Page 37 of Another Last Call
So I decided, then and there, that it was something I was going to take to the grave with me.
“I don’t want The Sea Glass to close,” I said.
“Why not just donate to Maggie’s cause then? Not to sound entitled, but—”
I laughed softly. “I thought about it. But…”
Her eyes sparkled as she smiled. “It’s a lot of money for nothing.”
I shrugged. “And I didn’t have that much just lying around. I called my mom to ask if she’d give me a loan and—”
“—she would only agree to it if you were buying the bar, not just throwing money at it and hoping for the best,” she finished.
“Something like that.”
“I remember your mom being a very smart lady. That was a good decision. So why not just buy me out entirely, instead of only owning half?”
“I don’t want to own the whole thing. It’s your bar. I want to save it, not change it.”
“And you think you can do that?”
“I can make it work,” I said. “Between my mom’s loan, what I could contribute, the money Maggie’s raised, and the work I’ll be able to do myself, you’ll be in good shape. I’ll need to hire people for the major structural repairs, but I called up a company someone recommended to me and they’ve got availability right away. I can do a lot of the other work myself. Then I’ll just be behind the scenes. It’s your bar and you make all the calls.”
“Well then, I’m making the call that you’ll need to be more involved.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“The bar needs help from someone who knows what he’s doing.” She straightened up and started towards the door to go back inside. “I don’t want a silent partner who foots the bills. You’re a business guy, so you need to help run the business.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I need.” She opened the door to go back inside, then stopped. “Or, more accurately, it’s what Maggie will need.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, then frowned. “Wait, does this mean you’re saying yes?”
She smiled at me over her shoulder. “I hope you’re ready, hon. We sign the paperwork tomorrow.”
In hindsight, it made sense. We had to hurry in order to get the repairs done in time for the bar to be re-inspected. The next day, Josie and I met with lawyers and started getting the red tape taken care of. Then, almost immediately, I put everything else in my life to the side to start planning the repairs.
Including… you know. Telling Maggie. Which Josie wanted to do anyway, so it wasn’t like…
Yeah, okay. I should’ve talked to her. I shouldn’t have chickened out and avoided her until Josie and Steven left on their road trip like, three days later, with the only notice to me being that they stopped by the cabin on their way out of town to say goodbye. I’d hoped that when I talked to Maggie again, I’d at least have the buffer of Josie to absorb some of the frustration I knew would be directed at me.
But I guess I should’ve expected Josie to cut and run unexpectedly. I mean, she also threw Maggie into the fire with no notice, either.
After Josie and Steven’s visit, I drove to The Sea Glass and parked my truck. Steeling myself, I got out and walked through the front door. It was another slow afternoon, and Maggie was standing near the cutlery station, wiping down the laminated menus.
“Hey Mags,” I said.
She glanced up, her face stony. “Hey, Mr. Moneybags.”
I tried not to wince. “We should talk.”
“This is crazy. You realize that, right?” She put the menus down with a loud clap. “You realize this is entirely fucking insane?”
“It’s been a whirlwind, yeah.”
Maggie’s eyes were wide. “Last week I was a server trying to raise an insane amount of money. This week, my mom’s gone, you bought part of my bar, and—oh yeah—it’smybar now, because my mom just hefted it on me before she took off for God knows how long. Caleb, this is fucking ridiculous.”
