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He nodded. “I’m here to stay. That’s why we need your help.”
“Shelby gave me a heads-up on what you’re looking for. But now, Shelby…” LaShawnda’s gaze went from Remy to Shelby and back, “Will you be looking for a bigger home? Maybe one with four or five bedrooms for your babies?”
Shelby’s cheeks burned. “No, this isn’t about me. Besides, you know I don’t have any babies. Remy is looking for a place to house his business and the staff he will employ.”
“Such a shame. I’d like to get my girl, Shelby, into a bigger house for all the right reasons.” LaShawnda winked, then cocked one eyebrow as she looked toward Remy. “Well then, what kind of building are you looking for, and what kind of business will be conducted there?”
“I’m looking for a small manufacturing facility to build custom pirogues,” Remy said.
LaShawnda nodded. “I have some ideas for that.”
“I also need a place for my guys to live when they come to work for me until they can find their own homes. There could be up to ten at one time.”
LaShawnda’s eyes narrowed. “That might be more challenging. But I know of a couple of places that might fit your needs. You might have to move on them quickly as another buyer in the area is looking for a manufacturing facility.”
“Really?” Shelby said. “Since when is Bayou Mambaloa a mecca for manufacturing?”
LaShawnda shrugged. “Could be the skyrocketing prices of property in New Orleans. Since we’re not that far from the city, we might be a better option.”
“True,” Remy said. “We’ve been looking in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. When we find something that might work, it becomes a bidding war, or someone offers and is accepted before we have the opportunity.”
LaShawnda nodded. “I’ve heard from some of my counterparts in New Orleans that the market is hot. Properties can be sold within a day of posting it on the MLS.” She waved toward her vehicle. “Would you like to ride with me?”
“No,” Shelby said.
“Yes,” Remy countered and raised an eyebrow toward Shelby. “Miss Jones’ vehicle is air-conditioned.”
“Fine,” Shelby said. “Yes, please, LaLa. We’d love to ride with you.”
LaShawnda opened the back door.
“I’ll sit in the back,” Shelby said. “Remy’s the client. He needs to see.” She climbed into the SUV behind the driver’s seat.
Remy rounded the vehicle and slid into the front passenger seat.
LaShawnda drove through town and turned south onto a road with a few small houses and a larger home with plain white paint, a wrap-around porch and upper balcony, and a small parking lot in front. She parked in front and nodded toward the big home. “This is the Henderson House. It was built by Robert Henderson back in the late eighteen hundreds for his family. The man had fourteen children. It has ten rooms and five bathrooms.” She glanced toward Remy. “Would something like this work?”
Remy nodded. “Yes.”
“Then let’s go look.” LaShawnda opened her door and stepped down from the vehicle.
Remy got out and came around to Shelby’s side to open the door for her.
She got out and fell in step with the realtor.
Shawnda walked up the front steps to the door where a lockbox hung. “It’s currently unoccupied. The owner had been running it as a bed-and-breakfast but has fallen ill and can’t manage it anymore.” She opened the lockbox, extracted the key and unlocked the front door.
She stood back and waved them inside. “It might need some updates, but everything works, and the last owner had the electricity and plumbing brought up to current code. He wants to sell the building as is, complete with furniture and appliances. Basically, it would be turnkey, ready to use.”
Shelby followed Remy through the house, looking into each room that had been tastefully decorated in a mix of antique furniture and more modern pieces that blended well.
“The owner tried to stay true to the era in which this house was built, as much as possible—with the exception of the kitchen.” LaShawnda led the way through the dining room into the kitchen.
Where the rest of the house had that old-world charm, the kitchen was filled with gleaming, stainless-steel appliances, countertops and modern conveniences, to include a commercial-grade dishwasher and refrigerator.
“I’d buy this house for the kitchen alone,” LaShawnda said. “The owner was also a chef. He’d had dreams of making the entire first floor into a restaurant. By the time he finished outfitting the kitchen, he was running out of money, so he opened the bed and breakfast and put the restaurant on hold. He ran the bed and breakfast until his health failed, and he moved out to Phoenix to be close to his daughter. He’s a motivated seller.”
“Good to know,” Remy said.
