“Absolutely. Flowers, whisking me away for little getaways. Private flights to come see you. A girl could really get used to this.”
“Then, let this be the warning that I need you for an entire week for your birthday in two months.”
“Is that so? And where will you be whisking me off to?”
“A man has got to have a few secrets,” I tell her, tugging her in for another kiss.
* * *
We sitout on the deck, sipping on glasses of wine after we dined on steaks and potatoes I grilled for dinner. The stars are out bright, something that I definitely miss in California.
“Have you had the chance to talk to Lacey about the bakery and what you want to do with it?” I ask.
“We’re going to try and sit down this coming week and discuss things. She’s nervous that she won’t qualify for a loan to buy me out. If that happens, what do you think about me owner financing it? I know she’d be good for it, and it would be a way for me to still help her out.”
“That’s definitely an option. Another option is for you to stay a partial owner, just move to more of a silent one.”
“I hadn’t thought of that option,” she says. “Before I dump everything on her, is your offer still open to invest? We really need to update the kitchen and I know that isn’t something she’d be able to afford right away. Every time the ovens go out, it is just a huge chunk of money to fix them, but new ones can easily be thirty grand for each unit.”
“Of course. How much do you need? I’ll have it wired on Monday and you can have new ovens ordered by Tuesday.”
“You could really make it happen that quickly?” she asks, I think a little shocked.
“Babe, if I really wanted things done, I could make a few calls and have it done before we go to sleep tonight, but I didn’t think it was that urgent, so I picked Monday, as that will be the easiest without pulling people out of bed to do my bidding.”
“Wow. I’m still not used to what you can accomplish like it is nothing.”
“If it is important to you, then it isn’t nothing,” I tell her. “How about you talk to Lacey this week, and if you need help with the logistics, you call me, and I can help walk you through some options.”
“Now that sounds like a good plan,” she agrees.
I didn’t come to the mountains to talk business, so I try and keep our conversation easy and sexy the remaining hours we have together. Before long, morning will come, and we’ll have to leave our little pocket of paradise. I can’t wait until Harper is ready to move to California to be with me all the time.
* * *
“Hey, beautiful, what’s up?”I answer Harper’s call. She doesn’t usually call me midday, so I know something must be going on.
“Are you busy? Lacey and I are talking, and she had some questions that you’d be better off answering.”
“I can spare a half hour,” I tell her, getting up to close my office door.
“We’ve gone over the basics of our options, one being that I outright sell the business, no longer having any legal ties to it. Option two being that I owner finance it, moving to become a silent partner until things are paid off, and option three, I keep the business, we hire additional staff, Lacey becomes the manager and I just run things from afar, with Lacey making most of the day-to-day decisions,” Harper explains, catching me up on what they’ve covered so far.
“My main question,” Lacey takes over, “is how exactly does the owner financing work and what happens if something came up and I could no longer afford the payments?”
“There are a few ways that it can work. When I’ve owner financed a project in the past, I still use a third-party company to facilitate the loan. They deal with collecting the payment each month and applying it to the loan. Unlike a regular bank, it would be up to me, or in this case, Harper, to tell the bank she’s foreclosing on the loan if you were to stop payments. The other option is to not use a company like that, and you’d just send the payments directly to Harper, or deposit them into an account there that she could open for that purpose,” I explain. “Another option that is also on the table, is for me to buy the bakery and I turn around and hire you to run it for me. I know nothing about the bakery industry, so I’d rely on the two of you to make sure it stays afloat, but it’s an option,” I throw out there.
“That’s a lot to think about.” Lacey laughs.
“It is, but I’m sure the two of you can figure out what is best. I’m here to help any way I can. I’ve got a small interest in how everything works out, seeing that the decision that’s made is one step closer to me getting Harper here with me.”
“Aww, such a softie you are,” Lacey coos.
“Stop it, don’t encourage him. He’s already bad enough without your encouragement,” Harper says, but I can tell she doesn’t really mean it.
“Anything else I can answer for the two of you?”
“I don’t think so,” Harper says after a moment. “Oh, I got an email today. The new oven units are on their way! They should be delivered next week. They’re going to install one at a time so that we don’t have to close for a day.”