Somewhere on Mackinac Page 5

  “Tight cash flow?”

  “That’s part of it.” The tension in his voice implied there was a lot more to the story. “You really think you could help?”

  “Maybe. Whether I can or can’t, I’ll certainly keep your confidence.”

  Miles dismounted, and the horse gave a sound of protest while cocking his head to look at his rider.

  “It’s okay, boy. I got something for you.” He pulled an apple from his jacket pocket, which the horse eagerly snatched. “See, it’s all good.”

  The smile Miles had for the horse was unburdened and reminded me of the one I’d received from him just yesterday. He talked quietly to the animal as he led him to a tree to tie him up.

  “You sure you want to hear this? You’re on vacation after all.”

  “Tell me.” I gestured back to the bench.

  “The short version,” he began, “is that when my parents retired five years ago, they offered the business to Nate and me. I wanted it. I’d always wanted it. I was the one who loved every minute of working with my parents and the animals. Nate never liked it. He’d complain about every chore there was to do.”

  He kicked at the ground with the toe of his boot as his gaze darted around. He’d look at me for a moment and then look elsewhere. I kept my focus on him as any attentive listener would.

  “I majored in equine facility management to be ready to take over. Nate partied through school and barely scraped by with a communications degree. When Mom and Dad decided they were done with winter, they asked what we wanted. I said I’d take whatever Nate didn’t want. Surprisingly, he said he wanted his fair share.”

  I didn’t interrupt, even though I had an idea where this was going. If he wanted to talk, I’d listen to every word.

  “My mom was furious because Nate had never shown an interest. Dad, however, was thrilled that both his sons wanted a part of the business. The decision was to split the locations between us. I got the original, and Nate got the annex. He did some harebrained expansions and renovations, but in less than two years, he got bored. Decided living here wasn’t for him.”

  He gazed out over the lake, looking like his pride took a huge hit laying everything out.

  “I made the huge mistake of buying him out because I wanted to keep the family business together. My business was successful—not anything to boast about, but it did well. He’d left more of a mess than I initially realized, and I haven’t been able to dig out.”

  “How bad?” I asked when he didn’t continue.

  “It’s likely I’ll lose both stables at the end of the year.”

  “Can your parents help?”

  “They’ve offered.” He stared off at the horizon. “But I don’t want to take away their nest egg. They’ve tried pressuring Nate to help clean up his mess, but these days he’s more interested in fast cars than horses.”

  “Do you have everything documented? I could review it to see if you’ve got options that might’ve been missed.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I’ve got all the records, and I sorted that out earlier this year. It’s my fault. I was too quick to buy Nate out so he’d stop whining. I should’ve let his half go rather than end up here.”

  “It gets complicated when family’s involved. I’ve seen it in large and small businesses. Let’s get together and you can take me through everything.”

  I felt bad for him and wanted desperately to help. I wasn’t sure I could. It depended on what I found in the paperwork. I was good at helping small businesses, but sometimes things were too far gone.

  He finally looked back at me, and his eyes tugged on my heart. “I can’t intrude. You’ve got the last day of the con tomorrow, closing ceremonies the next day, and then you head home.”

  “Actually, I’m staying through next week.” He cocked one eyebrow up and I shrugged. “I like it here, so I decided to stay around a little longer.”

  A weak smile formed, with no dimples triggered. At least it was better than the frown we’d started the conversation with. “Then we can definitely find time for me to show you those pictures and maybe hang out some more.”

  “I’d love that.” I turned his direction and sat cross-legged on the bench so I could face him. “Maybe you can show me more of this cool place you live too.”

  The smile got bigger and that zinged me with happiness. “That can be arranged for sure.” He looked back at Wildfire. “I really should get a move on. I’ve got a few things to do before the costume competition tonight. See you there?”

  We both stood and walked toward Wildfire.

  “Yes. Not missing that.”

  He gave me the briefest of hugs, so fast I could barely reciprocate.

  “We’ll grab a drink for sure then.”

  I said good-bye, and watched as he rode Wildfire up the street.

  Chapter Eight

  “YOU DO this every year?” I asked as I worked with Miles and some others to clear the rocking chairs off the porch of the Grand as part of its closing the day after the con finished.

  “Every year since I was ten. The only closings I’ve missed were when I was in college and couldn’t get away from classes.”

  We had a rhythm down of grabbing a rocking chair, taking them in, and returning for another. We stayed close to each other so we could talk.

  “It’s a real community effort between the residents and guests.” We were headed toward yet another pair of chairs. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “For the families that’ve lived here for generations, like mine, it’s a tradition.”

  Miles was in a sweatshirt because the late October air was, of course, nippy. I imagined what it might be like to see him in less so his biceps and triceps were visible as he lifted the large chairs. It would’ve been a great time to manifest X-ray vision.

  “Where’d you go to college?” I kept the conversation on the up and up while my mind undressed him. He’d mentioned he learned how to run the stable, and I’d been curious what that meant.

  “Lake Erie College down in Painesville. I learned a lot from my folks, but I wanted to get the formal education as well so I’d know all angles. Lake Erie has a lot of related programs, and it’s close to home. I’ve been thinking lately that I should’ve taken more straight-up business classes, though.”

  “Try to stop beating yourself up. It doesn’t help. Knowledge doesn’t always prevent bad choices.”

  We’d dug into his situation last night over drinks. We went out after the final costume competition, which he helped judge. I was glad I hadn’t participated. It was amazing some of the outfits that were put together. There’d been multiple versions of Elise and Richard, of course. Incidental characters—some of whom I didn’t recognize even as much as I’ve seen the film—were also represented.

  While we enjoyed scotch neat—it was cool we had scotch in common—he gave me the longer version of his situation. He also gave me a couple of binders full of papers, most of which I’d sifted through before I went to bed. He was right—there was a lot of trouble. He could sue his brother and win, based on what wasn’t disclosed before the sale. But, since it was a friendly deal, contracts hadn’t been drawn up. Cash had been paid and ownership transferred. As Miles told me upfront, he’d failed the due diligence he would’ve done with any other business deal.

  “What are you up to the rest of the day?” Miles asked as we closed in on the end of the chair project.

  “Gotta make some calls. Even though I’m staying up here, there’s still some work to do.”

  “After you finish and I close up for the day, do you want to have dinner?” He quickly added, “Burgers and beer at the best place on the island.”

  “I’d love to.” I had no hesitation. It was a pretty sure thing I’d say yes to whatever he asked. “A perfect way to start off a new week.”

  “Great,” he said. “I’ll pick you up and we can walk over.”

  Once the chairs were stowed, we helped wrap up some other tasks and then gathe
red for the ceremony. The president of the hotel rang the closing bell, officially marking the end of the season. It was very formal and seemed out of place in the twenty-first century. That’s what made it so cool.

  After taking my time walking downtown with Miles, I went to my new room at one of the island’s year-round inns. I was no sooner in the room than Drake called. His name on the display was just about the last thing I wanted to see. I answered it before I could stop myself.

  “Hello,” I said, as if I didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hey, Jordan, it’s Drake. I just got off the phone with Alberto, and he said you weren’t coming into the office this week. Is everything okay?”

  Where the hell was this coming from?

  “It’s great.” I took the perky route since he was. Besides, I was great and I wasn’t going to let this call taint that. “I’ve taken on a client up here, so I’m staying for the week and making a working vacation out of it.”

  “What?” The upbeat Drake who’d started the call was gone. “You said you were coming back. I wanted to set up a meeting with you for a potential new client for both of us. You have to get back here for it.”

  “Alberto can be there in person, and I’ll attend by phone or video. Just let me—”

  “You know that’s not the same, Jordan.” He spoke as if he were scolding a child. “In person is the way deals get done. We do a deal that’s good for both firms, and then we all go celebrate. Maybe you and I can get some time together too. Talk about where we went wrong? Get that out of the way before we go to Aspen.”

  He missed our routine and maybe the status afforded him of having a boyfriend who owned a growing business. I seriously doubted he missed me.

  “Drake, you know why I broke it off. I’m not the guy for you.” I walked over to the window to look out at Market Street. I didn’t want to rehash this stuff, but I guessed he hadn’t heard it the first time. “I wanted more than the facade of a happy couple but feeling like a business partner. I want romance and to feel like I’m loved. And I want to give that back to someone.”

  “You and that fucking movie. This isn’t 1832, or whatever, Jordan. It doesn’t work that way.”

  I knew otherwise. The couples I’d met over the weekend, like George and Melanie, only fortified my feelings. I wasn’t around enough of the right people. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that most of the people I hung out with tended to drift through relationships, which wasn’t what I wanted. I needed to connect more with my happily coupled friends. That would be something that changed when I got home.

  “Make the appointment with Alberto, and I’ll be there virtually. It’s the best I can do since I’ve already made commitments here.”

  “Fine.” Drake was pissed that he wasn’t getting what he wanted. “I’ll e-mail you.”

  It was a relief that he just hung up rather than dragging the conversation out. I crossed the small room and dropped into the desk chair so I could open one of Miles’s binders. Alberto and I had an appointment to talk about the stables.

  “Sorry about that,” Alberto answered just before voice mail would’ve kicked in. “The earbuds were tangled.”

  “No worries.” My mood was already bouncing back from his jovial voice. “How’s Monday going?”

  He ran through details on what had happened so far, including his review of the conference that had prompted Drake’s golf-interrupting call.

  “Seems like you’re having a good day.” He shifted topics once we’d addressed the business concerns. “I saw you moving chairs on Facebook and have to say that was the oddest thing I’ve seen in a while.”

  I laughed with him. “It was a lot of fun.”

  “It looked like you were enjoying yourself. You know I only like cardio, so if they needed me to run around the building I’d do that. Lifting furniture, not so much.”

  It occurred to me that Drake had said nothing of the picture even though he must’ve seen it. Alberto was on Facebook far less than Drake, and if Alberto caught it, Drake surely had. It made me wonder if he had a meeting to set up, or if the call was a response to what I’d been up to this morning.

  “So I’ve got a project I want to look into,” I said as an overture before giving Alberto the high-level summary of Miles’s situation.

  “Yikes. It’s sad that family would hide something like that.”

  “Right? Do you think we’d have any short-term investors who might help turn it around under our guidance?”

  I’d worked with Alberto long enough that I could easily imagine the look on his face as he considered his answer. “We’ve never dealt with this kind of business before. I’m not sure we can leverage any of our current investor network.”

  “I was hoping you’d think of someone I hadn’t.” I was disappointed but not surprised. “I ran through a lot of options and came up cold.”

  “What’s the bank’s position?”

  “There’s at least one party circling, hoping for a foreclosure. The bank is willing to let it lapse even though his family’s done business there for decades.”

  “Ouch. They must think a good deal is going to come if they’re turning their back on a local customer like that.”

  “Unless it’s another local customer. I’m going to see if I can find out more.” I paused before I continued, since I was headed into uncharted territory for our business. “I might want to use some of our discretionary fund for this. I’ll do more research before I decide, though.”

  “Okay.” Alberto’s hesitancy was clear. “We usually use that when we’re working with local Chicago businesses. It’s not explicitly written in our business plan that we do that, but I want to make sure we’re aware of the change in the status quo.”

  “I know. I’ve got some ideas, though, on how to make it work for Miles and not be a liability for us.”

  “I trust you. Just gotta have my business hat on.”

  “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”

  “Can I ask why the interest in this?”

  Oh, man. I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit this to Alberto, even though he wouldn’t judge. Since I was having a hard time with the relationship status myself, I wasn’t sure if anyone else should be in on my topsy-turvy thought processes.

  “I kinda like Miles.”

  “Oh my God.” Alberto laughed heartily. “You sound like a schoolboy with a major crush.”

  From some people that might’ve offended me, but with Alberto, I saw the humor. “Yeah, I might be.”

  “Does this mean…?”

  “I don’t know.” I stopped him before he could ask more. “We’ve been hanging out a lot. He asked me to dance with him the other night and—”

  “Wait. What? You’re holding out on me.”

  “Oops.” I suddenly felt a little guilty. “Sorry, man.” I recapped the dancing and some of the other time we’d spent. “I love every minute we’re together.”

  “Good for you, man. No wonder you wanted to stay up there. I expect you to keep me better informed on the situation. Is that understood?”

  His gentle chiding made me laugh. “Understood.”

  He shifted back to business. “Send me your research summary when you’re done, and I’ll see if I’m missing some possibilities on my side.”

  “Thanks. You’ll have that today.”

  Chapter Nine

  “A PERSONAL tour. I’m honored,” I said as I got off the bicycle I used to get to Miles’s stables. He was outside, waiting with Wildfire and Buttercup saddled and ready to go.

  I’d been in my room, putting the finishing touches on a presentation I was set to give with Alberto the next day, when Miles’s call came in. He invited me out for a sunset ride, and I felt just like the giddy schoolboy Alberto had accused me of being.

  I went right up to Buttercup and stroked the side of her head. Miles handed me an apple to give her as well. It seemed like she recognized me as she sort of nuzzled my hand. Although, maybe she was this way wi
th anyone who fed her. I was less nervous around her since I knew what to expect this time out.

  “I’m glad you said yes.” Miles did a final check on the horses to make sure we were good to go. “It’s been a long day of winter prep. Once the Grand closes, we get ready for the slow season. Moving chairs has nothing on getting this place buttoned up.”

  It was obvious by his enthusiastic talk and smile that he enjoyed what he did even if he did look a little tired.

  “When does winter usually kick in here? So far it just seems like good, crisp fall air. Maybe slightly colder than Chicago.”

  Miles chuckled. “It’s really like anywhere else, and it does vary. It’s at its coldest usually late January and February. If the ice bridge is gonna form, it’s usually February.”

  “Ice bridge? Seriously?”

  “Oh yeah. Between here and St. Ignace, the lake can freeze up and you can walk across or take a snowmobile.”

  “I can’t imagine.”

  The enthusiasm Miles had for the cold had a warming effect on me. Even with the issues he was having, he stayed upbeat most of the time, at least from what I saw. It was an impressive quality.

  “It takes at least a week of zero or below, and with no wind, to create the three or so miles of walkable ice.”

  “Be awesome to see that sometime.” I took Buttercup’s reins from Miles.

  “I’d love to show you.” He spoke softly and met my gaze briefly before mounting Wildfire. There was longing in his eyes, and I diverted my attention to Buttercup as shyness welled up in me. It was quick, but I wasn’t used to someone looking at me that way. “Shall we?” he asked in regular voice.

  I managed to mount Buttercup, with decent form, on my first try. While I wasn’t anxious to ride, I was more than a little nervous—or, maybe, excited—being around Miles. He definitely made me jittery and I just couldn’t figure out all the emotions behind it.