Page 90 of Save the Date
“Epergne? No, I don’t know anything about that,” Jack said, running a hand through his hair. “But hell, that’s bad enough. Lillian’s not saying you stole it, right?”
“Not me. No. She’s convinced Bert is a thief.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “She probably misplaced it herself. It’ll turn up.”
“I hope you’re right,” Cara said. “Because the thing is worth like a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.”
His eyes widened. “Holy crap.”
“I know. So, what is it you have to tell me that I’m not gonna like? You’re married? Carrying an STD? Come on, Jack, just spit it out and get it over with.”
He picked a bloom from a potted gardenia on the garden cart and handed it to her. A consolation prize? “I’m here because your new landlord wants an estimate of what it’s gonna cost to renovate your building.”
“Well, at least you’re not married, and you haven’t given me a venereal disease,” Cara said, making a weak joke.
“Did you have any idea your landlady was selling the place?” he asked.
“None. Sylvia finally returned my calls yesterday, and while I was in the middle of chewing her out about the air-conditioning, she dropped the bomb. Said it didn’t matter because she’d sold the building. Without even telling me! And then she basically told me I should start packing, because the new landlord has plans that don’t include me.”
Jack nodded sympathetically. “It sucks. Big-time.”
She grabbed the front of his T-shirt. “So who hired you? Who bought the building? Sylvia wouldn’t even give me the satisfaction of telling me. I guess maybe she’s afraid I’ll call the guy and tell him everything that’s wrong with the building before the sale closes.”
“He hasn’t hired us yet. But I get the feeling the guy already knows what all’s wrong with the building. He’s been in it a couple times, from what he told me.”
“What?” Cara’s fists clenched and unclenched. “She let somebody in the building when I wasn’t home? She didn’t even have the decency to call me? Who is it?”
“You know a guy named Cullen Kane? Another florist in town? He’s the guy.”
***
Cara’s jaw dropped. She was well and truly flummoxed. “No. That can’t be. Not him. Anybody but him.”
“You know him?”
She nodded dumbly. “I think he wants to put me out of business. And this is step one in his Kill Cara Kryzik campaign.”
They went inside the shop and he sat at the worktable while she recounted how she’d unwittingly managed to become Cullen Kane’s business rival.
“It’s not like I went after Brooke Trapnell to get her to hire me. But she did, and this wedding is too big a deal for me to pass up. It’s the biggest budget I’ve ever worked with, and I’ll make enough money from it to finally pay back my dad—maybe even get a decent delivery van.”
Jack still wasn’t convinced. “You really think Cullen Kane bought this building out of revenge? That’s pretty far-fetched, Cara.”
“I know,” she admitted. “I’m really not normally this paranoid. But you didn’t see the look on his face when I ran into him at the wholesale house. It’s like I’ve taken his favorite toy and he’ll do anything to get it back.”
Jack drummed his fingertips on the table. “Okay. If that’s his game, I don’t have to work for him. I’m pretty sure he’s getting bids from other contractors. I’ll tell him I’ve got too much work on my plate right now. Which is actually kind of true.”
“Thanks.” Cara gave his hand a grateful squeeze.
“I’m not the only contractor in town though,” he reminded her. “It won’t be hard to find somebody who will give him an estimate, and do the work, when it comes right down to it.”
“I know.” She sighed. “Just out of curiosity, what did Kane say when he called you?”
“He told me his name, that he was in the process of buying a building on Jones Street. That it had retail space on the ground floor—currently occupied by a florist shop.”
“Currently,” Cara said bitterly. “But not for long.”
“He said there was an apartment on the second floor, and that the top floor was currently not occupied.”
