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Good Lord, now Noelle was beyond worried. She hoped for a lot of reasons whatever Franchesca had to say, it wasn’t about Wes. Although, the other possibilities that raced through Noelle’s mind weren’t any better. She cared about a lot of people in Marietta. Bad news about anyone wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“As I said, I was running errands yesterday and I cut up 2nd to Church Avenue. I wanted to stop by the drama studio with some stuff I’d bought. I overheard voices in one of the alleys. I thought that was weird. Marietta is a safe place. People don’t tend to lurk in alleys, ya know?”
“Okay.” Noelle had zero idea where her friend was going with this, but she tamped down her desire to rush her and continued to listen.
“I stopped where I wouldn’t be seen but could hear what they were saying.”
“You eavesdropped?”
Franchesca made a face at Noelle over her mug. “Yes, I eavesdropped. Don’t judge. You can’t honestly say you’ve never done that in your lifetime.”
Fair enough. Noelle waved a hand at her to proceed.
“Anyway, I was able to peek around the corner and had to fight to stay quiet when I saw it was Ronald Spellman! He was with some guy and they were looking up at the side of one of the buildings, saying how they would change things.” Franchesca had set her mug down and had a hand to her chest as if to hold herself together.
“Wes said when he met with Spellman he admitted to changing some of the facades of the building to match the storyline and setting of his film.” Although her argument was valid, even Noelle felt it fell flat. Something wasn’t right.
“True.” Franchesca pointed at her with the hand not plastered to her chest. “But he continued talking and said he wants to level the buildings and build from the ground up.”
Noelle sat forward in her chair. “What?”
“Yeah. He’s going to buy our building and then level it.”
Noelle sat back again as if Franchesca had pushed her.
“I know, right? I stood there in the street with my mouth hanging open just like yours is now.”
Noelle clasped her lips together and shook her head. “But…”
“I know what Wes said, but Spellman has different plans.”
How could he? Did Wes know this and not tell her? No. He was a businessman, but he wasn’t heartless. Or was he? She’d only known him a short time.
“I see your wheels spinning, girlfriend. And I don’t think for a second your boy had anything to do with this or had any knowledge of it. The way Spellman was all secretive and stealthy in that alleyway, I have a feeling he wants this kept under wraps until the deal goes through.”
Franchesca might be right, but with Wes keeping it from her that he had anything to do with the deal in the first place, and then meeting with Spellman without telling her, she questioned everything. Not to mention the knot in her gut now forming over losing her studio.
“Like I said, we needed some seriously strong tea to help swallow this nugget of news.” Franchesca lifted her mug again to her lips and sipped.
Neither woman said anything for what felt like hours. The tick-tock of the clock on the wall along with Franchesca’s sipping of her tea were the only sounds. Like pieces of a puzzle, all the information in Noelle’s head moved around but couldn’t find a place to land, not anywhere that made sense anyway.
How could Wes not know about this? She thought back to their conversations and, although he’d kept his knowledge of the deal from her, she didn’t get a vibe that he’d ever flat-out lied to her. Not point blank. He did seem to believe the deal was a solid one. But Marietta meant nothing to him. Maybe he’d heard of Spellman’s plans and blew it off, knowing he’d be gone by the time things went down anyway.
“Hey. Sweetie. Don’t beat yourself up on this one. We’ll figure things out.”
She meant well, but Franchesca’s words did little to soothe the ache that now spread through Noelle’s whole body. She’d just settled into Marietta. Sure, she and Franchesca could rent from another building, but their studios were all set up just right and the theater next door made for the perfect corner. They’d packed the house at their performance, people saying how wonderful it was to have the arts in Marietta. Some even talked of how to add other cultural events throughout the year. As great as the rodeo was for the town’s history, there was room for more ways to embrace and celebrate the town and its heritage.
The door chimed. A mom of one of her students called out.
“I’ll be right there!” Noelle answered. She stood and moved around the desk, stopping next to Franchesca. “Thanks for coming by to tell me. Let’s talk more later, okay?”
“Do you think we should tell someone?”
“Not yet. I’m not sure it would do any good anyway. Spellman is big-time. I doubt anyone could or would cross him. Even if they did, he could deny it and do what he wants anyway.”
“True.”
“Hey. We’ll figure this out together.”
