I help you?”
“Yeah. Is a…” he opened his folder fast as lightning, scanned the contents, then just as quickly slammed it shut, “Is a Lauren McKinney here?”
“Yes, I’m Lauren McKinney.” It got suddenly hot in there, like a fire had been ignited within her.
“Well, Lauren, I hate to tell ya, but you’re gonna have to move your shop somewhere else.”
She stared at the bastard, her heart now threatening to beat out of her chest, though she tried to keep her cool.
“Uh, who are you? What is this about?”
“My name is Aries Creed. I’m Benjamin Creed’s son.” Her mouth went suddenly dry. “He’s the, well, was the owner of this building. As you may or may not know, he died recently.”
“Yes. I found out the day after his funeral. I was saddened by that because I would’ve liked to have attended. Sorry for your loss.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m not.”
His eyes reminded her of stones, dead and cold, as he whipped out the words dipped in a vat of both hatred and indifference. How odd. He looked briefly around the store, judgment whirling in his eyes. “For the past few days, I’ve been visiting my father’s properties and making assessments. I discovered that—”
“You own this property now?”
“Yes, I do.” He opened up the folder once again, then shoved a piece of paper in front of her. She looked at it… read the words… Sherry loomed over her shoulder like a clingy shadow, her breathing hard and choppy, driving her crazy. “So, as you can see, I have the paperwork regarding this store, Kindred Salads, and—”
“Kindred Spirits. My store is called Kindred Spirits.” Fucker.
“All right, well, whatever it’s called, it looks like my father was lettin’ you set up shop here practically for free. I’m sure you’ve enjoyed the experience, but all good things must come to an end, as they say.” He rubbed his hands together, some of the fingers covered in tattoos.
“Well, it’s a very nice building. Historic, in fact. All of this brick is original.” She pointed to a wall across the way. “I know the property value is out of my reach right now. I couldn’t afford this place unless I had a reasonable payment plan, but if you don’t want the building, maybe I and the other tenant, the one who runs the baby clothing store, could work out something with you?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. I don’t want to keep this place. I’m probably going to end up selling it to an investor. Get it off my hands. So, that brings me to the next part. You have two choices. You can try to work out a rent agreement with the new owner if I find one before the ninety days are up. Or, you can vacate the premises within the next ninety days and set up shop somewhere else.” He opened the folder once again and picked a piece of paper, which he placed on the counter in front of her. “Hey, what’s that funny smell?” His nose wrinkled as if he were deeply offended.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to since you didn’t specify what exactly you think it smells like, but you might be smelling some incense.” She glanced down at the piece of paper. A damn eviction notice. “We burn sage in here every morning, to keep bad spirits out. Looks like today it was sleepin’ on the job.”
The man glared at her, but kept quiet.
Or you might be smelling your fucked-up attitude… Who in the hell does this guy think he is?! Up in my shop with his dirty ass, acting like he runs the place? I should’ve known some shit was going to pop off today when I woke up late. Every time I wake up late, my day seems to be doomed!
The man threw her a skeptical look, then grimaced and slammed the folder shut.
“So, what’s your decision?”
“What’s my decision?” She took a deep breath, swallowing a whole mouthful of curse words. “You come in here, tell me something like this, and expect me to give you an answer right now? I have tenant rights and besides, I need more time than that.”
“Fine. You’ve got twenty-four hours. You know I’m actually being nice by giving you ninety days. By law, I only have to serve you and then give you anywhere from twenty-four hours to seven days to comply or leave. After that, sixty days would be the timeframe for you to vacate the premises. I even threw in an