Burt angled his head in acknowledgment and took Cam’s offered hand.
“And this is Norah Burke. We were hoping you had a few minutes to talk to us.”
“Got more free minutes than I’d like just now. Come on back.” He shifted some files out of the two chairs in front of his battered metal desk and gestured for them to sit. His own chair creaked as he sat and looked the two of them over. “Y’all lookin’ to build a house?”
Norah, who’d opened her mouth to start whatever spiel she’d been planning, looked startled. “Sorry?”
Cam thought about what they must look like, a young couple ready to take the next step in life and wanting new digs to go with it. Since that was exactly the direction he’d been headed in when she broke things off, the question put a strain on his already volatile mood. “Ah, no sir. We’re here on another matter entirely. Are you aware that the city has been approached with a proposal by GrandGoods?”
“I heard rumblings about something. Didn’t know the particulars.”
Norah picked up the thread. “Provided they pass the approval process, they intend to build a 150,000 square foot store in Wishful.”
Burt straightened a little in his chair, his eyes sharpening. “Go on.”
She laid it out for him, explaining the proposal and the problems such a project would present for the town. “As a local business owner, I’m sure you can appreciate the importance of preserving the character of Wishful and preventing the uncontrolled urban sprawl that would inevitably follow should GrandGoods be allowed to go ahead with their project. That’s why we’d like to invite you to come to the citizens’ coalition meeting next week, to be a part of the community’s voice in letting the local policy-makers know that this isn’t the direction Wishful should go.”
“No.”
Cam caught the momentary stunned expression on Norah’s face before she recovered enough to reply. “I can understand how that might be your instinctive response, but surely it would be better to reserve your final decision until after you’ve attended the meeting, heard what others have to say.”
“Young lady, I’m not going to join your coalition. I will, in fact, be first in line to submit a bid for the GrandGoods contract. I support the growth of commercial real estate such a store would bring to town.”
“Aren’t you the least bit concerned about the negative impact—”
Burt broke in. “Let me tell you about negative impact. I built this business from the ground up. Over the last twenty-five years, I’ve expanded my operations, my crew. And with the tanking economy, do you know how many good people I’ve had to let go? Twelve. Not because they did shoddy work or anything wrong but simply because we don’t have the level of work we need to pay them. I’ve had to cut back the hours on dozens more.”
Cam felt his gut clench, thinking again of Roy McKennon’s desperation and wounded pride over the loss of his ability to provide for his family. Here was more of the same.
“I want to hire those men back. I want to protect the jobs of the ones I still have. I have to look out for my employees, for their families. They depend on me for their livelihood, so from my perspective, supporting GrandGoods is the only decision.”
It made sense. Here was that rock and a hard place his mother had warned him about. More people who’d be lost if they couldn’t find work. More of the soul of his town destroyed by a bad economy.
“Do you have any idea the kind of security a job like that would give them? You’ll forgive me if I think that’s a helluva lot more important than some kind of misplaced nostalgia for how this town used to be.”
When Norah looked as if she might try some other tack, Cam sat forward. “We absolutely appreciate your position, Burt. Thanks for hearing us out. We’ll let you get back to your day.”
Cam recognized the mutinous expression in Norah’s eyes as he said their goodbyes and herded her toward the door, but she kept her mouth shut until they were shut inside his truck again.
“What the hell was that?”
“A tactical retreat. You weren’t going to change his mind.”
“You don’t know that. You didn’t even let me try to counter his position.”
“No. Because we shouldn’t try to counter his position, Norah. Absolutely nothing we can say or do is going to provide the kind of work opportunities he needs to be able to offer his employees. He’s right. From his standpoint, GrandGoods and everything that comes with it is exactly what his business needs.”
Norah exhaled long and slow. “Okay, fair point. He’s not the right target audience for this message. We aren’t going to convince everybody, and that’s okay.”
“Is it? Is it really okay to the twenty percent of our population who are unemployed? What we’re doing isn’t helping them. Do we even have the right to be pushing to stop this?”
S
he laid a hand on his arm. “No decision is going to make everyone happy.”
He looked down at her fingers, slim and delicate. “Yeah, you specialize in those, don’t you.”
When she pulled her hand away, he bit back a curse. He knew this wasn’t easy on her either, could see the strain she was under. But, of course, she didn’t actually respond to his jab. The matter was already settled in her mind.