Delaney took a deep breath, forced her mind out of personal mode and into professional mode. She had to just treat this like any other problem that popped up on the job site, day in and day out. Get the facts, figure out her options, and, yes, dammit, fine. She’d deal with it.
Delaney inhaled to clear her head. “How much are we talking?”
Phoebe’s brows shot up. “Have you got a cool seventy-five grand to throw away?”
Delaney’s mind slipped right out of professional mode. All thoughts of meeting Ethan vanished, and her plan of asking Phoebe more about him evaporated with them.
Her hand dropped from her head and hit her thigh, and the slap echoed around the room. She choked out a sound of shock. “How could it possibly cost—”
“The going rate for business demolition is ten dollars a square foot. After adding in the distillery out back, hauling, and disposal, that’s what you’ve got. If you let the city choose the company and bill you, you should budget for another twenty-five grand.”
“Holy shit . . .”
Delaney had barely caught her breath when Phoebe continued.
“We both know Avery and Chloe have nothing. Avery’s in the middle of a divorce and looking at filing bankruptcy. I haven’t talked to Chloe in eight months and have no idea what she’s doing or where she’s living. Even if the city could track her down, you know Chloe—she’s never been able to hold on to money.”
“Avery’s getting divorced?” Delaney’s stomach churned. How much grief could one family take? “I thought you said she and David were going to therapy.”
“Focus on the bar, Delaney. It’s all you can control now. And when the city comes after you for the money, Avery and Chloe won’t be able to help.”
“Why me? We’re all owners.”
“Because they have nothing. You have perfect credit the city can ruin. You have money in the bank they can siphon. And if you decide to go back to work for someone else, soon enough you’ll have a wage they can garnish.”
“Decide to go back to work? You say that like I have a choice. I don’t.” She pushed from the stool. “Every day I’m not making money, it’s seeping out of my savings. This can’t be legal. Don’t you know someone who can help?”
“Actually, I do.” Phoebe finished her wine and met Delaney’s gaze directly. “You can help yourself, Delaney.”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“You can take your experience renovating other bars and renovate this one.”
Delaney dropped back to the stool, shaking her head. “I don’t want to have anything to do with this place, let alone renovate it. I need to focus on finding another job, Phoebe. And I want what I had. I want what was taken from me. I loved that damn job. Loved going to work every day. I made good money and had a great crew. I want that back, dammit. And it’s obviously going to be harder to find than I thought. I may have to start looking beyond the West Coast, and I can’t just put my job hunt on hold and throw everything I have into this piece of shit. How could you even suggest . . . after all we suffered . . .”
Anger welled inside her like a geyser, but Delaney closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, doing all she could not to lash out at the messenger.
Phoebe had relocated to Wildwood when Delaney was a sullen teen, a few years after her mother had deserted the family for a tile contractor her father had been using in one of the bar’s many remodels. In too many ways to count, Phoebe had been there for her and her sisters when their alcoholic father was either drunk or passed out.
But after what Delaney had been through the last few months, she couldn’t do another catastrophe. “No, Phoebe. Just, goddammit, no.”
Phoebe held up both hands in surrender, but her expression was sad. Defeated. A little heartbroken. “Fine, Delaney. It’s your choice, just like holding on to it instead of selling it as soon as Joe died was your choice. Just like looking at this as a burden instead of an opportunity is your choice.
“God knows I’ve never been able to force you to do anything. I was hoping that given what happened at that job you loved so much, you’d be ready to take control of your own future. That’s what this is—an opportunity to call the shots, to be independent, to invest in yourself for a change. Or if you’re serious about helping Avery and Chloe the way you’ve talked about for years, this could be your chance to put actions behind your words, use your guilt as fuel to drive you, and finally wipe out your regret over leaving them too soon.”
Delaney’s head pounded, and she pressed her fingers to closed lids trying to ease the pain. She’d been back in town for only a couple of hours, and all the hurt and guilt that had run her out of town a decade ago had already clawed their way back into her heart.
“But because you’re obviously looking at this emotionally instead of logically,” Phoebe said, “I’ll just line out your choices.
“Choice one: demolish and dispose of the bar; then sell the land. Land here is sitting on the market up to two years. If you’re lucky, you may break even or turn a ten percent profit. In the meantime, you’ll be broke and, probably, in debt.”
Delaney’s chest tightened up.
“Choice two: renovate; then sell. Unlike land, commercial buildings and businesses are selling fast and bringing returns of between three hundred and eight hundred percent on investment. I’ve compared similar properties in the county, and I’d say you’re sitting on one hell of a profit. You have the skill and experience needed to renovate this bar. Avery and Chloe don’t, which may be why they’ve never come back to take it over. But if Avery and Chloe still don’t want to help, you can pay them their part of the prerenovated value after you sell and walk away with all the profit. Or you can share the profit to ease the guilt you’ve carried over leaving them too soon. I want you to think about living the rest of your life with that burden off your back.
“Choice three: do nothing. The city will demolish and dispose of the bar, take every penny they can find in your name, and file a judgment against you for the balance. Your credit will be ruined, which, with the way preemployment screenings include credit checks nowadays, will make it difficult to find any job, let alone a good job. And even if you did find a job, a lot of what you earned would be taken to pay the outstanding judgment until it was paid in full.”
Delaney’s world crumbled a little more. She closed her eyes with a soft, “Oh my God.”