“Right. Well, thanks, Shirley. The goal here is to sell and sell soon.”
“Can I ask…” she says clearly being nosy, “why do you want to sell? This place is such a gem. You could hold onto it and in a few years, it might be worth a pretty penny.”
I swallow. “I told you I didn't want to talk about that. I've just decided to sell and it needs to happen immediately. I'm not going to be picky as far as the buyer is concerned.”
The hope is that I can pay off all the existing debts and hopefully have a little nest egg even if it's a meager one.
“In that case, I’ll get back to the office and start pulling this all together. Since Christmas is only a few days away, I suggest you enjoy yourself. But if there’s a buyer who wants a showing, do you think you can accommodate that?”
“Sure, that's no problem.” I bite my bottom lip, not wanting to cry in front of this woman. But the reality of the situation is hitting me hard. I’m really going to have to say goodbye to Granny’s home.
“Hopefully we'll have good news soon. I'll send you the link once this is online,” Shirley tells me as I walk her to the door.
Once she is gone, I slowly walk around the big house where I grew up. The round kitchen table, the staircase that leads to the bedrooms. I naïvely imagined myself raising a family here. But now I know I don’t care where I live as long as it is with Filson. And I don’t know if that is possible anymore.
The look in Filson’s eyes slew me and I wish more than anything, I hadn't betrayed his trust.
I head into the kitchen to make a pot of tea, thinking maybe something warm might lift my spirits. Just as the kettle whistles, someone knocks on the door. For a moment, I have a hopeful crazy thought that it's Filson changing his mind. That he’s back for me.
But as I reach the door and pull it open, I see it's not the man who I love. It's Annabelle, Isaiah, and Jody.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to see you,” Jody says, giving me a quick hug.
“I was just making tea. Do you want some?”
“Sure, that sounds great,” they say, and we head into the kitchen.
“I really wasn't expecting company. Who's serving soup?”
“It's the afternoon break,” Jody explains,
“Wow, the day is flying by.” I almost began to explain the Filson and real estate situation, but I decide against it. The last thing Filson would want is more people involved in our drama. Luckily, I'm not required to entertain my friends because Isaiah clears his throat.
“We’ve come here on a mission,” he says.
“I don't know anything about it,” Annabelle says. “I was walking over to see how you're doing after last night and ran into these two. Looks like everybody is dying to talk to you today.”
Isaiah speaks up, “Here's the thing, Maple, we love you. We do. We've been working together for a few months, and Jody and I had been working with your granny a lot longer and I know the food soup kitchen was your granny's baby, but it's kind of ours too.”
Jody nods. “Yeah, we're pretty invested.”
“I know you love the place, but like, we built the place from the ground up. If your granny would have just told us she was funding the entire enterprise, we could have helped with the situation. But,” Isaiah says with a smile, “it's never too late.”
I pour us all cups of English breakfast tea and set them on the table with cream and sugar. “What do you mean never too late?” I ask tremulously.
“We mean,” he says, turning his computer to face me, “we are planning a New Year's Eve fundraiser.”
Jody jumps in. “You said the place is going to close its doors by New Year’s Day. Well, let's make that difficult for the city.”
Isaiah must sense my skepticism. “Look, we're having a gala and all you have to do is show up and smile. Say a few nice words and hope that people will leave donations.”
“You think a fundraiser will save the food kitchen?”
“I think it's a great idea,” Annabelle says with a frown. “Not that I knew you were losing the food kitchen.”
“There’s a lot I haven't told you,” I say to her, biting my bottom lip. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she says. “I just wish you'd open up a little bit more.”
I sigh, picking up my cup of tea. “I feel like I keep hearing that lately,” I say and explain to Annabelle how I applied for the grant earlier this summer, was denied, and now the bills are mounting up and no money is coming in.
“This gala is going to be great,” Jody says. “Everyone wants to go out on New Year's Eve and everyone wants to spend money while they're living large. So, we're going to cash in on it.”