“About our plans, Eddy.” She shook her head like I deserved to wear a dunce hat. “This place is going to be ours. That means no more running major decisions by the parentals. The buck stops with you and me.”
“And Cyrus.” If we were speaking about the future, Cy should be included.
“Fuck Cyrus. The nursery is our baby and Cy doesn’t care about watering schedules or the best way to trim butterfly bushes. He’s too busy kissing babies and cutting ribbons at the renovated library.”
“Wow, I thought it would be a few months before the knives came out.”
“Knives out? Don’t be ridiculous. Cyrus left the family business and never looked back.”
“Maybe, but things are different now and we still own the nursery equally.”
Dial snapped her fingers. “Great point. Let’s start there. I think we should buy Cyrus out.”
I closed my laptop, realizing I was going to give this conversation more attention than I initially expected. “Excuse me?” This topic was too heavy for a Monday afternoon. My only concern was spending the night wrapped in Fancy’s arms. I was not prepared for cutthroat succession planning.
“Don’t start clutching your pocketbook now.”
“Do you understand what you’re asking?”
“Yes, I spent the weekend crunching the numbers. The shop is worth approximately ten million. That doesn’t include all the land. Ten split three ways is a little over three million. So, we’d each have to come up with one point five mill.”
“Oh, great, I’ll just pull my half out of the shoebox in my attic.”
Dial’s face brightened. “We could take out a business loan.”
“Or we could do nothing and not incur unnecessary debt. You’re acting like Cy is our enemy.”
“After we start implementing our changes, revenue is bound to increase. We’ll be sitting on a substantial nest egg. And Cyrus won’t be the mayor of Hume forever.”
I hopped my shoulders. “It’s Hume so he could be. Mayor Hathaway ran undefeated for twenty years.”
“Let’s be realistic. Cy’s a one term politician, maybe two.”
“And you think when his reign is over, he’ll come slinking back to the nursery. Cyrus hates dirt so much, he gets manicures every two weeks.”
“He wouldn’t be coming to do manual labor. He’d want in on the business side, not the hauling manure side.”
My sister’s angle finally took shape. “And you’re afraid he’ll come for your position.” Dial and I both had our strengths; I was the plant guy. I knew everything about gardening, landscaping, and vegetation. All the nursery orders were made by me with a detailed monthly supply schedule that couldn’t be easily replicated. My stake in the business was solid.
“He could try but I’d crush him. I know more than anyone when it comes to the business behind Figs and Twine. Our supplies, our budget, or team members. And, that’s why you and I make such a great team. I tend to the books and you tend to the begonias.”
“Do you have some kind of acquisition proposal I could review?”
Dial sputtered a laugh. “What do I look like a newbie? Of course I do.” She tossed a folder on my desk.
“I’ll look over your proposal and get back to you.”
“Okay, great doing business with you.” Dial headed for the door.
I tipped my ball cap.
Stopping short, she said, “For now let’s keep this between you and me. No Cyrus and no Fancy.” When she spoke Fancy’s name, it sounded like a cuss word.
“Got it.”
With my parent’s retirement/moving announcement came a ton of questions. When they said we had the ability to run the nursery on our own, what did that mean? Did it mean we would continue to run operations day to day, or was this a complete transfer of power? Over the past few years our parents stepped back considerably. There was a time when my father was in the nursery bright and early watering flowers, moving planters, and stocking accessories. Now he rarely made visits to the shop and when he did, it was usually because he needed supplies for his garden.
I was excited for the prospects, but Dial was moving faster than my liking. Icing Cyrus out wasn’t going to fly with me. This was the family business and if he wanted, Cyrus would always have a place alongside Dial and me. As a kid I always imagined the three of us running the nursery together and teaching our kids to love this place as much as we did. Granted Cy wasn’t interested in plants, customer service, our crunching numbers. He’d be good at it because he was good at everything, but he didn’t have a passion for it like me and Dial.
