“I received an offer to sell part of my business. In fact, I should get back upstairs.”
“Thanks for the food. While I love Granny’s, it’s nice to have something different,” she admitted.
Granny’s West was right next door. When Ashley was ‘on floor,’ the term my mom used to describe when an agent was put in charge of the phones and walk-ins, I expect it was handy.
◊◊◊
After everyone demolished the pizzas—sadly, there would be no leftovers—the afternoon was spent figuring out the details. The hardest part turned out to be Frank and his partners in the PR company. They had to come to grips with selling off the controlling interest in their business. Grace and Frank stepped into the conference room to get everyone from his firm on a call to work it out. Meanwhile, I pulled Caryn, Megan, and Scarlet together with my dad.
“It looks like we’re doing this,” I started. “I just wanted to know where we go from here. Do you all stay, or do you plan to go to Cincinnati?”
“We’ll set up a new parent company for all the businesses you’re keeping. We’ll run that out of this office,” Dad said.
“I’ll be leaving to work with Grace and Ava. Though I’d wanted to go to California, this is an opportunity I simply can’t pass up,” Caryn said.
I nodded in understanding. The business opportunities for Caryn to learn and grow were beyond priceless.
“I’d like to ask Scarlet to take Caryn’s place and have her run the day-to-day of your new company,” Dad said.
“With your dad’s help, she’ll do fine. If you remember, I didn’t have much more experience than Scarlet when you let me take the reins,” Caryn said.
“Do you want to do it?” I asked Scarlet.
“Does it come with a raise?” she asked.
“David is big on titles and heaping on more responsibility. You also get to be on salary so he can work you more without paying you overtime,” Caryn teased.
“Really? When have you worked even 40 hours in a week?” I shot back, earning me a glare from Caryn.
“If you want the job, we’ll work it out,” Dad assured Scarlet.
“Does this mean I get to stay? I don’t want to move,” Megan said.
“God, yes. Without you, we would have to do the books, and I would quit,” Scarlet confided.
I didn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to do the books, either.
“Looks like it,” I said. “Oh, and you have to hire Angie. I made a promise to my brother that I would employ her until they graduate from college.”
“Good call. You need to remove her from the charity,” Caryn said.
“Not it,” Dad and I said at the same time.
“Because you’ve been so good to me, I’ll do it,” Caryn offered.
“Do they act like this often?” Scarlet asked.
“You’ll be fine. You’ll even come to appreciate that they never take things too seriously,” Caryn shared.
“I love working here. It’s so much better than where I worked before,” Megan admitted.
She’d worked for Tom Dole’s law firm before coming here. They’d dubbed her ‘The Mouse’ because she was small, quiet, and wore glasses. Since she’d started working here, she’d come out of her shell and was a real asset.
“What do you see Angie doing?” Dad asked.
I was a little surprised when Caryn looked at Scarlet. I guess the transition had begun.
“Oh, me?” Scarlet asked, and Caryn nodded. “She can do what I’ve been doing. I know your mom also wanted to hire someone part-time. She planned for them to help ensure all the paperwork for each real estate transaction is done correctly and answer phones in the afternoon. That would free up her agents to actually be agents instead of covering the office.”
“I take it Ashley has told you about that,” I said.
Scarlet didn’t know what to say, so my dad saved her.
“Your mom has complained about that for years, even before she owned her own brokerage. She hated that they used the agents as free office help. The only part that made it bearable was she got leads when she was on floor, and there were walk-ins.”
“I was just giving Scarlet a hard time,” I admitted to soften the tone of what I’d said.
“If you show good judgment, they’ll let you run things. I’ve talked to my friends who graduated when I did. They’re each sitting in a cubicle, wishing they could use their degrees even a tenth as much as I’ve been able to,” Caryn told Scarlet.
“I’ll do my best,” she assured my dad and me.
I wasn’t worried. Dad had held Caryn’s hand until she was confident enough to take charge. Scarlet already showed that she was a source of good ideas. She was the one who pointed out we should buy into the insurance firm.
When we broke up our meeting, we saw that Frank and Grace had gotten off their call, and everyone looked happy.
“Have you decided if you want to accept my offer?” Grace asked.
“If Frank and Jack are on board, I say we move forward,” I confirmed.
I could see everyone let out their collective breath. One of my advantageous traits was that I was able to decide on something without hesitation if I felt it was right.
“Can I make one suggestion?” I asked.
“David, you are a major shareholder. You can always ask me anything,” Grace assured me.
