Chapter 334: Remodel
*Redo your room however you want. Add a bathroom if you want. – Shiloh*
Gertie spent a week in the hospital. When she came back to Shiloh’s house, she had a cast on her left hand and a German shepherd named Eustace. The name was chosen to go with the dragon names of the kittens. Eustace was the cousin who was turned into a dragon due to his greed in the third book of the Narnia series, *Voyage of the Dawn Treader*.
The mess that Mitchell made had been cleaned up within days. The damage he had caused was repaired. While they worked at her house, Shiloh stayed with her grandfather and cousin.
Shiloh paid Cookie and his crew a premium rate to get it done quickly. They also installed a safe room in both the basement, and in the living quarters.
The stores were busy after pictures were posted in the local paper and on social media. Shiloh refused to answer questions and forbid her employees from gossiping about Gertie. It did not take long for the interest to die down.
After a few days back in her room, Gertie went to her friend in tears.
“Shy, I can’t stay here. It doesn’t matter what you do to the building, it’s still where he attacked me. It’s all I can think about. I’m terrified he’s going to attack me again.”
Shiloh hugged her friend while she cried. “I promise you; he will never hurt you ever again.”
“I know he’s dead. I know he killed himself.” Gertie cried. “I can’t get rid of the fear.”
Shiloh knew that fear. She understood it well.
Because of this, she moved her friend into a hotel suite. Karan would go check on Gertie and Cookie always made sure that she had a ride anywhere she needed or wanted to go. His flirting had stopped. But she often found his hungry eyes on her. Karan would give her a similar look and Gertie did not understand why she felt drawn to them both.
In late September, Gertie went with Cookie to find her a new place to live. The day was crisp and cool, but not quite cold. The leaves had turned and dropped indicating that the hard weather of winter was only a few weeks away.
They were sitting at a table inside the Cookie Jar. Cookie was looking at the specs of a house. Gertie was looking at the old movie theater across the street. The stores on either side had apartments above them.
“What about that?”
Cookie looked over where she was indicating. After pulling up the public information and the realtor listed on the for-sale sign, he studied the young woman again. Gertie already made her choice.
“What do you want to do with it?”
“I’ve always wanted a bookstore.” She sighed softly. “I know, everyone is into the electronics and e-readers. But for dragons like me, there’s nothing better than a book.”
“Dragon?” Cookie asked shooting off a few text messages.
Gertie laughed. “There are two types of avid readers. The bookworm, they devour books. Need them almost as much as they need to breathe.”
“A friend’s daughter is like that.” He said picturing Camille in his mind. “I can’t think of a time that she doesn’t have at least one book with her. Physical, paper book. And at least one e-Reader. She loves to read so much, she reads the damned encyclopedia.”
“That’s a worm. But I like to surround myself with books. Doesn’t matter if I’ve read it. Or even if I ever read it. I just want to have a cave for my hoard of books.”
“You need a dragon’s lair.”
“Yeah….” She smiled at him. “That’s a good name.”
“Thanks. Realtor can meet us here in about an hour. How about I buy you lunch?”
There was that look again. He was talking about lunch, but Gertie felt like she was the one being devoured. Gertie nodded and cleared her throat.
“I’ll, umm… I’ll text Shiloh.”
Cookie smiled at her and motioned to one of the waitresses.
After lunch they met with the realtor, Kilo and Shiloh. Cookie’s cousin, Kilo, was an engineer and promised to do a full inspection. Shiloh knew her friend well enough to picture her friend’s vision in her own mind.
The realtor was surprised when Shiloh made an offer and stated that she would pay in cash, athough he doubted it would be actual cash. He called the owner who countered with a higher price. Shiloh countered with her own in the middle. Before the realtor could relay the counteroffer, Shiloh added a stipulation.
“Cash. I will make the withdrawal in the morning and personally deliver it.”
There was silence in the empty theater at her statement. Then the realtor relayed the message. The offer was accepted, and the surprised man said that he would have the paperwork ready by ten the following morning.
Nodding, Shiloh made a quick phone call and spoke in Italian for a few minutes. Ending the call, she looked at the realtor, “I’ll be at your office by eleven.”
With that taken care of, the two friends and cousin began to work out what needed to be done. Kilo suggested that Gertie get with Clay before they started on the store.
“Cookie, I want her apartment done first. All locks changed. I’ll contact Werewolf and get him out here tomorrow afternoon.”
“That’s not a problem.” Cookie replied as he started working it into his schedule.
“I’ll give you a ten-thousand-dollar bonus if she can be open by December first.” Shiloh offered. Her business mind was already thinking of holiday sales.
Cookie and Kilo had learned from working on the funeral home, when it came to business, she was no nonsense. By the end of business tomorrow, she will have a preliminary contract written up. There would be deadlines and expectations.
Once everything was settled, Shiloh would set up a bank account for Cookie. The estimated cost of the project would be deposited, along with an agreed upon cushion. Every withdrawal would have to be accounted for.
Anything left over at the completion would be a bonus.
“Shy, how am I going to get enough stock by then?”
Shiloh simply smiled at her friend. “Looks like you need a laptop and a bank account. We need to go meet Nonno’s banker at three.”
“Shy…”
“It’s an investment.”
With that statement, Gertie knew that the conversation was over. There would be no changing her friend’s mind. Or talking her or her grandfather out of it.
