I can’t tell who’s yelling at first. As I walk the boardwalk toward the ice cream shop, I hear low voices talking in angry tones coming from somewhere up ahead. Then I see the door to the game store, well, what used to be the game store, is open and the yelling is coming from outside.
I hear the name Caleb and stop. The angriest voice is Jack Brown’s.
“I don’t know,” Caleb is saying. “She’s pissed at me.”
I lean closer, standing just outside the game store near the open door. Jack Brown says, “You were supposed to be charming, son. How the hell did she get mad at you?”
“I don’t know! Girls are crazy.”
“Go back there and win her over,” Jack growls. “Take her out way too late and make her miss work on Saturday when Marlene needs her there. The more you do it, the more she’ll want to give up the store.”
“That might take a while,” Caleb says, sounding more resigned than angry now. “I’m not going to pretend to date this chick, dad. I have a life.”
“You’ll do what it takes so we can secure the property.”
I’ve heard enough. I’m now so pissed I might be able to shatter glass with my stare alone. I step into the doorway and reveal myself to the two assholes inside the empty game store.
“Sorry to barge into the party here, but Caleb, I won’t be going out with you. Not now, not ever. Lose my number and stop texting me obsessively, you freaking stalker.”
His eyes go wide and Jack’s face hardens, the lines in his jaw tightening. I don’t care. I’m too pissed to care. It’s one thing to use me, but no one messes with my mom’s store or her happiness.
I level my glare at Caleb’s dad. “And you, Mr. Brown, can go fuck off. You’ll never get my mom’s store. I don’t care if you buy every fucking store in this town, you won’t get hers.”
I’m out the door before he can say anything. And they must know what’s good for them, because neither one of them chase after me.
Chapter 24
I’m so seething mad I can’t go back to the store just yet. Mom will see right through me and she’ll obviously think I’m mad about the stupid boy who came to see me. Which I am, but not in the way she thinks. I also don’t want to run into Caleb or his stupid dad, so I slip behind the boardwalk to the access hallway where only the janitors and store owners have access. I take some deep breaths and walk back and forth a few times until I feel some of my anger fade away. I’m still pissed, more pissed than I’ve ever been, but I’m okay now. I am more determined than ever to work at The Magpie now.
I will make it successful and I will open my coffee shop when I’m older.
Back in the store, Mom is sneakily reading that book while standing at the front counter. I roll my eyes at her and begin restocking some greeting cards from the new batch we just had delivered.
“Natalie,” Mom says softly. She puts the book on the counter and gives me the exact same look she gave me the day my cat died while I was at school.
“What’s wrong?” I say. My hands are now shaking and I shove them in my back pockets. “I want to talk about something.” She pats the stool behind the register. “Come over here.”
“Is this about Caleb?” I say as I walk over. “Because I can’t stand that guy. He won’t be coming back here. I made it very clear I’m not interested in him.”
“It’s not about boys,” she says. She chews on her thumb nail and then it hits me. Mom’s not talking slowly because I’m in trouble. She has something she wants to tell me.
Instantly, I panic over the idea that Mom found out I’ve been talking to my dad’s new wife at school. But it’s not my fault. She made me talk to her. She’s the AP after all. I’m thinking up all these excuses to tell her when she says, “I’ve been given an offer to sell The Magpie.”
I stop just short of sitting on the stool. “Well, who cares about that?” I say. “We’re not selling.”
Mom’s expression isn’t exactly comforting. She glances at the counter, probably to avoid looking at me. “It was for fourteen thousand dollars, Natalie. We could survive a few months on that kind of money and I could look for another job. One with benefits and a good salary.”
I stand straighter. “Who gave you this offer? And when did it happen?” I’ve done such a great job of blocking Jack’s offers so far.
“A man named Jack Brown,” Mom says, and the name makes me flinch even though I’d pretty much expected it. No one else has ever come around here asking to buy us out. She picks up a stack of business cards and straightens them on the counter. “He came by today while you were at school and discussed it with me.”
Of course he did. The asshole waited until I was out of the picture and he pounced. If I hadn’t been so freaking diligent at going to school lately, maybe I could have been here. I could have stopped it.
“So what?” I say, folding my arms over my chest. “We’re not selling. This store is your dream.”
“It was my dream with your father,” she says, looking down at her hands. “Now that he’s gone, I can’t exactly use his money to keep us afloat like I used to.”
Mom never talks about Dad. Like, never. I close my eyes and exhale. “Tell me you didn’t accept his offer.”
