”
I cross my arms, brows knitting together, confused about how he could get someone out to inspect this place so fast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
EZRA
This bakery feels rightfor Violet. It’s in a good traffic area and already has everything she needs. Probably needs a new paint job and whatever else she wants to do with it to make it her own. She’s got the talent to turn this into her dream bakery. Signing my name on a piece of paper for her to get this is easy. The hard part will be on her end. I know she can do it. She’s always had the drive to do something more and never gives up.
Watching her face light up when my inspector said everything works made her whole night.
“Thanks for doing this, Dad,” I say as we walk out of the bank.
I called my dad that night after checking out the bakery and told him everything. Since my auto shop is under his name, we had to put Violet’s bakery under his, too, so we could use my shop as collateral.
“Of course, Son.”
